Why is Frank Tundo, at 75, still racing in rally cars when his age mates have long faded away?
“I don’t know. Yes, I am lucky enjoying good health and I have nothing much else to do but tinker with cars and race them, sometimes with my children and their children,” says the long-time largescale grain farmer.
He recently moved to his retirement home in the plains of Lolldaiga in Laikipia where wild game roam freely in the open but still spends long hours locked in his garage attending to his machines just like his father taught him many years back.
“My secret medicine is to keep away from lawyers and doctors. You should avoid them at all costs.” he says.
“My doctor gave up on me. He says I am a walking tomb and I shouldn’t be walking. I know why. My lawyer too. At the end of the day you have to cough something to these people. The other bad lot are politicians. They are full of treachery,” grinned Tundo good naturedly.
This weekend will be very important for Tundo as he celebrates the third edition of RX Rally Cross Championship he co-founded with his famous rally driving son Carl Tundo and his regular navigator Tim Jessop at the Kasarani Stadium outdoor motor racing track.
The three started the RX in 2022 soon after the junior Tundo and Jessop scaled down their active competition in motorsport following a double Kenya and Africa title wins.
Frank Tundo quenches at Nanyuki during the 10th Edition of East African Safari Classic Rally in Nanyuki on February 11, 2022.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
They decided to do something for motorsport by attracting competitors who are unable, for various reasons, to race in the Kenya national championship.
They came up with a new concept of mixed tarmac and rough terrain surface racing around a circuit, their first stop being the Machakos People Park surrounding land, and called it RX.
A team of four competitors divided into a veteran, retired, active and rookie categories share the same car, driving in turns as they combine speed, navigation and car control skills to get the better of their opponents.
There are veterans like 1994 WRC Safari Rally Champion Ian Duncan, national champion Baldev Chager, Azad Anwar and Tundo who give direction practically. Then there are upcoming speedsters led by Hamza Anwar and very young rookies, the best example being Joseph Gacheche who is also Tundo's senior team mate.
All the four pool resources to compete. Two rounds of RX sponsored by Betika, Aquarist , NCBA Bank, Kabras Sugar, Events Africa and JCB Ganatra have been held this year with the grand finale this weekend at Kasarani.
This weekend’s event should set the tone for the two season closing races -- the Guru Nanak Equator Rally Championship Rally in Sony Athi (November 16-18) and the Jim Heather Hayes (JHH) Memorial Classic in Nanyuki (December 13-15).
Tundo has been busy organizing the JHH with a few friends. The has received an overwhelming number of entry request. Entries are capped at 60.
“I am doing what I love most and the reason I volunteered to organize the rally is that they have also allowed me to compete. I won’t be classified, and we are calling the JHH a clubman rally just for fun. I hope my grandson Oscar will navigate me if he won’t be busy.”
The father and daughter team of Frank and Tash Tundo power forward during the ARC Uganda Rally at the weekend. Being the best Kenyan Finish.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
“But stay with wananchi. They are good people. Animals are also very good” says Tundo, a well-known and liked farmer in Nakuru and surrounding areas for being a man of the people.
Tundo’s role in farming circles around Nakuru remains unappreciated but he confesses he has helped many small scale farmers for as long as he can remember.
You see, Tundo’s father emigrated to Nakuru in 1956 from Libya where Tundo was born after the end of World War II, to work for a lady farmer called Pam Scott.
Frank Tundo and his colleague Quentine Thompson on the Meru -Embu highway near Siakago.
Photo credit: File| Nation Media Group
“My dad used to fix tractors and other machines in Nakuru and Menengai before he purchased his own farm and started farming while still fixing people’s machines,” Tundo recalls.
“He became well known and after independence became a trusted farm equipment maintenance expert at Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s farm in Ngata and other white farmers in the Nakuru region .” The senior handed his son Frank Tundo the same craft.
Tundo, the farmer noted with time that the price of their final product was determined by middlemen who reaped where they had not sown.
“Farming is not a lucrative business. It requires patience and favourable weather. You are never lucky always,” says Tundo who sold his silos to Cargill, in 2015.
Cargill, is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka.
He recently relocated to Loldaiga. “The air is fresh and I have peace of mind up here with amazing people. I am able to work on my rally machines,” he simply says.
Tundo first competed in the Safari Rally in 1972 aged 23 finishing 16th overall navigated by Bruce Filed in a Datsun 1600 SSS.
He has raced in Kenya, Britain and New Zealand. His last competitive outing was in UK and New Zealand in a Triumph last year for the Global Classics Championships (GCC) for old cars.
“I have convinced Mike Kirkland to come over, he is only 77 and competing in JHH would be fun. And I will also go see Doughtyless and try to bring him to the rally.” “Who is Doughtyless?”
“Aha! That is Mike Doughty, once my navigator in New Zealand.” Doughty is the four times Safari Rally winning navigator for Shekhar Mehta. He lives in retirement at a home for the aged in Nairobi.
“We called him Doughtyless because he was doubtless to a fault on reading pace notes. If he said you go left, go left.”
The Tundo family has been involved in motorsport for five decades. His son Carl has earned the nickname “Flash” for obvious reason while his daughter Tash is an accomplished driver and rally organizer.
His grandchildren are coming up nicely in the sport. Exciting Billy Tundo will race in the RX under-15 category today. Car racing indeed runs in the family.
