McFadden set for NAPA Aussie Sprintcar summer

James McFadden is set to return to Australia for the Sprintcar summer after a career best year in the US World of Outlaws series, where he showed plenty of ticker and class against the world’s best.

The NT born racer will jump back in the #5 NAPA-backed Hodges Motorsport machine that made its debut last summer, where he took wins at Premier Speedway, Avalon Raceway and Borderline Speedway.

Despite a huge set-back of points and a four race suspension in the early part of the WoO season in the US,  McFadden and the Toyota powered Roth Motorsports team hit back with a spate of wins – including an historic double at the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota – to fight back into an unlikely top-ten finish in the globes premier Sprintcar series. 

McFadden has fought back into the WoO top-ten in a career best season with six wins. Image: Richard Hathaway

Taking six wins, the fourth most for the season, McFadden returns to Australia in very nice form, and backed by a cohort of team owners that include Scott McLaughlin, Jack Riewoldt and Gerard Whateley in the Hodges NAPA car, he’s happy to be racing back on home soil.

“It was a fun concept to put this team together last year in the space of three or four months and I loved every second of it – so we thought, why not go again,” McFadden said.

“The results proved we got to the top level of the sport in an unbelievably short amount of time – so for our second season we hope we can give ourselves an even better shot at more success.

“I love how invested the high profile boys have been in this project and I love the commitment NAPA has with the program we are running – they are such a big and iconic part of speedway in the USA, so it’s so cool to be running the NAPA colours on a sprintcar in Australia.”

McFadden celebrates a win his son Mav in Victory Lane after taking his third WoO win of the season at the Lawrenceburg Speedway Image: Trent Gower

The biggest drawcard of any Sprintcar summer in OZ is of course the Grand Annual Classic, and as a two-time winner (2017/2020), last year’s result still irks him.

“I won’t lie, I didn’t like running fifth in the Classic…to be top five in that field was still seriously impressive with our team – but I’m not here to make up the numbers.

“That’s our Melbourne Cup – that’s our sport’s biggest race of all and I’d love to win another one in January.”

Although the Classic is the centerpiece of the season, McFadden will kick his year off in a more modern classic – Max’s Race – at the same venue on December 16, an event that pays tribute to  Aussie Speedway great Max Dumesny. McFadden took second place at Max’s Race last season to Jock Goodyer.

Can McFadden (pictured here in 2020) join the likes of Kerry Madsen and Max Dumesny as three time Grand Annual Classic winners?

NAPA’s Head of Sponsorship Mitch Wiley says that the team is excited to see if McFadden can replicate his US form on home soil in the #5 Wings.

 “The team at NAPA are really excited to return with James McFadden and the Hodges Motorsport team this season,” said Wiley.

 “James was in incredible form last year and was a terrific ambassador for NAPA, both on and off track.

 “He has been in great form in the United States, and backed by the team at Hodges Motorsport, we expect that they’ll be as competitive as ever. Everyone at NAPA Auto Parts wishes them the best.”

McFadden’s return will see him pitted against some early-season front-runners such as Goodyer, Lochie McHugh, Brock Hallett, and Jamie Veal to name few, with plenty of pride on the line in what promises to be a great summer of Speedway.

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