Dean Wanless in 1998 had a go at the Winston West series over in America, he had two races before the 1998/99 Australian season in the #09 Pontiac for Dick Midgley.

Thanks to YouTube channel GMS1179, both of those races are on YouTube.

Unfortunately, Dean wasn’t considered worthy of a whole lot of TV time when things were going smoothly, as the coverage focused on the front of the field in both races.

Some familiar drivers were in both fields, St. James Davis, Ron Esau, Bob Howard, Hershel McGriff, Kevin Harvick and Brendan Gaughan are those that should be recognisable for either being at the Thunderdome or had success in America.

Warning: Volume may need to be cranked right up for these races.

Dean started fourth in the 09 Pontiac but fell back quickly, at one stage he was running as deep as 24th position with 90 laps to go.

With 80 laps to go, Dean was up to 21st position and when there were 63 laps to go, the #09 was up to 17th position on the track.

When the next race order graphic came up with 40 laps to go, Dean was in 9th place.

When the next graphic came up with seventeen laps to go, Dean was still holding on to 9th place.

Dean would end up finishing eighth in the race; the winner of the race was none other than Kevin Harvick.

Dean was one of ten drivers in the field to be on the lead lap at the finish, a number that Dr. Jerry Punch and Benny Parsons liked.

Dean was at Pikes Peak the very next week and qualified 18th for the race.

Dean was running in 20th position at the first race order graphic before improving to 16th with 155 laps to go.

Dean finally got a little TV time as Kevin Harvick was about to lap him before a commercial break.

With 67 laps to go, Dean was running 14th, the 09 got a little more TV time as it passed by a wreck.

The #09 improved to 12th position with 51 laps to go, disaster struck shortly afterwards when the #09 when an incident with the #85 which cost Dean several laps.

Dean finished 16th in the race, seven laps down on the winner who was once again Kevin Harvick.

Car lives on in Game Mod

The car lives on as a downloadable addition to the Cup 98 mod for the game NASCAR Racing 2003.

Other Winston West Drivers from Australia

Some other Australians who gave Winston West a go over the years were Barry Graham who had run one race in both 1995 and 1996 in the #09 Pontiac including this race at Evergreen Speedway.

Kim Jane, Neville Lance and Terry Wyhoon raced the Winston West race in Motegi, Japan in 1999.

Neville Lance would return to Winston West competition in 2001 and finished 10th at Irwindale Speedway, 18th at Laguna Seca and 18th again at Irwindale.