But then Terang's Bill Fraser is not your average bloke.

"It was like lawn bowls or golf or draughts and I decided sprintcar racing was a bit more appealing for an old guy," he said.

Fraser, a knockabout bloke with a wicked sense of humour, is preparing to "pluck a feather or two from the crows" at the Australian 360 cubic inch engine sprintcar championship at Murray Bridge tonight.

He said sprintcar racing was about fun and being socia ble.

"There is a buzz racing against blokes a third of your age and when you kick their arses it feels pretty good," he said.

"I'm not competitive by nature but when the adrenalin is fired by methanol, I am."

He said he had a simple approach to racing. "Have no fear, you're a long time dead. "Live the dream and just go out and do it."

It is an approach that pays dividends.

At his last start, he produced a career-best second in the Victorian title at Simpson Speedway.

But it's not a result he expects to replicate tonight and tomorrow in the national championship.

"I will be down the lower third of the field but we'll be trying," he said.

It is his first tilt at a national title.

He had no plans to contest the race until his great mate, former formula 500 driver Trevor Cotterill, an old Terang boy now based in Shepparton, convinced him to change his mind.

Cotterill told him that his greatest memories from racing were at national titles because they weren't just another race, they had special atmospheres.

Fraser and car-owner Cotterill have been sprintcar racing since 2002 on a shoe-string budget, strung a long way by Fraser's mechanical nous. Cotterill said Fraser, a mechanic by trade, completed all the maintenance on the car himself, reconditioning his own parts, instead of sending them to specialists, such were his skills.

He contests about 15 meetings a year but rarely travels interstate.