- Story by Sean McIntyre Photography by Don Denton

David Smith is a hard man to reach, but that should have been obvious based on his bio: 鈥渆ntrepreneur, builder, racer, adventure-seeker and so much more.鈥�

Smith has been an entrepreneur on the Saanich Peninsula since the early 1980s. His company, Professional Components Ltd., employs more than 50 full-time workers in the Sidney area and produces high-end, custom marine suspension seating for power boats and off-road vehicles.

Customers include the Canadian and US Coast Guards, the RCMP and a roster of international military and commercial organizations and acclaimed racers. Overseeing a company with global reach from a Saanich-area industrial park would be enough of a task on its own, but that鈥檚 only the tip of Smith鈥檚 exciting and high-powered life.

鈥淚鈥檝e always had a passion for racing,鈥� he says, and indeed, Smith鈥檚 life of speed dates back to the 1970s, when he got a job building chassis for race cars on the NASCAR circuit. The gig lasted nearly 20 years and paved the way for his marine suspension seating company on his native Vancouver Island.

The early years saw Smith assembling the cars, but in building his company, he鈥檚 had the opportunity to get a whole lot more hands-on. These days, he tests the marine seating products that excel in choppy seas at high speeds in some of the world鈥檚 most isolated regions.

鈥淭he racing industry is just right at the forefront of technology. It鈥檚 virtually a melting point for all the best technologies in the world,鈥� he says. 鈥淪hockwave Motorsports, a division of Professional Components, was an opportunity for us to get even more hands-on and for myself, to be not just the person who was setting up the cars and building the cars, but to actually be the one who was out there and driving the vehicles.鈥�

As an inductee to the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2011, Smith is described as a bit eccentric and a little wild, but as someone who could design and build a race car unlike anyone else.

That same year, he teamed up with Bear Grylls to set a new world record by crossing the 12,000-kilometre Northwest Passage in fewer than 300 hours in a 33-foot RHIB equipped with the first iteration of the ICE Console, a fully suspended, triple-axis marine suspension unit, designed and patented by Smith himself.

Always on the lookout for a challenge, three years ago, Smith thought it would be interesting to get behind the wheel of some high-level racing, which led to the 69-year-old鈥檚 participation in the Trans Am racing series, which visits cities across the United States. Closer to home, islanders may have spotted him as a regular at The Keg Drivers Challenge and the Canada 200 at Langford鈥檚 Western Speedway.

If it sounds like Smith鈥檚 personal biography has all the elements of a movie 鈥� or at least a television mini-series 鈥� that鈥檚 because it does. Part of the reason it鈥檚 so hard to get Smith to sit down for an interview is because he鈥檚 got a film crew trailing him for a good portion of his life these days. With filming set to wrap up this fall, Smith says work will soon begin to get the show ready for screening on either the Discovery or National Geographic network.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a lot of work, and it鈥檚 really something to have your life out there on display for everyone,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he average person does not want to be David Smith. There are times when I鈥檓 tired.鈥�

Part of the impetus for the show came from Smith鈥檚 latest battle: fighting and overcoming cancer. The road hasn鈥檛 always been easy and Smith readily admits that his good days may be great, but that the bad days can get really bad. Perseverance, he adds, has always been a part of his life, so this latest fight has tapped into his innate skillset to overcome a formidable opponent. He hopes his story will inspire others facing similar hurdles in life.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 everyone鈥檚 cup of tea and there are all sorts of mountains to climb in life, but I find that if you don鈥檛 ask, you rarely get, and if you don鈥檛 put yourself out there, you鈥檒l never really know what鈥檚 possible,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 really live life unless you put yourself out on the fringes.鈥�

Off the track and outside the office, Smith is also an outspoken advocate for coastal fisheries. Smith, who owns a holiday retreat in Tahsis near Nootka Sound on northwest Vancouver Island, has seen the effects of poor logging practices, irresponsible corporate fishing practices and unenforced regulations first-hand. Firstly, as a boy growing up on the Coast, then as a young man employed in a commercial fishery, Smith saw an unmatched bounty off Canada鈥檚 West Coast. Today鈥檚 efforts to protect what鈥檚 left, he says, are not only too little, but likely also too late. Nevertheless, he continues to work with local fishers and community organizations to rehabilitate coastal streams and to nurture precious spawning grounds in the hope of saving what鈥檚 left of British Columbia鈥檚 coastal fishing legacy.

鈥淏eing situated on the West Coast is ideal for our business,鈥� he adds, coming back to the company he鈥檚 built. 鈥淥ur marine suspension seating products require rugged ocean conditions to properly test the capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of our suspension systems.鈥� With products going to the military and law enforcement organizations around the world, testing needs to be rigorous, in the most severe conditions. 鈥淲e have plenty of opportunities here to get our products out on the water in rough seas to test, re-test and perfect our marine- grade products.鈥