mmg.com.au

At 76 years of age newly inducted Shepparton District Car Club life member Stan Nixon could be forgiven for slowing down, but the 33-year club veteran insists he has plenty of time left behind the racing wheel.

‘‘Try and stop me,’’ Nixon said.

Hill climbs, time trial sprints, autocross, motorkhanas — Nixon has done it all and on Monday night he was recognised for his achievements and services to the club as one of only a handful of life members.

‘‘I was very surprised last night, I never had an inkling about it,’’ Nixon said.

‘‘It was quite an honour really after 30-odd years of playing around with cars.’’

Nixon first took an interest in car racing when he he took his family to watch a rallying event in the region about 35 years ago.

It sparked a lifelong interest for him and his entire family, which included a wife, two sons and two daughters, who all enjoyed driving.

In all that time, Nixon has had only two cars.

The first was a Datsun 1600, which he said the family would take out and ‘‘run all day’’, before he put it back in the garage at night.

Fifteen years later he upgraded to a Nissan March that he inherited from his son.

It was one of two purchased to rally in Malaysia and after a run of success it was retired, until Nixon ‘‘got it up and going again’’.

Five years ago he retired from his lifelong occupation as a dairy farmer, but remains committed to racing.

He said it was the camaraderie that had given him the drive to stay involved with the sport.

That and the fact he still had a few tricks up his sleeve on the track.

‘‘They’re all good mates, they help you and you help them,’’ he said.

‘‘The club is very strong at the moment; there are young ones coming in and that’s the hardest part, to get them interested.

‘‘Many of them think you need a top-class car to compete, but that’s not the case, there are always tricks you can learn.

‘‘Around here they say not to try and overtake me on a corner no matter how fast your car is because they know I’ll just take over.’’