Carrying the pride of the island nation for twenty five long years – Dilantha Malagamuwa the ambassador of Sri Lankan motor-racing. ThePapare.com sat with the gentlemen as he shared his stories. The most intriguing of which is how he proved to the Japanese that he wasn`t there to race elephants.
Inspired by the famous Japanese movie “Silver Dream Rider” he started his racing career when he was just sixteen years old. “My sister used to steal the car keys from my dad and give it to me those days” he said explaining how he got around his parents aversion to his decision to be a motor-racer. He started as a rider and then moved onto be driver.
His achievements are so many and therefore he listed to us the most significant. He has won six championships which includes the Asian Championship, Japanese Championship and the Malaysian Championship. He has won over 150 international races which is a record for Asia.
As all great men this gentlemen idolizes no one but himself both in life and sport. His parents were against his decision so he moved himself to Japan in 1985 where he starts living in a van with one meal for a day. He himself says that he did not think about the obstacles and the difficulties but he only had one goal and that was to full-fill his dreams. “Every day was a challenge for me and I challenged myself” said Malagamuwa.
Shifting the conversation back to Sri Lanka we questioned him about the drawback in the local motor sport franchise and why have we failed to pitch the sport internationally. “We were the pioneers in racing in Asia as we started way back in the year 1936 but since then we have gone down and down. It is eighty odd years since we started racing and still we don`t have a track or a circuit which meets the international standards”- he spoke in utter disappointment. He says that the officials will have to be more concerned and help the local racers to improve the standards. Summing it up in a line; the thinking pattern of the officials should change.
Driving around the world for 25 long years and carrying the national flag for the country, we asked him how he feels looking back at the career; “I think I am one of the happiest sportsmen in the world and I feel proud” he said with his humble smile.
