Car Number: 50
Country: New Zealand
Age: 79
Kiwi motor racing legend Kenny Smith will line up for his 50th New Zealand Grand Prix in the 66th running of the event at Hampton Downs early next year.
Smith – a three-time winner of the iconic race – continues to defy his age as he mixes it with the best young talent in the world season after season. The 79-year-old is the first confirmed entry into the 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix but he is adamant he’s not hanging in there just to rack up numbers.
“It is exciting. I don’t do things for numbers but people relate to that number,” Smith said of his 50th start. “It is 63 years this season in January without missing a season and we have done most GPs. I just love motor racing.”
And he has no idea when it will stop. “It was like when I got to 30 years of driving and I thought I would carry on and get to 35 and then when I got there I thought I would get to 40,” Smith explained. “Now it is up to 63 but it just keeps going because of a love of the sport. Most people would have got bored of it by now but not me.”
The New Zealand Grand Prix has witnessed some of the most memorable racing on New Zealand shores and has featured some of the all-time greats of the sport. In a remarkable career, Smith has been a witness to most of that history first-hand.
