The two Wagga residents will take part in the annual Kidney Kids Kar Rally, launching this year from Port Macquarie on August 9.

Both heralding a milestone, this year will be Mr Hoey's 25^th on the track, while Mr Clout will be seeing in his 10^th anniversary.

The achievement is made particularly sweet for Mr Clout, who survived a bout of kidney disease in 2009.

Then aged 52, the diagnosis came as the ultimate shock.

"I didn't know I was crook, I was just going to the toilet a lot and I went to the doctors. They did some blood tests and called me on a Saturday, said 'you need a transplant'," Mr Clout said.

"After about three months, my legs puffed up like the elephant man, and that's how I knew it was real. [Until then] I just kept thinking there was nothing wrong with me, it was just a mistake."

Most kidney disease sufferers face up to five years wait for a donor match, but Mr Clout was far more fortunate.

"My wife was my donor," he said.

"We were a one-in-six match but we have the same blood type and we're both healthy."

It proved to be an eleventh hour operation, as just weeks before the transplant Mr Clout's kidney function had reached nought.

"I was on dialysis for about three weeks when my kidneys quit, then I had the transplant," he said.

"It was eye-opening though, just those weeks. Dialysis takes a lot out of you, being hooked up to those machines for up to 10 hours a day, six days a week."

The experience sowed a seed of knowing compassion into Mr Clout, especially for children with the disease. That's when he decided to join the Kidney Foundation's annual Kidney Kar Rally fundraiser.

For the first year, he road shot-gun with Mr Hoey, but every year since he has gone the journey on his own.

A member of the health services, Mr Hoey has seen the disease from another side.

"I was a paramedic for 44 years, I saw the effects of renal failure, I saw families that had lost loved ones," he said.

"We can do something if we know how it starts, and we act quickly, but so many are left waiting for a transplant."

One in three Australians are at risk of kidney failure, and as the 'silent killer', it is often undiagnosed until it is in its latter stages.

For this reason, Mr Hoey has used his relationship with the rally drive to promote awareness of the disease.

"My role in the rally is to educate," he said.

"It's hit my family too, my aunt had renal failure. She was my mother's youngest sister, we were all very close when I was growing up.

"Back then, dialysis was costly and hard to come by. You had to go to Sydney and spend three days under the machine for 10 hours at a time. It's still like that for some, that's a hard life for anyone - especially kids."

In the 25 years he's taken part in the rally, Mr Hoey estimates he's driven more than 250,000km and raised in excess of $160,000.

"It's something I stumbled onto, and it's become so much a part of my life," he said.

"It's a nice hobby to have actually. Saving lives and helping kids."