[Photo by: Ralph Smith}

Every now and then in this game, you meet someone and think, yeah he gets it and you walk away from a conversation with him or her and are better for it. Maybe you learnt something, and we can all learn a little something from Bobby Owens. Across the ditch they have a guy called Bob Shepherd, affectionately know as "The Quarter Mile Smile", and seeing as the Aussies claim Phar Lap, Pavlova and Crowded House, I think we should steal one back as the quarter mile smile is the perfect way to describe Bob and wife Wendy. In the dictionary next to his name would be the words humble, unassuming, as honest as the day is long, and yet in the fine print below it is likely to read something like "If you cross the stripe ahead of Bobby, you've earned it". You see, he's not only all of the above, but in his 4 decades of racing he's learnt a trick or two and he knows his cars, knows their limits and how to put them right on a number more often than not, and in the world of modern day DYO Wild Bunch racing that makes for a killer combo.

One of the original Wild Bunch cars, Bobs 1964 XM in his own words, is to good to do what he's done to it, and in fact started life as his wife's car with the early intention of maybe running in the 8 second range. Well as with anything that evolves over time, the XM is now the BB/TS record holder in the 7.3 second range, and probably has as many laps on it as the Tynan 55. After being parked for the last 4 years it now has a new place to play and the sport is better for it. 509 cubes of standard bore BBC with a supercharger spun 19 over creates around 20-25 pounds of boost with the manually shifted Lenco meaning Bob is busy for all those 7.3 seconds.

Wife Wendy is always by Bob's side and just as much a fixture as Bob and the XM, and along with Patrick Oldfield, Grant and Brad Tynan and originally Craig (Haggis) O'Hanlon, this laid back bunch spend their day at the drags as everyone should , enjoying it no matter what.

Bobby won the inaugural Blown Doorslammer Challenge in 2008.

Age: 60
Day job: Milking System Installation and Maintenance
Daily driver: XR8 Ute
Dumbest way you've hurt yourself : Injured pride probably rolling his overpowered T bucket (still smiled though)
Name a store you would max out your credit card: Shannons Classic Car Auction buying his wife her standard XM back
What movie title best describes you : Mad Max, although Goodfellas would aptly describe the whole team.