ONE of Supercars’ most iconic celebrations derived from simple beginnings.
It was during James Courtney’s Stone Brothers Racing days (2006-08) that the young gun watched the film Old School with his mechanics Mikey Flynn and Ben Croke in their Bathurst accommodation.
That’s all it took to inspire Courtney to unofficially trademark ‘Frank The Tank’ – the moves made famous by Will Ferrell-portrayed character Frank Ricard – as his go-to in the coming years.
“I think it was the first year we were at Bathurst, we were watching Old School… and old Will Ferrell came up and did Frank The Tank,” Courtney recalled on the V8 Sleuth Podcast polished by Bowden’s Own.
“I said to Mikey and Benny Croke, ‘I’m doing it. I’m going to do it on the roof if we win’.
“Anyway and then obviously we didn’t win Bathurst that year, we came second, but so from then on I just started doing it.”
When Courtney combined with Jack Perkins for an emotional 2015 Gold Coast 600 win, the pair had actually plotted in vain to take the Frank The Tank celebrations one step further.
“He (Ricard) does a beer bong as well and then when Jack and I won at the Gold Coast, we had a beer bong, and because I was (sponsored by) Monster at the time, we were going to do it with Monster and everything but they (Supercars) shut it down and didn’t let us do it,” said Courtney.
He added: “I always liked how (MotoGP legend Valentino) Rossi, he always had something (celebration-wise) and that was cool.
“And then I was like, ‘if that happens then I will do that’. And then it has just rolled on.”
While Courtney has recorded at least one podium in 18 successive Supercars seasons, he only has one visit (Adelaide 2016) to the top step since that GC600 win.
