Frosty the supercars legend and his race to the top of Mount Panorama

Mark Winterbottom grew up in outer Western Sydney, in a family with not much money to spend on expensive hobbies. But by an extraordinary twist of fate, Mark won his first mini motorbike in a shopping centre raffle at the age of 8.

Immediately, he was off, speedily rising up from bikes to kart racing, and then to V8 Supercars.

Mark won race after race, earning him the nickname 'Frosty'.

But for years, he could not wrestle the infamous Bathurst 1000 trophy from the hands of his great rival, Jamie Whincup.

Then, in 2013, after six hours roaring around the track, in the final lap, the two of them went bumper to bumper, fighting for first place in an electrifying finish.

Frosty is published by HarperCollins.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris, executive producer is Nicola Harrison.

It explores motorsports, supercars, F1, Ford, Holden, Bathurst, cancer, death of a parent, grief, love, marriage, fatherhood, Owen Wilson, Cars the movie, Disney, Pixar, voice over acting, driving, crash, memo0ir, writing books, origin story, raising boys, childhood sweetheart.

To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.