Swindell labelled Murcott an “idiot” and claimed he attempted “the dumbest move you could do” in heat 12 on Saturday night.

Murcott, in the Q83, clipped the left rear tyre of Swindell’s USA20 on the first lap of the heat after the pair started side by side on the fifth row of the grid.

The incident prompted the American, the son of sprintcar legend Sammy Swindell, to kick the right front tyre of his rival in anger.

“You want to make sure they know they’re idiots. You go over and give him a tap and tell him he’s stupid and he screwed both of us,” Swindell said.

“I didn’t know he was going to restart. I would’ve tried to find something that would’ve stuffed up his ride as much as mine.”

Murcott was able to continue in the heat. He eventually ran seventh behind winner Rico Abreu and qualified for the B main.

Swindell wasn’t so lucky. Car damage forced him out of the heat. 

He missed the B main and faced an uphill task to recover halfway through the Classic.

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if it had taken him out of it too, but he gets to go on and his night and weekend continues,” Swindell said of Murcott. “But we’re further than what we can dig ourselves out of.

“It was plain stupidity. The first lap of a heat race, we’re all behind slower cars. It’s not going to be tough to drive through if you take time.

“But it wasn’t him even rushing. It was a place he should never have been in and a place there wasn’t room to go.”

Murcott was pragmatic about the collision.

He was adamant he had every right to be where he was on the track.

“He was coming down on me, that’s the way I saw it. I was on the pole line,” he said.

“We’re racing in the Classic. That’s what we’re doing, we’re racing.

“Whether it was his fault or my fault is irrelevant. It cost us both a lot of points.”

Murcott said he enjoyed being part of yet another Classic.

“For me it’s the race track. I think it’s the best race track we have in the country,” he said.

“The town, I’ve always loved coming back to Warrnambool. My wife is from here, so it’s a family thing too.”

afawkes@fairfaxmedia.com.au