Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is approximately 50 kilometres south of Auckland City, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe and nearby Bombay Hills form the natural southern limit of the Auckland region. Pukekohe is located within the political boundaries of the Auckland Council, following the abolition of the Franklin District Council on 1 November 2010.

The Māori word puke-kohe means “hill of the kohekohe”, New Zealand’s native mahogany. During the New Zealand Wars, a battle was fought in Pukekohe known as the Defence of Pukekohe East 1863.

Pukekohe is a rural service town for the area formerly known as the Franklin District. It has a population of 26,300 (June 2011 estimate), mainly of European descent, with significant indigenous Māori and ethnic Indian and East Asian communities. There are also a notable amount of people of South African and Dutch descent. The population growth from 2007 to 2008 was 2.2 percent.

Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom, (born 20 May 1981 in Sydney, Australia) is a racing driver who has competed in the V8 Supercar category since 2003. He currently drives for the Ford Performance Racing team. Mark is the son of the 1969 and 1974 Australian Sprintcar Champion and former chairman of the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia, Jim Winterbottom.

He started his motor racing career in 1989 at the age of 8, racing 50cc and 80cc motorbikes, and then moved on to go-karts at the age of 10. He would remain in karts until his early twenties, winning an astonishing 10 Australian Kart Championships and 25 State Karts Championships.

He moved up to the Australian Formula Ford Championship, for the 2002 season, and finished as the runner-up to fellow V8 Supercar racer Jamie Whincup, with five wins and two pole positions. He was given the Rookie of the Year title.

In 2003, Winterbottom moved up to the Konica V8 Supercar series and made an amazing impression with the Stone Brothers Racing team by winning the championship with five round victories and six pole positions. He also made his debut in the V8 Supercar series in the two endurance races at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 sharing on both occasions with Mark Noske. He impressed at Bathurst, running third until he retired at around three-quarter distance.

Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian auto racing driver who competes in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, driving for TeamVodafone. He is a three-time V8 Supercars champion and three-time Bathurst 1000 winner.

Whincup's interest in motor racing commenced at the age of 7 when his father purchased him a go-kart. From 1991 through to 1997, he won numerous Rookie and Junior titles at a state level. He was crowned KartOz Magazine's Karter of the Year and won the FMK Senior Intercontinental A Karting Series in 1998 and the Formula A Series in 1999 before progressing to Formula Ford in 2000.

In 2001 Whincup embarked on the Australian Formula Ford Championship with a team run by his father and Uncle Graeme (a former Sports Sedan star) with mechanical support from fellow V8 Supercar driver Greg Ritter, racing with the Mygale Formula Ford team. After finishing third in his debut year, he moved to Sonic Motorsport for the 2002 season and went on to win the championship convincingly, which secured him his first ever V8 Supercar drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport.