I’m not one wax poetic about how much better racing was when there was very little driver assistance, but I’ve often wondered what racing would be like if we took away radios just for one race. In Jamie Whincup’s case, he didn’t need a damn thing to help him take the win at the Supercars Townsville SuperSprint event.

Whincup did have the advantage of starting from pole for the event, but his radio flickered out just 10 laps into the 39-lap competition. That pole position proved to be damn promising, considering that a significant took place on the starting lap.

By the time he took the checkered flag, he had amassed a 6.8 second lead over second place.

That said, it did lead to some chaos. Whincup wasn’t sure if he actually saw the flag, which saw him pull up to the after the race instead of into the pit lane, as it mandated.

“We lost radio about Lap 10, I was screaming at the guys to put the [pit] board out,” Whincup said. “And then I didn’t get the checkered flag; he sort of had it out but he didn’t know if it was me or not. I remember the old man said to keep going until you get the checkered flag, so I kept going. I was just trying to wing it with no radio.”

Ultimately, Whincup took the checkered flag twice, resulting in a fine from the :

Following a post-race Race Director investigation and an admission by Car #88, Jamie Whincup, of a breach of the End of Race Procedures for Race 19, the Stewards imposed a fine of $2,000 on Car #88, Jamie Whincup, $1,000 of which is suspended until 31 December 2020.

I’d take a few thousand dollar fine in exchange for one hell of a win any day.