LAST October Paul Morris sprung one of the biggest shocks of the V8 Supercars season when he partnered Chaz Mostert to victory in the Bathurst 1000, but this year he is set for something even bigger.

Literally.

The 47-year-old will come out of “semi retirement” to headline the Stadium Super Truck Event at Spotless Stadium at the Sydney Showgrounds on October 31.

Instead of steering a V8 Supercar around Mount Panorama, he will race a V8 hard-nosed, pick-up truck with 600 horsepower.

Rather than negotiating The Cutting, Mountain Straight and The Chase, he will face jumping 10 metres in the air and 80m down the track. 

“The jumps are massive, I’ve been through the air in a race car before, but never purposefully, so it’s going to be pretty amazing,” Morris said.

Morris will drive one of four Australian trucks in the series, which will also feature eight entries from the United States of America.

One of the foreign trucks will be driven by series creator Robby Gordon – the man who controversially robbed Marcos Ambrose of his first NASCAR win in Montreal when he drove into the side of him.

Morris said he “owes” Gordon and intends to settle the score in Sydney.

Given there are no rules restricting what Morris can do on track, just how he goes about settling that score will be interesting to see.

“I think it will be on between myself and Robby, obviously he’s got a lot of experience in those sort of cars, but I think we can adapt and the good thing about it is there are no officials telling you what to do,” Morris said.

“There isn’t any rules, if you have got to use someone up to get past them, land on top of them, flip them over, you’ve got to get to the front. The boys do not hold back. It suits my style I think.

“I have been itching to get into one of Robby Gordon’s trucks since I first saw them a couple of years ago and now I will get my chance. It is going to be a classic USA versus Australia battle and we will be playing for keeps.”

Gordon believes that Morris’ motor sport experience – which also includes a Bathurst 12 Hour win in 2007 and Bathurst 1000 class victories in 1991 and 1994 – will serve him well.

“Paul Morris is one of the best racers Australia has produced and he has proven he can drive just about anything,” Gordon said.

“He will be great in a Stadium Super Truck and although it normally takes any driver a little time to dial in, I have no doubt he will be very competitive. Having the reigning Bathurst champion in the show proves how big this is going to be.

“I’m pumped to have a guy of his calibre as part of the series. It seems the Australian fans have a love-hate relationship with Paul, but I’m sure they will be cheering for him against the drivers from the US in October.”