Seven-time Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner Garry Rush reflects on career ahead of 50th running of the iconic Australian race

Australian speedway great Garry Rush - the only person to win seven South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic titles - remains behind the wheel at 78.

But these days instead of hurling a sprintcar around dirt tracks, both in Australia and America, the grandfather-of-three has wife of 57 years Kay beside him in the passenger seat and is towing a caravan.

The New South Welshman spends his days chasing the sun.

"We plan on going right around Australia this year and when winter comes we'll be heading towards Darwin and the Kimberley," he told The Standard from Queensland earlier this month.

Rush is new to retired life. He worked at his automotive business in Sydney until his mid 70s.

"I loved doing what I was doing," he said.

He admits he's taken time to adjust to having time on his hands, saying he's "not that good" at being a retiree.

"I like to stay busy," Rush said.

"I lived on adrenaline for 40 years - that's the most serious drug I've ever had."

Still, being on the road, is something he and Kay are accustomed to.

During his long and decorated sprintcar career the couple, which has two children, spent countless hours driving to different racing tracks across the country chasing victories.

"I just let Garry do what he wanted to do, travel to America each year, for him to become what he became," Kay said. "It was just a lovely lifestyle."

Names of yesteryear will be lauded when the classic celebrates its 50^th anniversary at Premier Speedway on Sunday night.

Rush, who plans to be track-side, will be among those discussed as one of the best.

His enviable record - he won the classic in 1976, '77, '79, 1980, '84, '86, 1990 and made the podium for the final time in '97 - will take some beating.

American Danny Smith - one of his great rivals - won six.

Nine of the 10 races in the 1980s featured either Rush, Smith or both on the podium, including five one-two finishes, as they created one of the sport's intriguing battles.

"I am very proud of it. It is a good feeling when people say you've won it seven times and more than anyone else I suppose," Rush said of his feat.

"I just did it a lot longer than anyone else.

"I've had my ups and downs there. I've had some down times there, I've had a lot of good times there.

"I remember towing the car there by myself I think. The first night I arrived there I was on my own and my crew turned up later."

Memories from specific race battles have faded over time but the thrill still lives within.

The 1980s was a decade dominated by patriotism.

Australia won yachting's America's Cup and Men at Work's famous hit Land Down Under became our official national anthem in 1983.

World Series Cricket and the C'mon Aussie jingles were being sung in backyards across the land and at speedways, promoters were hyping up Australia versus America duels.

Americans won seven of the 10 classics contested in the 1980s but rather Aussies versus Americans it was Americans against one man - Rush.

Rush won Australia's three and in 1984 when he bullocked his way to the lead exiting turn two after he and Smith started from the front row, the crowd's roar was electric.

Perhaps Rush's most famous victory was his last in 1990 when he roared off the turn four high line, surging past Max Dumesny in a photo finish.

Rush was the king of the Premier Speedway clay then and Dumesny the heir apparent.

The stunned crowd who had counted down the laps as Dumesny looked destined to claim his first classic didn't know whether to cheer or cry in the seconds after the flag dropped.

For Rush those wins were the culmination of a life dedicated to the sport.

"I was an apprentice motor mechanic and like most kids - they become rev-heads - and I was a typical rev-head," Rush said.

"I wanted to go fast like most young kids do and one Sunday afternoon I went to the speedway in Sydney and said 'I can do that' and have been doing it ever since."

Victory was the main goal - "if it's a major race, you want to win it" - but Rush knows his tally isn't his alone with John Barrett and the late Bob Crelley among his crew while Kay's influence was integral.

"What makes a good sprintcar driver is the people he's got around him - it's very important," he said.

"It's a team effort and the driver probably gets the easiest job most of the time."

Speedway remains a strong interest for Rush who has witnessed the cars "advance over the past 30 years" as they have become "lighter and lighter".

He encourages Australian drivers - if they have the means and support - to test themselves on the gruelling United States' circuits which feature more races than on home soil.

"The sport of speedway has been my life and it's done me no harm," Rush said.

"As someone told me, it's always downhill on the way home if you win and if you don't win, it's always uphill."

All roads lead to Premier Speedway on the outskirts of Warrnambool each January.

As a competitor Rush concedes he had his blinkers on but he now allows himself to enjoy everything the seaside city has to offer.

"I only just recently - two or three years ago - realised what a lovely place Warrnambool was," he said.

"When you go there to race, all you're thinking about is racing and you're 100 per cent concentrating on what you're going to do at the racetrack."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: