This is a story about Grant Denyer.

“We first noticed he was wired up wrong when he tried to do a donut on the Massey Ferguson. He was only about 8 at the time and couldn’t see around the exhaust stack” explained his Uncle David who runs the family farming property “Oakleigh” near Temora in South Western NSW.

This is where Grant Denyer learnt to drive; tractors, trucks, farm Ute’s, motorbikes and go karts. “Once he did get the hang of the Massey tractor, he would hitch up the grader, find my best clover paddock and try and re-create Mt Panorama practising the kart for days on end.”

Grant was born around motor sport. He started karting at 16 and always had a dream of driving at Bathurst. Early karting years were met with some success, culminating with a NSW State title and some top 10 qualifying performances at the Karting Nationals.

His first media opportunity came at Prime Television Wagga following a work experience stint after high school. His passion for speed continued. Grants first ever car race was at Mt Panorama. The 1999 GTP 3 hour in a Mazda 626 with Tom Watkinson, where on debut in practise he bunkered the car in the sand at the Chase, ‘hell of a track to learn how to heel and toe on,” he quipped. Race day was much better with a podium finish for second outright in his class. Second to Steven Richards and Greg Murphy who won in an Astra. They went on to win the big one the next day for K Mart Racing.

The new V8 Brute series was created by father Craig in 2001 just the class for a country boy who learnt to flat change in the farm Ute. With backing from VIP Pet foods, this was Grants first serious racing effort and he finished the year as the seasons highest placed rookie, 4th outright, with a pole at Bathurst and another podium. “I remember the first round at the Clipsal 500 in the final race the left hand front brake pad fell out and I hit Rod Wilson’s Commodore and the concrete wall head on at the corner leading on to the main straight. The airbag went off and the whole cabin turned white. I thought I had died and gone to heaven….. After about 30 seconds the dust and noised settled however the remnants of the airbag had covered my helmet. Slowly, new light emerged as it was being peeled back and suddenly the concerned face of Rod Wilson appeared. I knew he was good in a race car, but I certainly knew he wasn’t God!”

He continued in the V8 Ute series for 4 years. Winning the Dunlop Trophy series, with a number of race wins and lap records. Continued sampling of his sponsor’s product however was talking its toll. With a penchant for chasing cars, lifting his leg round telegraph poles, and scratching his belly while shaking a leg vigorously. And so the nickname was born…. “Mad Dog” Denyer.

Grant had moved from Prime TV to TEN in Melbourne and then Sydney to take up a role as news presenter and pit lane reporter/commentator for TENS Motorsport coverage. “At least I had made it to the Bathurst 1000. I just needed to get on the other side of the wall and in a car,” Grant stated.

The 24 Hour Race at Bathurst in 2003 saw Grant team up with Tony Quinn and the VIP Pet Foods Team again finishing second in Class and 6th outright in a Porsche Carrera, “a spectacular event on just the best track in the world.”

Summit Fleet Leasing played a major role in Grants motor racing development – taking over as Naming Rights Partner when VIP Pet Foods elected to concentrate on developing their new Porsche series. The association with the Ute’s was Summits first major involvement in the sport which has led to a number of associations with leading race teams over the past 5 years.

In 2004 a move to the SEVEN Network to present the weather on SUNRISE saw a dramatic career change and the opportunity to do his own thing. “I was given the brief to create my own niche and do what I wanted, a very large gamble by any Network and to turn the weather segment into a piece of must watch TV. I was so scared about being a weatherman not only the thought of the being lost into early morning TV oblivion but at 165 cm, how the hell would I reach Darwin on the weather map!”

The SUNRISE show kicked, SEVEN went to Number One, and Grant travelled Australia in the SUNRISE weather wagon giving national exposure to interesting events, colourful Australian characters, as well as small and unique communities. “It was an amazing part of my life, it was hard work. We actually drove from location to location every day. I spent 25,000 kilometres behind the wheel of the weather wagon, setting a new lap record for Recreational Vehicles around Bathurst on the way.”

At the end of 2004, Dick Johnson was testing out his new V8 Telecom phone network and just happened to dial Grants phone. Never to miss an opportunity and with all the persistence of a Mumbai telemarketer, by the end of the call Grant had convinced Dick to give him a drive in the V8 Fujitsu series for the next 2 years, culminating in a Sandown and Bathurst Enduro run in 2006 with the legendary team.

Phil Jones, General Manager of Summit also grabbed the opportunity to raise the profile of the Summit brand and agreed to continue to support the team and the Summit Fleet Leasing Ford became a real hit at the Clipsal 500 in 2005, in more ways than one.

