Best Seat in the House

By: Neil Crompton, Aaron Noonan

Narrated by: James Saunders

Racer and broadcaster Neil Crompton has had the best seat in the house for the last 40 years of Australian motorsport, an amazing lifetime upgrade to a first-hand, front row seat to see the biggest names, machines and events of this high-speed, high-octane sport.

A kid from Ballarat in country Victoria obsessed by speed with an undying passion to pursue a career in the sport, Neil ended up finding his way to lining up on the grid at the biggest race in Australia, the Bathurst 1000, driving for a team run by his childhood hero, Peter Brock. Since then he's raced wheel-to-wheel with some of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen in this country and experienced first-hand the thrilling success, heartbreaking disappointment and emotional trauma that is a life spent in motorsport and the relentless pursuit of the ultimate success.

Uniquely, Neil has spent his entire career either driving a race car, a microphone or sometimes both. As the trusted and respected modern-day voice and face of Supercars racing on television in Australia, he's added the audio soundtrack from the commentary box to some of the biggest spine-tingling moments in the sport and is well qualified to offer his account of the who, what and where of Aussie motorsport. From navigating for Dame Edna Everage at the Adelaide Grand Prix to driving some of the fastest race cars in the world and everything in between, he has been there and seen it all.

Best Seat In The House is Neil's account of an amazing period of the sport from a viewing position like no other.

National treasure, great listen, amateur production

Can’t get past listening to the voice talent breath and swallow in quieter moments. It’s almost as if it was recorded in a home studio during a pandemic.

Once you get into the rhythm of the story telling, it’s a colourful listen, with lot’s of behind the scenes colour. The only problem it is that Cromley is such a nice guy, he includes so many others in his story.

Neil Crompton is a national treasure that has had a significant contribution to Australian motorsport, for which I am grateful.