| Neil Crompton | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Australian |
| Born | 30 July 1960 |
| Retired | 2002 |
| ATCC / V8 Supercar | |
| Years active | 1987-2002 |
| Teams | Advantage Racing Holden Racing Team Bob Forbes Motorsport Wayne Gardner Racing Glenn Seton Racing Gibson Motor Sport |
| Starts | 85 |
| Best finish | 10th in 1994 & 1995 Australian Touring Car Championship |
| Previous series | |
| 1989-92 1997 1998 |
Australian Drivers' Championship North American Touring Car Championship Australian GT Production Car Championship |
| Championship titles | |
| 1994 | Bathurst 12 Hour |
Neil Crompton (born 30 July 1960) is a well-known V8 Supercars presenter and commentator for Australia's Channel Seven, having previously worked in a similar role at Network Ten. Crompton ("Cromley" or "Crompo" to his friends and colleagues) has more than 15 years of professional racing car driving under his belt which allows him to "speak from experience" when commentating.
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According to the official V8 Supercars website,[1] Crompton has competed in 357 various motor racing events, finishing in the first three places on 58 occasions. 230 of those races were with events counting towards the Australian Touring Car Championship (nowadays promoted as the V8Supercar Championship Series), including three second places and ten thirds.
He has raced at the famous Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales on more than 20 occasions, with his best results being two third placings in the Bathurst 1000 — in 1992 with Anders Olofsson in a Gibson Motor Sport Nissan GT-R and in 1995 with Wayne Gardner in a Wayne Gardner Racing Holden Commodore in addition to winning the 1994 12 Hour endurance race with Gregg Hansford in a factory supported Mazda RX-7.
Crompton started racing in 1972 at age eleven on a Honda minibike before graduating to motocross where he had some success.
In 1985 he moved to racing cars and has raced in various, mostly sedan-based categories, starting in a series production specification Mitsubishi Cordia. Racing categories that he has contested include V8 Supercars, Super Touring Cars, and Group A Touring Cars, as well as the open-wheel categories of Formula Holden and Formula 3000.
In 1989 and 1990 Crompton was a season driver for Special Vehicles Racing (now known as the Holden Racing Team). He finished third in the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1989 and fifteenth in 1990. Although he did not have a regular seat with HRT after that, he would co-drive in the endurance races (which require two drivers per vehicle).
In 1997 Crompton headed to the US to compete in the new North American Touring Car Championship in a Honda Accord run by the Tasman Motorsports team. Crompton was quickly on the pace, and won several races and was in contention for the championship, before a disqualification (which he still disputes) preclude him from winning the title. Crompton also tested one of Tasman's Champ Cars at Gingerman Raceway.
In 1998 Crompton started with Glenn Seton Racing, continuing with the team in its new identity as Ford Tickford Racing in 1999. He then moved to Gibson Motor Sport, later renamed 00 Motorsport, in 2001 where he was teamed with Craig Lowndes before leaving at the end of the 2002 season.
Despite being a full-time television commentator, Crompton continues to compete in races when he can, particularly endurance races. Most recently he finished 17th in the 2009 Bathurst 12 Hour race, completing 222 laps (1,379 km / 857 miles) driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X with Glenn Seton. Crompton occasionally competes in the Aussie Racing Cars series and has also competed in the Australian Rally Championship.
Crompton also works on the organisational side of V8 Supercar contributing to TEGA's Parity Board, which works to ensure that neither of the competing marques gains a significant advantage over the other.
Crompton started commentating at motorcross events for Network Ten, then known as the 0/10 Network. He then worked for the ABC from around 1980 until the end of 1984, commentating on motorsport events such as the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) plus various other motorsport events that the network covered. In 1985 when the ATCC rights moved to Channel Seven, Crompton also moved across to Seven, replacing Evan Green and joining the network's motorsport regulars Mike Raymond & Garry Wilkinson in the commentary box. He would stay with the network in a gradually decreasing capacity until the end of 1995, his latter years there including regular segments on the TV program "The Great Outdoors". During this time he also had segments on the Triple M radio network.
In 1996 he returned to Network Ten to be their "motorsport expert" for their coverage of the CART Series & Australian Super Touring Championship for which they had just gained the broadcasting rights, and which would also end up including Formula One. Crompton was a regular presenter of Ten's popular motoring magazine program, RPM, and after his racing career wound down at the end of 2002 until the end of 2006, he was the expert commentator on Ten's coverage of the V8 Supercars (after being lead commentator throughout 2001 when he only drove in endurance races).
When the Seven Network bought the television broadcasting rights for the V8 Supercars for 2007 onwards, Crompton, along with a majority of the production team, moved to Seven. Crompton's detailed technical knowledge, combined with his racing and commentating experience, ensures that he is considered an extremely valuable part of the Seven Network's coverage of the series.
Crompton also hosts the popular web show "The Panelbeaters", which he co-hosts with longtime friend Brad Jones. The show runs every Friday evening before a V8 Supercar meeting, and the Wednesday after. The show began as a radio programme in 2003 on Victorian station SEN 1116, before being taken on by Telstra Bigpond, and made into a video web show. The program was axed after the 2008 season.
After a short time off the radio waves, Crompton returned to broadcasting on radio this time with former Australian V8 Supercar champion Mark Skaife on The Stick Shift, a motoring based show broadcast on the Triple M Network on Saturday mornings.
Crompton married longtime partner Sarah Mathewson in March 2008.[2]