“Covering a cyclone up north for SUNRISE prevented me from getting back to Qld Raceway for any pre season testing, so I arrived in Adelaide without ever having sat in a V8 Supercar even the key was in a different position to the Massey Ferguson!”

Practise 1 and 2 went well. However it all came undone during qualifying when the Summit Fleet Leasing Ford became air born at the first chicane spearing head first into the wall. Scratch one Ford for the weekend and despatch the driver to hospital with torn shoulder tendons and fractured wrist. “The pain I could deal with, facing Dick back in the pits was the issue and he took great delight in saying all was forgiven while shaking my injured hand with the tenacity of a heavyweight prize fighter.”

From that point on the Summit Ford qualified in the top 10 at every round, finished 10th in the series earning Grant the Mike Kable V8 Supercar Rookie of the Year Award, and he went on to be awarded the CAMS Motor Sport Personality of the Year Award, a popular fan based vote. “I was also given the opportunity to race at Misano Italy in the World Mini Challenge, qualifying alongside Alex Zanardi and finishing 6th in a classy field of former F1, Indy and World Sports Car champions. One of my most treasured memories in motor sport is dicing with and being shoved off the track numerous times by the Great Zanardi. It was probably more rewarding than even winning the race.”

2006 and with Grants TV profile on the rise a different sort of challenge was offered by the Network on SEVEN’S Dancing with the Stars. “You’ve got to be Kidding? I’m so small that when I am dancing with a woman who has large breasts, I can’t even hear the band, how am going to do this?” Problem solved with an introduction to an even smaller human dynamo, Amanda Garner from Shepparton in Victoria. Delivering record television ratings for the Network, Grant and Amanda danced their way to the Grand final in a winner take all knock out against World Boxing Champion Kostya Kzu. “I remember Kostya’s encouraging words as we prepared for the final dance. No matter what happens tonight Grant, I know were you live!” With four perfect ten’s and the support of over two million viewers, Grant and Amanda were awarded the trophy. “I have never worked so hard in my life. To balance the early morning SUNRISE commitments with my motor racing, and train 6 hours a day was exhausting, however I will always credit the win to Amanda, her partner and brother who did all the routines, and pushed us all the way. Amanda was the book, I just turned the page.”

The Summit Fleet Leasing Ford also had good speed during 2006, with many top five finishes and although Grant didn’t do all rounds due to TV commitments, he still finished Top 9 in the series. Sandown and Bathurst rolled around and after being paired with Alex Davison in the DJR Ford, they finished 14th at Sandown and a magical 9th at Bathurst again Grant placed as the highest finishing rookie. “We were top 3 at Bathurst and were on track to finish in the top 5 when Alex had his belts pop open coming down Conrod Straight under green, a quick stop to fix dropped us back but we were over the moon with the result.”

In 2007 with a new team under the Ford Rising Stars banner didn’t deliver the results Grant expected in V8 Supercars, although he did finish 15th at Bathurst with the WPS Team and was running 8th at Sandown when the engine dropped a cylinder. He drove for the Subaru Team in the Bathurst 12 HR production car race, finishing 3rd in class and 5th outright and has done a number of tarmac rally’s, finishing in the top 20 at Targa Tasmania, second in the Suncoast Rally in Queensland, and 3rd at the Mt Buller Sprint. “I was running second to Jim Richards Porsche in the Rally of Burnie; we had a brake issue and left the road, clobbering a tree. It was a real wake up call and set a new level of respect for guys like Jimmy.”

His TV commitments have continued to soar hosting Australia’s Got Talent, It Takes Two, Carols in the Domain and the new Dare Denyer segment on SUNRISE.

“I swam with great white sharks off South Australia, free fell from the top of Auckland’s tallest tower, covered in a coffin of cockroaches, run through the main street of Bathurst in Borats mankini all in the name of entertainment and for who??? No one knows the angst I go through internally and I know if the cameras weren’t rolling, I simply couldn’t do it”

With 5 Guinness World Records to his name, including the worlds longest bungee jump from a helicopter, “Mad Dog” has well and truly earned his nickname.

The early years on the farm are an important part of his heritage. He recently returned to Ariah Park, a small village of 600 people near the family farm ravaged by seven years of drought to host the town’s centenary celebrations. Grant hosted a local version of “The Towns Got Talent” to a packed hall anxious to forget the failing crops and increasing bank foreclosures. To them he will always be the kid that tore up his Uncle’s clover paddock in his quest to one day make it to Bathurst.

To view Grant’s website go to http://grantdenyer.com.au/