Friday, August 29th, 2008 Dan Fisher died doing what he loved, friends say.

Dan Fisher was no stranger to the risks of high-speed racing, whether it was behind the wheel of a mini stock car, on the seat of a high-performance motorbike or cutting through the waves in a speedboat.

Racing was his passion, but the 44-year-old Cobble Hill resident told his friends and loved ones not to worry.

"He'd say many times, 'You know if I do go at least I go doing something I love,'" said Laurie Taylor, his girlfriend. "It was his big love in life, and he went doing what he loved. There's no going back."

Fisher died when his custom speedboat flipped straight up and crashed on Shawnigan Lake around 7:50 p.m. Friday.

A passenger, Kyle Jardine, escaped without injury but was unable to rescue his friend, Shawnigan Lake RCMP said in a press release. The RCMP dive team and Shawnigan Lake Volunteer Fire Department recovered Fisher's body from the lake yesterday.

Fisher was testing his riverboat with the intention of racing it in the future, Taylor said. His website, danfisherracing. com, details his attempt to place a roller sprint car engine into a 2000 Provost Riverboat and hit speeds of more than 160 km/h.

"He was one of a kind," said Taylor, who had been dating Fisher for 21/2 years. "I'd never met anyone like him. With everything he did in his life was passion, and he just went completely. He pushed things right to the extreme with everything he did.

"That was his way. Nothing could change that with him. Unfortunately, he didn't make it through this one time."

Word of his death spread quickly through the local racing community, of which Fisher was a longtime member. He was a regular at Western Speedway in Langford, frequently placing among the top racers at the track.

"He was just Mr. Excitement to me," said Dale Erdman, a long-time friend and webmaster of the WILROC racing forum.

"He was the type of guy that only needed to sleep four hours a day, and from that point on he was on the go. I remember him working on race cars and building motors all night so he could race the next day."

The hard work translated into success on the track. Fisher was a past super mini stock champion at the now-closed Cassidy Speedway in Nanaimo, and a modified track champ in Port Hardy, Erdman said.

He also won the demo race for wingless cars at Western Speedway in 2006.

Fisher had been racing someone else's midget car in Port Angeles, Wash., last weekend but accidentally rolled it, Taylor said.

Fisher, who attended George Bonner Middle School and then Cowichan Senior Secondary, had owned Dallan Motorsports in Cobble Hill before recently selling it to a Richmond man.

He was also an avid trail bike rider with a 4,800-square-foot garage on his property. He had just started another local company, All-Pro Towing and Salvage, Taylor said.

Fisher leaves behind two sons, ages 16 and 13.

Taylor said funeral arrangements will be posted on Fisher's website.

Rob Shaw, Times Colonist, 2008 rfshaw@tc.canwest.com