Kenny toots it witt - 8 7 vanu Knockin' on the door of 50 By Lindsay Kerr New Zealand's most dedicated single seater racing driver in the past 20 years, was a deserved recipient of an OBE when the Queen's birthday honours list was announced. In receiving the award for services to motorsport, Ken Smith, of Auckland, becomes only the second person in New Zealand to have been honoured for his services to the sport. The other was Ron Frost who in the 1960s received an MBE for his role as an administrator. With the steady decline in single seater racing in New Zealand over the past 10 years, Smith has been one driver who has continued to support the annua! international series and in spite of his iong tenure at the top he has never given anything but his best each time he has stepped into a racing car. Success Such is the little Aucklander's dedication to single seater racing thai, along with another stalwart of New Zealand motor racing, Graeme Lawrence, kne pair are involved in an ambitious project which, 11 successful, will produce much bigger fields for the 1988 international series: The winner of the Lady Wigram Trophy race in 1976 at the wheel of a Lola Formula 5000, Smith was still in the line up for the 1987 race where he came home third. Now, at the age of 45, Smith has been racing for more than half his life. He began competing in hillclimbs with a Ford 8 special before moving on in 1961 to an Ulster Austin 7, the same car that had given Bruce Mcharen Dis start in motorsport nine years earlier. His father, worrie, was a keen racing driver in those days and in 1962 and '63 father and son shared the driving of a Holden-powered sports car. In 1964 they moved on to the single seater classes with a 1500cc Lola with Morrie retiring mid-season, leaving the wheel to Ken. In 1965 came the first of several Lotus cars with Ken quickly proving that he was good enough to be a front-runner at each outing. The first Lotus, a pushrod model, was campaigned for three seasons before being replaced by the Lotus 41 twincam. the national formula championship of 1970. When the days of the formula 5000 arrived, Smith continued to campaign a lesser-powered March, but made the switch in 1975 to the Lola 1332. His second year in the Lola was perhaps Smith's best year of racing. He won the New Zealand international champion- PLE GARCO, LIN Kenny Smith driving a Rait RT4 at Wigram last year. ship and then went to Australia and finished in second place in the series there. His winning of the Lady Wigram Trophy race that year resulted in him posting a race average speed of 186.21km/h. That speed was then, and remains today, the fastest in the 38-year history of the race When Formula Pacifie replaced the Formula 5000, Smith mas a reluctant convert but be nevertheless lined up in the new category with a March 76B. He was second in the national Gold Star series the following year with a new March 782B but fell away in 1980 and 81, finishing sixth both years. With the class turning almost exclusively to Ralt Rits. Smith quickly became the master of his machine and in 1984 and '85 he again mon the Gold Star championships. Professional When the Gold Star championships ceased, Smith continued to race in the New Zealand international serics. Every year, in spite of being out of practice, he has come out and raced against • many of the young professional drivers from the other side of the world, and footed it with them at every turn of the wheel. However, at the end of the 1986 series it was a disappointed Smith who finished the series well down on the points ladder. "I guess its time to buy a new car again and put a stop to these young iellows winning all the time. " be said. True to his word, Smith was out in 1987 Fith a new car, finishing third at wigram and fourth overall in the series. In addition to motor racing, Ken Smith's interests lie with thoroughbreds of another sort. Horses are also very close to his heart and throughout the years he has owned and raced some winners. One in particular found its name from the motor racing scene, Cosworth. Motor racing in New Zealand salutes Kenny Smith. His skill, determination and no-nonsense approach have been rewarded by this timely honour. PUS Kenny Smith... up with the young professionals.