Matt Brabham is raring to go for another season in the Stadium Super Trucks. The 2018 and 2019 champion has re-affirmed his commitment to the series for the seventh year, and assuming no developments midseason, it will be his sixth full campaign in the trucks. Carlisle Companies Inc. and the Headstrong Project will continue as sponsors.
“There is nothing in this world I crave more than competition itself,” Brabham wrote on Instagram. “I’ve missed driving race cars… But not having the competition and fight has killed me by far the most in these times. Ready to get back underway with @carlislecompaniesinc & @getheadstrong”.
The 2020 season, which was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, does not have a standings publicised. Unofficially, Brabham would have finished second in points behind Robby Gordon with 133 to the latter’s 147, with a disconnected battery cable in the first Road America race in August being the difference maker as both drivers finished on the podium in every race. Brabham was also the only multi-time winner of the abbreviated year’s five races with Adelaide Race #2 and Road America 2.
With no other SST events in 2020, Brabham turned to jet skis for his racing action. In late October, he competed in the Pro Watercross World Championships at Sugden Park in Naples, Florida. Riding the #38 (an inversion of his SST #83), he won all three Moto races en route to the Runabout 800 Limited championship. The third-generation racer was not the only member of the famed Brabham family to participate as his mother Roseina also raced in the class while father and CART/sports car veteran Geoff oversaw their jet skis.
The father and son duo would also compete against one another in the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) in November, when they drove 1971 Brabham BT35s at Circuit of the Americas. The younger Brabham would win the weekend’s two races while Geoff finished runner-up and third. It was not Brabham’s first time celebrating a victory at COTA either, winning a round when SST visited the Austin circuit in 2019.
Brabham made his SST début in 2015 on a seven-race schedule before going full time the following year. He won the title in 2018 and 2019, while his twenty-one career wins are the third most in series history behind fellow multi-time champions Sheldon Creed and Gordon. Carlisle and Headstrong have sponsored his trucks since 2018.
The 2021 SST schedule has not been released, though the Grand Prix of Long Beach is confirmed for 25–26 September. The California street circuit, a staple of the SST calendar since the inaugural season in 2013, was postponed from its original 17–18 April date out of caution for COVID-19; the pandemic forced the 2020 race to been cancelled. Brabham and Gordon are tied for the most SST wins at Long Beach with three apiece; the former won one of the weekend’s two races from 2017 to 2019.
The series’ Australian counterpart, the Boost Mobile Super Trucks, also has a date locked in with the Darwin Triple Crown on 18–20 June, though whether or not American drivers can take part will depend on the situation with the pandemic. Brabham won one of the three SST races at Darwin during their first and only race weekend there in 2017.
