DJR boss Story returns to Supercars paddock
Dick Johnson Racing CEO Ryan Story will make his first appearance in the Supercars paddock in over a year at The Bend this weekend.
Ryan Story, DJR Team Penske Ford
Dirk Klynsmith / Motorsport Images
The high-profile team boss was last trackside for a Supercars race at the Adelaide 500 in February 2020, just weeks before the global health crisis started to make itself felt in Australia.
Story then opted to sit out the remaining 2020 rounds due to the strict caps on personnel, before missing the first three events of the current campaign through personal circumstances.
However he's now set to make his comeback in the DJR garage with a trip to his native South Australia for this weekend's sprint round at The Bend.
"I'm delighted to be heading back to a race and getting involved again. It's exciting, it's been too long," Story told Motorsport.com.
"The last race I went to was the Adelaide 500; I accepted the teams trophy when Scotty [McLaughlin] won Sunday's race. And then I went to Melbourne for the Grand Prix but didn't go to the track when all the shit hit the fan.
"We all do this because we love it. All of us that have found our way into team owner land love the sport enough to invest heavily in it.
"To me it's going to be special. And South Australia is my home state so to head to The Bend is a great opportunity to catch up with some family and friends."
Story added that his 14-month stint on the sidelines provided some interesting insight into the product as it it seen by the majority of fans.
"I'm an extremely frustrated spectator, but it's been interesting to have that perspective, to see it from the perspective of a fan," he said.
"To be quite honest the quality of the coverage and the racing is good. It doesn't quite beat being there, but it reinforced to me the quality of the product that we have."
One significant change since Story's last trackside appearance is his job title.
In the wake of Team Penske's departure from Supercars the Ford squad tweaked its organisational structure, Story moving from a team principal/managing director role to a chairman and CEO role.
Former team manager Ben Croke moved into the team principal role, as Josh Silcock became team manager and Perry Kapper took on a senior engineering position.
"By promoting from within we've given additional runway to guys like Ben and Josh and Perry to stretch their legs and really expand their capabilities and their opportunities," explained Story.
"We've demonstrated to everyone who works for us that there are pathways within our own organisation.
"And by having Ben as our team principal I can focus on some great strategic projects and some diversification. But predominately I can focus on the commercial operations side of the organisation, which is something that's important."
DJR drivers Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison head to The Bend off the back of a promising last round in Tasmania, where they finished Sunday's final race second and third respectively.
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