CONVERSATIONS: ANDREW “FISHTAIL” FISHER, JESUS RACING TEAM

Jesus Racing Team’s Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher has just knocked up 200 race starts in his V8 ute. The 48-year-old veteran speaks with DAVID ADAMS about life on – and off – the track…

Jesus Racing Team’s Andrew “Fishtail” Fisher has just knocked up 200 race starts in his V8 ute. The 48-year-old veteran speaks about life on – and off – the track…

You recently had your 200th race start in the V8 ute championship (Andrew had previously raced in other categories). What did passing that milestone mean to you?

“When we started to race in the V8 ute, I guess we never thought we’d be still going after 200 races, so yeah, it was a great thrill for the team in terms of our longevity in competing in the ute championship.”

What led you into racing?

“I sort of fell into racing, I guess. I had some friends that were having a race and invited me along at one stage. So I went along, had a race with them and ended up going pretty well and it was then just a case of right place, right time – I had an opportunity to join what was then known as the Daewoo Series…and that’s where it all started.”

Why V8 utes?

“V8 utes was a deliberate choice because when we decided to start Jesus Racing, (it) was all about challenging people’s paradigms and what their understanding of the Christian faith is and the person of Jesus. And the roughest, toughest, argy-bargy racing in Australian motorsport is the V8 Utes championship…It was the least likely place to find the name of Jesus.”

How did that whole idea of putting the name of Jesus on the ute come about?

“It was just a thing of faith, I think. I just felt God really saying that He wanted me to step out and to let people know that Christians are normal, everyday people that do everyday pursuits. Quite often, people have a paradigm in terms of what Christians are like so the idea of it was just to challenge those paradigms – they (wouldn’t) expect a guy who races cars…in Australia’s most competitive and robust racing championship to be a Christian. So it was all a step of faith…and then from there, obviously, God’s plan was a lot bigger than just a racing team with what we do outside the racing community now.”

I’ll come back to that in a moment. But I wanted to ask about your own personal story – did you grow up in a Christian home or how did that come about?

“I grew up in a Christian home, pushed the boundaries like teenagers do but always had a sense of God’s presence in my life. As hard as I pushed it, God was always there…God was always central. I always had, I guess, a barometer of values and beliefs that had been instilled in me but, like most young teenage boys, I decided to push (the boundaries) pretty hard.”

How has having a public Christian profile – particularly having the name of Jesus on the car – how has that opened up opportunities for you to share your faith?

“Well, firstly it’s important to understand that Jesus Racing is pretty evangelistic so we infuse the Christian message within what we do. It’s not about going and converting people and being directly associated with that in terms of handing out tracts and so forth…it’s more of a conversation starter. The whole purpose of Jesus Racing and the ministry is to start the conversation and so having Jesus on the car, there’s no better conversation starter than that. Nearly everybody I meet says ‘Why did you put Jesus on the car?’ So it’s been a great opportunity to talk about the reality of the person of Jesus, the historicity around Him and then the reality that people have to face in their own life – who is Jesus and was He who He said He was? And if He was who He said He was, well then, what’s your response to that? So it’s just that conversation starter and that’s what we challenge everyday Christians about with the whole Jesus Racing ministry – it’s not about necessarily even supporting a race team, it’s supporting the opportunity to open up the conversation with your friends and family and work colleagues in terms of your Christian faith.”

When you have those conversations, what do you think is the greatest misconception people have about what it means to be a Christian?

“The greatest misconception is that you’re not going to be able to live your life any more; that it’s going to all of a sudden change completely who you are as a person. And then probably the other misunderstanding is that they see Christianity as a crutch rather than a competitive advantage. When I talk to them about the fact that if…what Jesus said is true in (that) when He left, He left His Spirit behind to live within us and it’s a Spirit of all knowledge and truth and understanding – that’s actually a competitive advantage in life, not a crutch. And I explain a crutch is a temporary device that helps you in a time of need whereas the Christian faith is something that is lifelong and provides you with the anchor or stability that helps you through life’s difficulties but also helps you enjoy life’s fruits as well – there’s the joy you get from knowing and having relationship with God.”

“Certainly having Jesus plastered over everything I wear and drive is having the responsibility of representing his name well. That’s probably the toughest thing…Christ says we’re to be His essence amongst the unbelievers, the essence of Christ, and that’s a fairly significant responsibility when you stop and think about it.”

Which touches on the idea of some of the advantages of following Christ. But what, for you, is the toughest thing about following Jesus?

“Certainly having Jesus plastered over everything I wear and drive is having the responsibility of representing his name well. That’s probably the toughest thing…Christ says we’re to be His essence amongst the unbelievers, the essence of Christ, and that’s a fairly significant responsibility when you stop and think about it. So if you’re serious about your faith, then that’s a fairly heavy responsibility that you’ve got.”

Tell us a little about the Life Choices program (which the Jesus Racing Team presents to young people in places like high schools and jails on behalf of the Bible Society Australia)?

“Life Choices is a program that has been developed to challenge paradigms of everyday Australians in terms of their thinking around important choices in life. And so we challenge high-school age students in terms of their…decision-making around smoking and drinking and drugs and sex, road safety, social media and spirituality. We don’t tell people what they should and shouldn’t do – the idea is to challenge them to think for themselves and to take away that sense of passiveness that young people seem to have when it comes to decision-making. They sort of make it in groups rather than as individuals…My message to them is very clear that if you go down that path, that’s a path that can led to trouble because if you just take what everybody else is doing as the barometer of what you should be doing, then you’re actually not making decisions that are necessarily right for yourself.

     “(O)n the jail detainee side of it, it’s about understanding that the past is the past and we can’t do a great deal about that but we actually have the opportunity to create a legacy of what we want to leave behind and so therefore, in order to do that, we need to be open to change. And quite often change is not an easy thing – it comes with a sense of pain and loss – but if they don’t change, then they’re going to end up caught up in the cycle that they’re currently caught up with.”

If people want to support the Jesus Racing Team, how can they go about that?

“There’s two ways – obviously, if you enjoy the fact that we promote the name of Jesus positively and boldly as we do in terms of the racing side of things, they can join what we call the Impact Club, which is a supporters club, through www.jesusracing.com.au. And the other way to support (us) is through the Life Choices Foundation which is where we run the program that we run in highschools and jails…Once again, they can get information on that via the Jesus Racing website (look under About Us)…”

Jesus Racing is holding a family event on Saturday, 31st October, from 2pm to 7pm at the Sydney Motorsport Park (Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek – Entry Gate B). The day will feature on-track racing demonstrations by Fishtail, a car show and activities for the whole family. $20 adults, $15 kids (aged two plus), $50 a family (two adults and two kids plus $5 extra child). Book tickets at www.jesusracing.com.au.