An incredible journey

John Smith races in the Sh*tbox Rally

The sun beat down on the Australian outback as racers revved their engines, preparing for the 10-day trek ahead of them. The air hummed with an excited energy around the 500 competitors and their junker cars. The annual Sh*tbox Rally was about to begin, and Cook Australia’s John Smith was ready to race.

In Australia, and in some other areas of the world, a sh*tbox is a colloquial term for a junker, or an old car, worth less than $1,000.

A little over 10 years ago, the rally was founded as a way to raise money for the Australian Cancer Council, as well as to honor loved ones who have passed away from cancer or struggled with the disease. While the race normally consisted of a 7-day trip, their 10-year anniversary inspired them to host a 10-day trip in 2019. After learning about the race, John, a global manager for systems and quality at William Cook Australia, was inspired to compete. He submitted his application and letter of interest, explaining what the race meant to him.

“My mum was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, and it was a pretty rapid progression of being healthy one day to having a lung and ribs removed, undergoing chemotherapy, and her ultimately passing away in an 8-month time span,” John explained.

Approximately three months after that, John’s father was diagnosed with stage four melanoma, and he passed away the following year.

“It was quite a significant and devastating event for the family—losing the two of them in such a short period of time,” he said. “So, the rally was a way to just think about them, to celebrate their lives, and help raise money for a cause that means a lot to me.”

Fundraising with a friend

After learning about the rally, signing up, and being selected to compete, John knew he needed to choose a teammate that would help him prepare the car, raise money for the charity, and ride alongside him for the racing adventure. Instantly, John knew who he wanted by his side, and so he called up his long-time friend, Ian, who eagerly accepted.

That October (2018), the pair learned that they would need to raise $5,000 to start in the race that coming May. They needed to collect $2,500 before the end of the year, and the other half by April. Along with these funds, they would also need to raise money to pay for their vehicle supplies for the race. John and Ian both hoped that they could raise the needed funds and more.

Some of the ways that their team raised funds included hosting seven sausage sizzles, similar to a barbecue, outside of a local hardware store.

“During one sizzle, we raised $3,000, selling 56kg of sausages (approximately 123 lbs), 25kg of cooked onion (approximately 55 lbs), and 30 loaves of bread! Plus 6 litres of ketchup (about 1.5 gallons),” John said.

They also organized raffles, had mini auctions for donated goods, and even planned a Great Gatsby themed dinner night at a local surf club that guests could pay to attend and partake in extra activities to help them raise more donations.

John was also able to raise money thanks to numerous donations from coworkers, friends, and family through the rally’s online donation site. With the proper approvals needed, John was able to organize a cake bake-off held at Cook Australia. Thanks to the participation of his colleagues, John was able to raise approximately $800 from that event alone. Companies, including William Cook Australia, and others from around the area also donated to the cause.

While the average race team raised about $8,000, by the time April came around, John and Ian had raised nearly $16,000 to donate to the Cancer Council. Along with the monetary donations, some other companies in Australia helped the team as sponsors. These organizations donated hats, boots, and camping gear to Ian and John in hopes of helping them complete the race.

“The whole fundraising side of this was really an incredible journey,” John said. “We couldn’t have done it without the support of our families, friends, and work colleagues. I know that we couldn’t have raised what we did without the my ‘Cook family.’ We received donations from colleagues in Australia and the US. Cook employees were incredibly generous; their contributions amounted to 50% of our total fundraising. It was a really humbling experience.”

Finding the right car

During their fundraising efforts, John and Ian were also faced with finding a car for $1,000 or less, and making it safe enough to drive in time for the race. That’s when they came across a 1995 Volvo with torn seats.

“She was exactly what we were looking for,” John said.

After purchasing the junker, they started driving it back to Port Macquarie (386 km/240 miles) to begin working on it; however, they broke down about 6 kilometers (about 3.7 miles) away from where they purchased it. This would be the first of many obstacles to come with their vehicle, which they nicknamed Freda.

With the $1000 limit to purchase the car, make modifications and repairs John and Ian had to get creative. The motor didn’t run very well, the suspension was shot, the car needed rally tires and they needed a rack to carry spares and fuel. Armed with a repair manual they bought online from a Volvo owner in England they set about tuning the engine. The solution to the suspension issues was to put tennis balls into the coils to provide the lift the car needed to get over the rocky outback terrain. Next, they manually flared the wheel arches to accommodate heavy duty rally tires donated by a local rally car driver. Finally, they fabricated a roof rack from scrap metal they sourced from a local contractor.

“It was challenging to work on the car together.” John said. “Not only did she have some issues but the car was stored at Ian’s home in Port Macquarie and I live on the Gold Coast, we live 480km (300 miles) apart.”

But by the time the rally arrived, Freda was ready to roll.

