From Young Lion to one of the sport’s youngest champions and its youngest-ever Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly has always been on the fast track for success.

With eight full V8 Supercar seasons under his belt, Kelly, at the ripe age of 26, is a seasoned veteran although still regarded by many as one of the “young guns” of the sport. Emulating the meteoric rise of his older brother, Todd, the Mildura-born ace was runner-up in the 2000 Formula Ford championship in his first full season of racing, going one better the following year in the Formula Holden championship with a dominant performance that earned him the coveted CAMS Gold Star Award.

Like his brother before him, Kelly was signed to Holden’s Young Lions program and after joining Kmart Racing for the 2001 endurance races, completed his first full season in V8 Supercars in 2002 under the Young Lions banner, in the process winning the series rookie of the year award.

Returning to Kmart Racing in 2003, he joined with Greg Murphy for an emphatic victory in the Bathurst 1000, stamping himself at the age of 20 as the youngest-ever winner of The Great Race.

Better was to come in 2004 as Kelly forged his first solo round victory in driving rain at Eastern Creek and took pole position at Sandown before he and Murphy again teamed to seal back-to-back Bathurst victories.

As Kmart Racing became the HSV Dealer Team in 2005 and Garth Tander joined to replace the departing Murphy, the team had a difficult time coming to terms with their VZ Commodores. Kelly’s pole position at Clipsal 500 was a highlight in an otherwise forgettable first half of the season before showing glimpses of form in the season’s latter stages.

2006 was a watershed year for both team and drivers, as Kelly and Tander swapped the championship lead until Tander hit a horror stretch in the enduro races, while Kelly and brother Todd teamed to finish runners-up in both enduros. The title race came down to Kelly and Ford rival Craig Lowndes in the season’s final outing, a contentious touch between the two ensuring that Kelly’s title victory will be talked about for years to come.

In 2007 Kelly was again a strong contender but faded over the final rounds to finish fourth behind eventual champion Tander. It was a similar story in 2008 with brake problems at Bathurst in the car he shared with Paul Dumbrell putting a big hole in his championship aspirations as he finished 7th for the season.

2009 brought a new challenge to Kelly, who teamed with brother Todd and parents John and Margaret to part company with the Walkinshaw operation and form Kelly Racing with the backing of Jack Daniel’s. The new team worked wonders in its debut year, the challenge of running a total of four cars, opening a brand new workshop and developing its machines into race-contenders not fazing the brothers.

By the end of the year Rick had taken two podium finishes in the Phillip Island 300 and comfortably finished in the top 10 in the Driver’