Below are pictures of the sports and racing cars I've owned. Hope
you enjoy the anecdotes about them.This was the beginning. At three years
old my Grandfather put me in my Uncle's old go-kart and the rest is history.
Note the skinny hard tires and loose surface. I quickly learned the meaning of
understeer by running into their very solid 120 year old stone house. After that
I learned to keep the rear end out with the throttle and drift my way around
with lots of oversteer and opposite lock.
Same cart, bigger me, bigger motor, bigger tires. Note My Uncle's Jaguar E-type nearby, what a corrupting influence I was under! Also note the highly flammable Halloween space suit converted to racing suit!
My philosophy of life became "WWJD?- What Would Jackie Do?" Jackie, was Jackie Stewart, World Champion Formula One racing driver.
My first car at age
14. A 1958 Triumph TR3A basket case my grandfather helped me restore and my
Uncle painted red. My brother Chris is sitting in back. I used it as another
go-kart and ran it around the grassy airstrip and farmers access trails behind
my grandparents house. I practiced "heel and toe double declutching" and "four
wheel drifting" between the corn fields. In the 70's, cars that today are very
valuble classics were at the very bottom of their depreciation cycle and could
be picked up for a song. I worked several part time jobs and by restoring and
trading managed to own some fabulous machines that I would dearly love to have
again today.
The Triumph and I are
both cleaned up quite a bit here. I did a lot of driving in all seasons and
weather with no top or windshield. Sometimes I'd drive in the rain or snow with
only a Brooklands windscreen and tonnue cover. Note the screen door handle a
previous owner installed to close the bonnet (hood). Once I was driving with the
bonnet unsecured, and the hood flew up and back and hit me on the head, putting
a big dent in the the hood. Didn't do my head a lot of good either, possibly
explaining some decisions I would make later. I did manage to get stopped safely
by the side of the road though all I could see was black with little flashes of
white and red light for a minute or so.
Looking pretty
finished by now.
At 16 with my 1964
Austin Healey 3000MKIII. The "Big" Healey was probably my favorite road car.
There are a lot of stories I could tell, but I'm not sure what the statute of
limitations is on moving violations. I can tell you that it is possible to spin
an Austin Healey 3000 late on a dark rainy night in downtown Sterling without
hitting anything, or anyone even noticing. But don't ask me how I know. Same car
shown below. Note block of wood to prevent car from rolling into the
river.
My Alfa Romeo 1750
Spider Veloce, before its nice red paint job. Also before it was totaled by a
lady who ran a stop sign. Here I'm taking a quick lap around the Sauk Valley
Community College parking lot. Note that an Alfa Romeo is not British, but
everyone deserves one fling with an Italian, right?
At 18 with my 1963
Jaguar XKE Roadster. It just doesn't get any better than that. Nothing like a
150 mph Jag. Wish I could afford one
today.
Too sad to think
about, my Jag after it was totaled. A couple idiot kids came up the middle of a
very steep blind hill in VW Bug. Just as I crested the hill, they were coming
half in my lane. I swerved right to avoid them and hit a culvert which broke my
tie rod. With no steering I went down the very steep hill, off the road and
flipped upside down. I scrunched down in the drivers compartment as far as
possible, landed with a slight depression under the cockpit and managed to crawl
out from under the car unharmed. The tow truck driver who showed up ahead of the
cops said, "The poor bastard in that thing has got to be dead!" He didn't
believe I was the very much alive driver at
first!
This was my 850cc
Morris Mini. I also had an Austin Mini Cooper rally parts car. My 850 Mini was
only capable of 62 mph, but it could corner and was great fun for practicing
hand brake turns and bouncing off of snow banks. One time I turned into my
buddies drive way (much too fast of course) and the brake peddle went to the
floor boards without slowing the car a bit. His open garage was coming up
quickly and I pictured myself crashing out through the back wall. I did a HARD
left and missed the garage, then a HARD right and squeezed between the dog
kennel and the garage. I pulled the handbrake and eventually stopped in a
neighbors back yard after going under the clothes lines and between a pool and
swing set. Note amateur photographers
shadow.
This MGB-GT was my
daily driver to college with an enjoyable 120 mile round trip. Jeannine and I
are standing beside it about
1980.
Lotus Elan SE I had
for a short time after we were married. Lotus stands for "Lots Of Trouble,
Usually Serious", at least it did when I drove it.
My first race car at
18 during the drivers school race. The drivers school race was very wet. My
visor kept fogging up and I had to keep wiping the rain off it. This was the
most exciting event of my life. After qualifying 8 seconds faster than any of
the other 6 H-production cars, I had to start at the back of the grid because of
a spin in a qualifying 1 lap sprint that I thought was just practice. Despite
the terrible conditions (or perhaps helped by them?) and no rain tyres, I worked
my way back up through the field and passed many cars in faster classes to win
my class! I passed four of the HP cars and many in other classes on the first
lap. On lap two, I caught the leading HP duo and passed them both on lap three
then held the lead to win.