The Rally

Going across Australia from west to east through 5 states in 10 days seems a little unrealistic when you see the route – a mammoth 5,150kms across the red center!

Starting in Perth, 250 teams crossed gold mines, turned red with the dust as they reach the iconic Uluru before heading down into South Australia, over to Cameron Corner (where Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia meet) and then onto New South Wales finishing in style – in beautiful Sydney.

Cars, camping, costumes, and camels

Before the race, John and Ian packed all of their materials and clothes into snap lock bags in hopes of preventing too much desert and dust from getting into their belongings.

“We divided everything up for the 10 days, and we had vinyl bags that everything lived inside of,” John said. “We had a small cooler in the trunk of the car, and that’s where we kept our water. The car was full with our tents, bags, and, most important, spare parts.”

They packed seven extra tires and plenty of extra cans of fuel, which they strapped to the roof of the car. A hot commodity, that they were sure to pack plenty of, was baby wipes. During their trek, the pair would not have access to a shower. Once everything was tucked away, Freda was completely full.

“I knew that there would be bumpy roads, that it would be 5,200 kilometers (about 3,231 miles), and that 60% of that would be on corrugated roads in the middle of nowhere in the Australian outback,” John said.

“I knew there’d be a lot of noise and bumps, but it was like being inside of a car-sized maraca,” said John.

The rally hosted the racers every night in little rural towns. These towns typically had between 10 to 30 residents, who were always grateful for the rally’s sponsorships and for a chance to meet and host the racers in their towns.

“Each night we stayed in our tents, which we were really grateful to have donated to our team. In the outback during Autumn, it is about 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit), but at night, it would get down zero (about 32 degrees Fahrenheit).”

Another enjoyable aspect of the race was that the rally provided the teams with some themed dress-up days to add to the racers’ and residents’ fun. A few of John and Ian’s costumes included dressing up as Mutley from the Wacky Racers, Smurfs, members of the band the Village People, and a black tie event at the foot of one of Australia’s most famous culture landmarks Uluru (Ayres Rock).

“One of the funniest but scariest moments during the race was when Ian and I almost hit a camel,” John said. “It just came out of nowhere and then bouncing along the track in front of us!”

The integrity of tape and cable ties

“The Australian outback is unforgiving. It’s hot, dirty and rough,” John said. “It’s not the sort of place you should take your aging Swedish luxury sedan for a 10 day drive, but we did.”

In the rally, it is not uncommon for the racer’s cars to break down. During this race, about 10 cars out of the 250 were unable to finish.

“When our car broke down the first time, we were devastated,” John said. “We didn’t want to not finish. We were lucky enough to be able to fix it.”

Traveling an average of 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) a day, with fairly frequent breakdowns in their old car, John and Ian averaged 10-12-hours of driving per day. Over the course of the 10 days, Freda broke down six times. Throughout the repair process, John and Ian used their repair manual and the cars vintage onboard computer to diagnose the issues. The car used a form of Morse Code to signal the error codes. Halfway through the rally they had to renew the tennis balls suspension. Time and time again, working on their vehicle required a lot of hard work, a fair amount of ingenuity, and quite a bit of patience.

“At one point we worked on the car for six hours after a 10 hour drive,” John said. “Freda thought she was still in drive mode so she wouldn’t restart after refueling. We had to take everything out of the engine bay besides the engine to get to the gear selector and jerry rig a bypass. It was definitely challenging sometimes, but a good, fun experience to do with my mate, Ian.”

The rally had a group of mechanics along on the rally to support the teams. With their guidance Ian and John were able to fix most of Freda’s issues themselves. John recalled, laughing, that, by the end of the rally, a good deal of the car was held together by duct tape and a lot of cable ties.

A sentimental celebration

After 10 long days driving across the Australian outback, John and Ian crossed the finish line.

“It wasn’t really until we got into the rally that all of these sort of latent emotions started popping up for me about my family and our struggles with cancer,” John said. “Hearing stories from others, especially from friends and coworkers at Cook, about the battles that their families and them have been through, it was all quite touching.”

John and Ian were honored to share their journey with the other racers, as well as with the 19 names of friends and family members submitted to them by Cook employees that they wrote on the outside of the car.

“Every time we went to the boot (trunk) of the car, we looked the names written down there,” John said. “It just put the reason for the rally into context for both of us.”

The final gift

Even though they were sad to see her go, Freda was sold at the rally’s post-race auction for $200 dollars that went to the Cancer Council.

“Ian and I really enjoyed being a part of this rally,” John said. “We made some great friends, it helped so many people bond whose lives have been influenced by cancer. It also raised $2.5 million for the Cancer Council and research, and supported local towns along the way too.

“The overall experience really moved me!” he said.

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Written by Alexandria Stanfield, Editorial Content specialist for Corporate Marketing and Communications

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