After 57 years of single-seater motor racing, no-one can keep Kenny Smith down.
Even at the age of 73, he still fancies driving in his 50th New Zealand Grand Prix (NZGP).
Yesterday, he was busy beavering on the phones trying to tee up a drive in a Toyota Racing Series car for the 60th NZGP at Manfeild on Sunday.
If the Aucklander pulls it off, it will be his 48th NZGP.
“Chances are a bit slim unless someone pulls the plug,” he said.
“I haven’t given up hope.”
He was annoyed last year when he couldn’t get to drive one of two spare cars and was absent from the grid for the first time since 1964.
“I want to do it badly,” Smith said. “I’m still hanging in well.
“I get my aches and pains but when I’m in the car I don’t complain about things. I keep race fit by doing it all year round.”
Some feat for a gent who had a triple bypass heart operation in 1987. His longevity, he was born in 1941, must be one of the great stories of New Zealand sport. He had a serious prang at Manfeild when he hit the pit wall at high speed in 2011 in his beloved Formula 5000 car, the ex-Danny Ongais 1974 Lola T332. Smith will be back in it for the final F5000 round at Manfeild, likely to to win all three races off the rolling starts.
Anyone who doubts that should hark back to the two Howard Ganley F5000 Festival meets at Hampton Downs last month when Smith won six from six.
That Lola was rebuilt from the chassis up by John Crawford in Christchurch and engine damage had to be repaired last year.
“It’s looking brand new. It’s better than a new car – our cars are always looking good,” Smith said.
Smith and his crew are meticulous about their cars, not a speck of dust on them.
“Half of the cars don’t get the maintenance done on them properly.”
The Lola is humming to such an extent Smith intends breaking his Manfeild track record of 61.7 seconds. “I think we can get it down to 60 something.”
In the fourth lap of practice at Hampton Downs, he recorded 59.2 seconds, and he said it felt like an easy cruise. “Drive them easy and quiet; people get too aggressive.”
He also has a Lola T400 but will probably sell it back to Australia from where it came. He has also won three of the Libre series in a Formula Atlantic car.
Smith has won the past three national F5000 titles, but isn’t chasing points this time.
He disagreed with the first two rounds going to Australia and didn’t bother going to Christchurch last week.
“Manfeild is my old home and I’m just happy to get out there.”
At Manfeild he always had two trophies to present on behalf of his late parents.
There is the Maurie Smith Memorial Trophy to the Formula Ford driver who has the most points at Manfeild, and the Dorothy Smith Memorial Cup after the NZGP in honour of his mother who collapsed at Manfeild six years ago and died aged 92
*Kenny Smith has won three NZGPs, in 1976, 1990 and as a 62-year-old in 2004.
Feilding’s Tim Rush won’t be driving his McLaren 22 at Manfeild because of damage sustained racing at Hampton Downs last month.
