Born in Newcastle, New South Wales way back in the early 70's, Paul has always been a keen follower of most sports. Whether it was V8 Supercars or Formula One or more traditional sports like Football and Cricket, Paul has always known what was going on. Unlike others around him that started racing at an early age, Paul didn't actually begin his circuit racing career until the age of 31, but has never looked back. Before then Paul's motorsport experience totalled about a dozen trips down the old Eastern Creek quarter mile in one of his HSV or SS Commodores, the odd traffic light duel and that was about it...


He always preferred a nice new shiny car with all the luxuries, rather than a noisy, modified older car. Despite Pete Harmston taking him for numerous rides in his various quick little Mazda's over the years, Paul resisted the urge to go fast until Pete bought a circuit car. Less than a week after sitting in Pete's new RX-7, Bill Nabhan of MazSport had found another RX-7, complete and running, though in a pretty average state. At  $3,000  though the price was right though, and Paul just had to have it - so a few hours after laying eyes on it, Paul and Pete pushed it onto a trailer - and Team Chaparral Racing was born... In Paul's words: "It's all Pete's fault. I couldn't let him go racing by himself, i just had to have a go at this !!" That same attitude saw Paul sink from being the pilot of a brand new SS Commodore in 2001 to bumming around thesedays in a beat up '99 Rodeo Spacecab ute !!

Paul comes across as pretty easy going to his team mates and can be found exercising his social skills at the race track with anyone that'll listen, particularly after a race meeting when he'll wander around yapping to everyone and trying to avoid the hard work involved with loading the cars up...

His on-track driving ability can only be referred to as taking "Baby Steps" Everytime he's behind the wheel, at each track, he's faster than he has been before. Past New South Wales I.P.R.A State Champion (2000-01) Scott Fleming, the man who christened him with the "Big Boppa" nickname, says of Paul: "He's the quiet achiever, he's done really well with what equipment he has..."  While Paul tends to shake off the wraps from people like Scott, significant upgrades to the car for 2005 show he's keen to prove he has what it takes to be competitive - a heavy accident in late 2004 delayed the big fellas start to the '05 season but be assured he will hit the track running hard...  Boppa's goal is to be at the front, and he lives by the philosophy that the guys in front are only there because they have more cash - and sometimes you just can't win them all !!

Being one of the founding members of Team Chaparral Racing , Paul has always had good intentions for both our Team and the Category as a whole, which is reassuring knowing that the best decisions are being made everytime.. Paul's philosophy is simple - If I'm racing, I'm having fun, and that's what it's all about.

60 Seconds with Boppa......