The six-time Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner has an association with the event which stretches across 34 years, making him its most enduring American driver.

But Smith is no fly-in-fly-out out professional, earning the respect of rival drivers, pit crews, fans and local residents during extended campaigns.

The Ohio native with a happy-go-lucky attitude has carved friendships on his annual odyssey Down Under since 1982. 

That unique history will finish when he buckles in is #4 Maxim for one last tilt at winning the race he has dominated.

“I finally made the decision that this will be my last Classic,” the 58-year-old Smith said.

“It was during last year’s Knoxville Nationals I thought ‘I’ll go back to Warrnambool and do it all one last time for the fans’.  

“This is for the fans this time, it’s not about me.”

Smith is quick to admit that although this is his last Classic, he still intends to frequent Australia when he can.

“I’ve got too many good friends not too come back and at least visit,” he said.

The accomplished professional racing car driver’s Classic wins came in 1983, ’85, ’87, ’88, ’89 and 1996 and he has also placed second (1984, 1991, 2001) and third in 1992 and 2002.

During those heady days of the 1980s, Smith quickly stamped his amiable personality on a large crowd during a post-race interview with Premier Speedway commentator Charlie Burley.

As thunderous boos came from the partisan crowd, Smith took to the stage with trademark cigarette in hand and stated, “the louder you boo, the faster I go”.

He still got booed for the next couple of years but it will be a far different response for the American this weekend.

“Yeah, they really were the glory days of racing. I do remember that night and it helped me win a few Classics I reckon,” he said.

Along the way Smith raced against many of the world’s toughest sprintcar drivers, but he rates Australian legend Garry Rush his toughest at Warrnambool.

“He was just so damn hard to pass and just a great opponent to race, particularly in the Classic,” he said.

Smith’s popularity is still immense underlined when he recently arrived in an old Ford ute to race at Simpson Speedway armed with thousands of his racing t-shirts for the farewell races.

“I better sell all these. My wife said before I left, the tax on getting them home will be too much, so come buy a shirt and help an old bloke fund his pension,” he quipped.

Since the early 1980s Smith has been one of the most respected overseas raiders on the Australian circuit. He has become somewhat of a “gun for hire”, blazing a trail across the southern part of the nation, driving for a handful of teams and in various cars.

He is again being hosted by Damian, Marg and Jack Lee, Bill Fraser of Terang and Warrnambool’s Phil Johnson and Michael Daffy while Smith’s nephew Dave is again on the spanners.

Smith has been making the Lees’ Ayrford Road home his own for the past decade and the family wouldn’t want it any other way.

“For 10 years Danny’s been coming out here for me and he just fits in. His memory of things is just unbelievable and he’s part of our sport and our family,” Damian Lee said.

“I’ve followed him for so long. I bring him out and he stays with us because he’s good for the sport and there for all the right reasons.

“He’s helped my son Jack when he’s gone over to the USA to drive his cars and crewing. It works both ways. He’s given back to the sport by going to race at the smaller venues like Laang and Simpson and I like that side of it.

“He’s raced since he was 15 and it’s good that he still enjoys coming here.”

But fans nearly missed this chance to see Smith race in Australia when he suffered a back-breaking crash in Ohio in 2010.

An accident of that magnitude could have ended his career but he was determined to return to the seat again.

“For me though, the doctors still say my back is better than new and stronger than new,” Smith said.

Once he was back in the driver’s seat it didn’t take Smith long to notch his 100th feature race victory.

During that time he’s seen many changes in the sport.

“The worst thing about sprintcar racing is that it’s kind of outgrown its grandstand,” he said.

“You can’t charge those people more money to get in but we need to be racing for more money as costs keep rising, but more prizemoney isn’t really going to happen or escalate gate prices.

“Really, the problem we are facing is getting people in the stands, it’s like we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.” 

Smith’s speedway safari is short this time and includes just four nights of racing and having a good time cruising around the region looking at the farming district.

His legacy in the Classic is legendary – a legacy that saw him inducted into the world-famous Knoxville Raceway National Sprint Car Hall of Fame last May.

“I think the Hall of Fame deal was a lot to do with my success I had in Australia. For sure, that was a major part of it,” he said.