AT NEARLY 71 years of age, Len Don reckons he's slowing down, but as a bystander it's pretty hard to tell.

Just two days ago, Mr Don was tearing around the Morgan Park track at speeds up to 165kmh in his 1973 Formula Ford and wishing his car was faster.

Go back a couple of weeks and he was taking on all five races in the annual 42km Pentath-run.

Then on any given night of the week he can be found at the squash courts on Guy St, teaching a lesson in guile and placement to men and women much, much younger.

Mr Don insists he is slowing down a little, but said he had no plans to stop.

"I'm still getting out there," he said.

"I'm forever trying to get the best out of myself.

"That's my whole sporting mantra; the personal satisfaction that comes from doing your best.

"I don't mind getting beaten as long as I get the best out of myself, I still like to win, just as long I play well."

Born in Brisbane in 1945 and growing up in Townsville, Mr Don said he completed primary and some secondary there before heading back to Brisbane to finish his schooling.

"It took me a while to figure out a career path," he said.

"Maths was something I was reasonably good at, so I eventually settled on engineering.

"Unusually for an engineer I was good at English as well, which is a plus - I don't care what profession you're in, if you can't sell your ideas, if you can't convince somebody, it won't get done."

Mr Don spent four years at the University of Queensland studying engineering under a scholarship from the Brisbane City Council.

"Without that I wouldn't have been able to go to university," Mr Don said.

"Then upon graduation I took a role at BCC as an engineer in the water supply and sewerage department.

"And I spent rest of working life in the water industry, with and for BCC, largely delivering waste water and water treatment plants.

"I did that from 1967 to 2008, 41 years in the job."

In 2008, after his retirement, Len and his partner Gayle moved to Warwick to take over Gayle's grandparents' property on the south-west fringe of town.

"I was happy to get out of Brisbane," Mr Don said.

"I was tired of the big city and the traffic and we were very lucky to be given the option of the farm and that larger block of land in the country.

Mr Don runs most mornings, and is contemplating entering marathon number 24, and when he can he hits the track in his historic racer, something he's been doing since getting his racing licence at 63.

Mr Don said he loves living in Warwick.

"But I'm very keen to see we don't lose the balance between development and maintenance of the community values that the town has," he said.

"It's a great area and I want to see it stay that way, but it also can't stagnate, it must move forward.

"It's a fine balance."