{"id":6766,"date":"2018-11-25T02:57:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T07:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonmotorsport.com\/2018\/11\/25\/thanks-for-the-memories-craig-lowndes\/"},"modified":"2021-01-30T22:47:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T03:47:37","slug":"thanks-for-the-memories-craig-lowndes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2018\/11\/25\/thanks-for-the-memories-craig-lowndes\/","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for the Memories, Craig Lowndes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The end of an era. The last fulltime contracted motorsport race for Australian V8 Supercars legend <strong>Craig Lowndes<\/strong> saw emotion and a show of respect, never seen before in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>A popular figure, with some placing him on the same peddle still\u00a0as <strong>Peter Brock<\/strong> and <strong>Dick Johnson<\/strong>, yet for a driver who has invested 24 years of his career in racing, to realize that the end was near, was emotional.<\/p>\n<p>The entire industry, every driver and all the mechanics, engineers and stakeholders in the <strong>Virgin Australia V8 Supercars<\/strong> stood in a line to pay homage.\u00a0In an extraordinary display of respect and sentiment, teams all awaited Lowndes to complete a lap of honour, and as seen below, took time to speak about the man, and offer their\u00a0congratulations on his career to date.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">An absolute legend of our sport. <\/p>\n<p>Today we say thank you <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/craiglowndes888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@craiglowndes888<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThanksCL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ThanksCL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VASC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#VASC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qqb5RVt9Tl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Qqb5RVt9Tl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Supercars (@supercars) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/supercars\/status\/1066548511808806917?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 25, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Yet as the Australian driver tightened the helmet strap [fulltime] for the final time, he knew that his career was only moving from one point to another. He would never &#8216;leave&#8217; the championship, and commentators and other drivers know that Craig Lowndes loves the sport so much that, in 2019 and onward, he will still be a part of the industry.<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks for the Memories, Craig Lowndes<\/h2>\n<p>In matching the high intensity of the final round of the 2018 Virgin Australia V8 Supercars Championship, high emotion was displayed when an Aussie motorsport legend ended his fulltime racing career.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This weekend we farewell a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CLegend?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#CLegend<\/a> from full-time driving. Thanks for all the memories <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/craiglowndes888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@craiglowndes888<\/a>, the grid will be a whole lot less smiley <\/p>\n<p>Over 650 Races | 107 Wins (so far) | Only 1 Craig Lowndes<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VASC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#VASC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LI3Ug4hcg5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/LI3Ug4hcg5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; TheSupercarsCollective (@VASC_Collective) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VASC_Collective\/status\/1064969960445829120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>He ended his career on 667 races completed, and from the earliest days until today, Craig Lowndes has gone from the fresh-faced\u00a0kid in 1995, to the seasoned professional &#8211; ending his last race in P11. Respectable driving, right to the end.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Legend gets thrown around a lot these days, but it couldn\u2019t be more fitting when describing The Kid, a huge part of our Team\u2019s history. Today, we say <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThanksCL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ThanksCL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4DJpzWhXyn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/4DJpzWhXyn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Walkinshaw Andretti United (@FollowWAU) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FollowWAU\/status\/1066438035678457856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Yet, like other recognized drives who have hung up their gloves; <strong>Mark Scaife<\/strong>, other category drivers like <strong>Michael Andretti <\/strong>and <strong>Jeff Gordon<\/strong> &#8211; all multiple champions in their motorsport category &#8211; have chosen retirement over the week-in-week-out calendar.<\/p>\n<p>Craig Lowndes has chosen to retire from the fulltime competition only. After seven Bathurst championships and many <a href=\"http:\/\/www.craiglowndes.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Supercars\/ATCC titles<\/a>, he can safely know that his name will be held in distinction. Underlined in 2018 by a superb drive to claim his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonmotorsport.com\/2018\/10\/07\/craig-lowndes-wins-the-2018-bathurst-1000\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seventh Bathurst 100 title<\/a>, back in October.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, that quality was demonstrated\u00a0best, as he walked down pit row; with opposing drivers and fellow competitors, all offering handshakes and congratulations, as he ended his time in the Championship series. (He will now only appear as a co-driver, in the Endurance races, like the Bathurst 1000).<\/p>\n<p>The result was an aside to the situation. He might have finished first or last &#8211; the overall context, as the acknowledgment\u00a0was of Craig Lowndes, it is easy to say tjat everyone shared the same statement; thanks for the Memories.<\/p>\n<h3><em>#ThanksCL<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Main photo credit&#8221;<br \/>\n<a id=\"smPEh8ahS5di69k5NlDSVw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.nz\/detail\/1065034348\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'smPEh8ahS5di69k5NlDSVw',sig:'zqh3Ppi6CBkQaNP2vdLMyviqPTgewXZnaoESEO0FNQE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1065034348',caption: true ,tld:'co.nz',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The end of an era. The last fulltime contracted motorsport race for Australian V8 Supercars legend Craig Lowndes saw emotion and a show of respect, never seen before in the sport. A popular figure, with some placing him on the same peddle still\u00a0as Peter Brock and Dick Johnson, yet for a driver who has invested [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1383,"featured_media":6767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-racing"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}