Book review: Neil Crompton’s ‘Best Seat in the House’

Neil Crompton’s account of his life, ‘Best Seat in the House’, is a highly relatable story, and one that is sure to be enjoyed by anyone who spent their teens and twenties watching Aussie touring car races in the 1980s.

The title of the book, which has been written with the able assistance of motorsport media kingpin Aaron Noonan, refers to Crompton’s good fortune to be in the right place at the right time.

To illustrate, Crompton kick-starts the book with his visit to Bathurst in ’77 to witness the Ford 1-2 victory that year.

Crompton was born in 1960 and raised in the regional city of Ballarat, a bit over an hour’s drive west of Melbourne.

Early on – at the age of 11, in fact – he competed in bitumen speed events driving his father’s HK Monaro with 186 CID red engine.

Around the same time he became a passionate fan of rallycross, which used to be televised by the Seven Network live from Calder. Crompton describes the sport as “rallying on steroids”.

It was at Calder one day that Crompton met Peter Brock for the first time. Brock was already on the way to being a force majeure in touring cars.

As Crompton explains in the book, he went from being Brock’s childhood fan to an adult friend and finally – tragically – to mourner.

Speaking from the perspective of a teenager during the 1970s, Crompton admits to joining the Brock/Holden fan club, but later coming to the realisation that Allan Moffat was no less a hero, and one Crompton came to know as a friend.

The black-hat versus white-hat tribalism of the time was not “even close to accurate”.

Crompton’s career trajectory is what might be called unconventional, leaving school before the end of Year 12 in 1978, running his own business selling motocross accessories by the age of 22. He practically fell into motorsport broadcasting, almost by accident.

This was the stepping stone needed for Crompton to become an active participant in touring car racing.

In the book, Crompton mentions many who helped him along the way, including Channel Seven’s Mike Raymond, at a time the broadcaster was developing the pioneering ‘Racecam’ technology. Raymond died in November 2019, but receives a fond tribute in the book.

Plenty of names are dropped, including Garry Wilkinson (Channel 7) and Doug Mulray (Triple M Sydney), who famously christened Crompton ‘Neils on Wheels’.

Interspersed throughout the book are side notes (‘Reflections’) from Peter McKay, Mark Skaife, Mark Larkham, Brad Jones, Crompton’s second wife Sarah, Wayne Gardner, Tony Cochrane, Mark Webber, Glenn Seton, Craig Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin and others.

We learn about the cars Crompton raced, among them less illustrious examples like the Mitsubishi Cordia Turbo he first drove in a one-make series at Adelaide AGP in 1985. It was a car which redefined understeer, torque steer and turbo lag.

Unlike Mark Skaife, Crompton isn’t a “good hater”; he doesn’t name those jealous of his start with HDT after Allan Moffat and John Harvey’s departure in ’87.

Nonetheless, he does admit to slamming the phone down on Tim Schenken after being denied a drive at Bathurst in one of the Brock’s team cars in ’87.

Bathurst that year was a round of the WTCC (World Touring Car Championship). As category administrator for the Toyota Gazoo 86 series, Crompton now acknowledges that racing needs rules, but was devastated by the events at Bathurst in 1987.

Just a few years later, Crompton was on the podium at Bathurst, when Jim Richards exploded in anger at the crowd after winning the event in his Nissan GT-R, only to be booed.

Crompton – who remains unrepentant to this day for flipping the bird at the crowd – makes you feel like you were there and recalling events you might have experienced in reality, whereas Skaife’s version of the story leaves you feeling one step removed from the action.

In Crompton’s defence, few people would tolerate being labelled with the last truly taboo word in the English language by a bunch of inebriated yobs.

Crompton reserves an entire chapter of the book for his mate and commentating colleague, Mark Skaife.

While Skaife relies heavily on scripts, Crompton can do occasional ad lib. One would expect this to lead to friction in the broadcast booth, but that’s far from the truth, with Skaife reportedly laughing his head off when Crompton “burst into song” during a practice session.

Some of the funniest moments in the book involves Brad Jones, who remains best of mates with Crompton.

In contrast, Crompton’s relationship with Wayne Gardner was spiky after a couple of on-track stoushes, although the two teamed up later on.

Crompton contrasts Gardner’s winning style on bikes with his steep learning curve in V8s – a “tough“ competition in itself.

Taking risks on bikes pays dividends, but trying harder in V8s merely slows you down.

Crompton offers what appears to be an accurate appraisal of Gardner, who doesn’t “suffer fools gladly”, has a “short temper” and says what he thinks with “no filter”.

Crompton‘s marriage to his first wife Sally ended in 1998. In the book he pays tribute to her for making “intelligent decisions” and remaining friends with him afterwards, both committed to raising daughter Emma.

His second daughter Sienna (with Sarah) earns a mention for being serenaded by motor racing legends Moffat and Colin Bond, performing their rendition of ‘I’m a little teapot’.

The chapter ‘cool race cars’ features some interesting and entertaining anecdotes, but many of them pass in a colourful blur, reflecting Crompton’s busy life during the early years of the 21st century through to retirement from racing to focus on his broadcasting work.

One likely catalyst for Crompton writing his memoir becomes clear at the end of the book.

But irrespective of Crompton’s reasons for publishing his autobiography, it’s a pleasure to share in his eventful life, even if vicariously. ‘Best Seat in the House’ is published by Harper Collins and is priced at $39.99.