Instead, Wanaka man Patrick Rietveld was the last man standing in the Central Motor Speedway demolition derby in Cromwell last weekend, winning the race in a beaten-up Toyota Caldina painted like a police car.
Rietveld (23) said the police car paint job was "a good way to get attention" and he raced without any clear strategy.
"I just winged it. From the very beginning I tried not to hit cars with the engine end of my car. But when the adrenaline kicked in I just went into autopilot and went for it."
Rietveld, who works as a chef in Wanaka, does not usually race speedway but said the demolition derby was a great way to "have a bit of fun".
A "real crowd pleaser", the demolition derby was held once every Central Motor Speedway season and was the last race in the speedway’s final meet for the year on Saturday, club president Daryl Ainsley said.
The meet was called the Ron Spriggs Memorial Meeting in honour of the late Ron Spriggs, whose "vision and tenacity" had created the speedway in 1980, Mr Ainsley said.
Spriggs ran the speedway for 11 years until illness forced him out of active involvement, and he died in 1996, just days shy of his 54th birthday, Mr Ainsley said.
He paid tribute to Spriggs’ "hard work and foresight" and to the contribution the speedway had made since to the Cromwell district.
Special Ron Spriggs memorial trophies were awarded to the winners of all classes at the meet, and Spriggs family members attending said it was great to see the speedway continuing after all the hard work that had been put into it.