Getting a bit sideways
just going down the straight!
Some of the twisty
bits at Mid America Raceway in Wentzville Mo. This was a great handling well
prepared car that Pat Prince of Prince Race Car Engineering had built for
himself.
A very cool looking
car, but one of the biggest mistakes of my life, starting a chain of mistakes. I
traded my wonderful Bugeye Sprite and Triumph TR3 on this Mclaren bodied Chevron
B-16 rolling chassis once raced by Bobby Rinzler at Sebring. I didn't have the
money or knowledge to ever get this car on the track and missed out on a lot of
fun racing as a result of giving up the well sorted Sprite. Of course this
chassis would be worth a lot of money today. I sold it for $4000. in
1979.
This was my next race
car. A Formula Ford called a "Mallard". It's diabolical handling led us to
nickname it the rolling coffin. Note the pretentious or at least very optimistic
#1 on the car.
No great success with
this car. It was fun to drive a single seat open wheel race car though. On the
grid in my first race with it, I couldn't understand why the engine was reving
so wildly, then I realized it was because my throttle leg was shaking violently.
My last race in this car ended with it dangling from a tow trucks hook after I
lost control and then got hit by a Formula Continental that was close behind me.
Did I mention it's diabolical handling?
My 2nd Bugeye Sprite
with my Dad, and friends Jeff Duncan and Jeff Klocke in the picture. By this
time I had dependents and didn't have enough money to do much with it or really
get it sorted. Under those conditions racing was getting to be more frustration
than fun. Note the stupid looking sock on my head. It is a flame proof Nomex
"balclava" that is worn under the
helmet.
I traded the MGB-GT
for this nice 1960 TR3A. Had a couple of nice drives to southwest Wisc. in it. I
sold it along with the race car to finance building a house for Jeannine. Today
I'm restoring an identical 1959 TR3A, hoping to pick up as much as possible
where I left off over 20 years ago. It will be a slightly darker blue and
will be running by spring of 2007. Look for pictures of it on
my current cars page
Our Saab 900
purchased new. It is sitting in the paddock at Blackhawk Farms Raceway. Note the
baby seat on the roof. Yes, I did let the baby ride inside when the weather was
bad.
I borrowed this
image, entitled "Life without a little British car can be a bummer" from the
British car week site. This picture sums up the years without a sports or racing
car! This 2nd chapter of my life semed like, to quote C.S. Lewis, "always winter
and never Christmas". The old British cars and racing weren't just hobbies, they
were my identity and lifestyle. It was meant to be a very short term sacrifice
but getting my foot back in the door was very difficult with all the obligations
I'd taken on. For those 20 years I couldn't bear to see a sports car or watch a
road race. I had a frequently recurring dream that I'd find one one of them in
storage waiting to be restored then wake up terribly dissapointed. I finally
decided my life without them was a total drag and was taking too big a toll. In
hindsite we should certainly have worked out a compromise that would have
allowed me to keep a foot in the door. I still can't believe I let it happen.
After becoming very depressed, I started a major mid life course correction. It's taken several years to rebuild the lifestyle, and there's still a long way to go. I am happy though the way it's begun coming together as of late 2006. Scroll down for the current car crop. I'm determined to make this 3rd chapter
of my life the best one.
Finally, a fun car to drive again after an excruciating 20 year dry spell. My 2003 MINI Cooper bought new. Here seen taking a few touring laps around Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. Note terrified passenger. Click for more information on the MINI Cooper
In 2003 I bought this 1959 Triumph TR3A Roadster in basket case condition. There are still a few things to finish, now it's driveable and I'm having a ball with it. For more pictures and complete information click to go to the Triumph TR3A page
I purchased this 1960 Austin Healey (Bugeye) Sprite to try Vintage racing. Alas, a false start and more wasted time. It took me two years and a lot of money to restore it. By the time it was finally ready, I knew I'd made a huge mistake. Vintage racing really didn't satisfy me and I was afraid of damaging the car. It became clear I needed to get into a modern full out race car, so after a lot of work and money, and very little racing, I sold it. This is the only collector car I've ever lost my shirt on. I wanted to move on to "Real" racing as quickly as possible so I sold this for less than half what I had in it. Fortunately, it went to a very good owner who will pamper it and enjoy it properly.
My Spec Racer Ford. I LOVE THIS RACE CAR. This is exactly the sort of race car I've dreamed about all my life. I like everything about it. For a lot more about this car go to the Spec Racer Ford . page.
And here we are today with my three pets. I'm very happy with this lot! Just like when I was three, I stay occupied by driving my "go karts" around. The more things change, they more they stay the same.