25 best Supercars drivers since 2000: #18 Todd Kelly
As 2025 gets underway, Supercars.com is ranking the top 25 drivers of the last 25 years, continuing with Todd Kelly, who comes in as our #18.
A mainstay of the Supercars Championship throughout the first half of the 21st century, Todd Kelly remains something of an underrated figure in Supercars history.
Kelly was a long-term member of Tom Walkinshaw Racing's Australian operations, debuting in the championship as part of the Holden Young Lions programme in 1999.
The Mildura product then graduated to the Kmart Racing outfit in 2001 as teammate to Greg Murphy, before joining the Holden Racing Team in 2003 alongside Mark Skaife.
Kelly then moved to Perkins Engineering in 2008, before he and brother Rick bought Larry Perkins' famous operation to create Kelly Racing.
Kelly filled the driver's seat until 2017, but remained in the paddock until the Grove family bought into the operation in 2021, before buying the team outright and creating Grove Racing in 2022.
Todd Kelly's key stats since 2000
Years active: 2000-2017
Rounds: 238
Races: 532
Best championship position: 4th (2005)
Best finish: 1st (19 wins)
Top three finishes: 58
Best start: 1st (7 pole positions)
Best Bathurst result: 1st (2005)
The highlight
The undoubted highlight of Todd Kelly's career is his Bathurst 1000 win in 2005 alongside Mark Skaife for the Holden Racing Team.
In his third season at the Clayton factory team, Bathurst had not been kind to the Skaife/Kelly combination, with finishes of eighth and 14th in 2003 and 2004.
However, in 2005 the #2 Commodore VZ was in the game throughout the day, with the Tasman Motorsport Commodore of the late Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup somewhat of a surprise nearest contender.
Kelly played his role to perfection in the middle of the day, handing the car over to Skaife for the run home, with the five-time champion overhauling Richards for the win with 20 laps remaining.
Why we picked him
Although his achievements have been largely overshadowed by those of younger brother Rick Kelly, Todd's CV is not too shabby by any measure.
Having marked himself as a talent to watch at Kmart Racing, it was his HRT days which proved to be the most fruitful of his career.
In five seasons alongside spearhead Mark Skaife, Kelly beat him in the championship in four of those seasons, establishing himself as the top performer at the factory team as Skaife entered the twilight of his career.
Kelly also played an integral role in bringing Nissan into Supercars for the Car of the Future regulations in 2013, and developed a package that proved race-winning in it's first season in the hands of James Moffat.
Nissan proved to be the longest-serving manufacturer outside of the traditional Ford vs Holden duopoly, and his contributions to that program, combined with his on-track prowess get him a spot in our list.
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