I imagine that the first question most of you have is why didn't I pick my racing idol or fellow Aussie, Greg Moore or Marcos Ambrose? Well, I doubt very much that I could write a blog even now about the person who got me interested in oval racing knowing how his story ended in 1999 (if you want a truly tragic motorsport story, read his...or better yet, get his book 'Legacy of Spirit', it's really good). As for Ambrose, despite all the success he had with Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) in V8 Supercars, there was one prize that eluded him; winning the Bathurst 1000.

Before Marcos Ambrose came to America, there was this bloke.

Now, admittedly, if I wanted to pick a driver who had won that race a bunch of times, I'd have been better off picking someone like Peter Brock or Mark Skaife...but Jason Bright's tale is a far more tantalising prospect for he could have been Australia's answer to Scott Dixon or even Marcos' predecessor into the world of NASCAR.

But we'll never know.

Born in the town of Moe, Victoria in 1973, Bright burst onto the V8 radar in 1997 when he and Alan Jones (yes, that's the same 'AJ' who won the F1 title back in 1980) finished third in the Sandown 500, our 'test run' of who are the cars to beat at Bathurst. Things didn't pan out quite as well at Mount Panorama however and the duo had to be content with eleventh. The next year saw Jason move up to the V8's on a permanent basis, driving for SBR in the #4 Ford Falcon, the very same car that Ambrose hopped into when he made his debut in 2001. Ninth place at seasons' end may not have been as brilliant as Jason might have hoped given the way he dominated the Australian Formula 3 series but he and codriver, Steve Richards, did manage to secure victory at Bathurst and many drivers say that they'd trade a Championship for a win at Bathurst.

That win was an interesting one as it very nearly didn't happen. Not only did Bright crash the car in practice, a problem with a wheel early on forced the car into an unscheduled pitstop and they nearly went down a lap. Luckily a safety car came out a short while later which allowed Bright and Richards to catch back up to the tail of the field. And with their early stop, they didn't have to do a splash and dash towards the end of the race and so were able to take the lead when the rest did stop. This marked the last win for Ford at Bathurst until the Lowndes/Whincup duo started to work their magic in 2006.

Jason giving the kerbs a good whack in his Champcar.

He improved his standings to eighth in 1999 but, like what happened to Marcos, the lure of America proved too strong to ignore and Bright was signed to compete the entire 2000 season in Indy Lights for Dorricott Racing. Considering the fact that Oriol Servia had won the '99 Championship with that team, one can assume expectations were high for the Aussie...but alas, he came up against some guy from New Zealand by the name of Scott Dixon and could 'only' manage sixth by the end of the season. That said, he did pull off a win at Portland and second place at the Milwaukee Mile so, maybe in other circumstances, Bright may have been given a shot in the Truck series had he pushed like Ambrose did, but his heart was set for openwheelers at that stage. He became just the second Australian to compete in the Gold Coast Indy and was looking good for a top ten result...but it wasn't to be as he got caught up in an incident on a restart towards the end of the race and was forced to retire the car.

That was his only race in Champcar and also pretty much ended Jason's career Stateside so he returned to the V8's to pair up with Mark Skaife and drive for the Holden Racing Team who, at the time, were the best team in the series. He had his best seasons from 2001 to 2004, finishing third (having led the first half of the season) and fourth (with two wins and a pole position) with HRT before moving to Paul Weel Racing for 2003. While he finished fourth again, it was mainly due to his consistency rather than outright pace but 2004 was a far better year and he wound up third again having won three races.

Bright did what Tony Stewart is currently doing...just not with quite as much success as 'Smoke' is managing.

2005 saw him switch back to the Ford marquee, even starting his own team (Fujitsu Racing, named after the title sponsor) but driving for Ford Performance Racing and he endured an inconsistent couple of years (ninth and fifth) before driving for Britek in 2007. Results haven't come easy for Jason, indeed he finished 21st and 19th in the last two V8 standings but he did nearly win again at Bathurst in 2007 but for a bad call on tyres on a pitstop (slicks on a damp track) left him smacking the wall with ten laps to go.

2009 could see a return to form for the battling driver/owner as his team is under the umbrella of, ironically, SBR, just like what JTG Daugherty have with MWR in the Cup series...so will he be able to recapture his form or will the weight of being in "Marcos Ambrose's old team" drag him down and keep him as being known as a 'nearly-man'?

Back in familiar surroundings, Bright will be hoping to bring back the glory days for SBR.

We'll just have to wait and see but if there's one thing Jason Bright isn't afraid of, it's a good challenge.