When I retired a few years back, I pondered what I could do with my newly discovered “spare time”. One of my friends convinced me to join his bass fishing club. I knew nothing of bass fishing, but it was the best thing going. So, I joined the club and stayed with it for the next three years. Enjoyed the twelve weekend outings to various states and actually caught a few bass. But my enthusiasm was waning after getting up at 4:30 am in the morning just to fish in a drenching rain all day. Just wasn’t my idea of having fun in retirement. The other members were wildly gung-ho fishing guys with a passion for bass fishing far exceeding mine. I wanted it to be a relaxing retirement activity. But I did have a hidden passion- auto racing.

About ten years ago I bought my 1969 MGB and joined the Chicagoland MG Club. Good move. I really started to appreciate the car and thoroughly enjoyed driving it. The best driving was around the tree-lined Lake Ellyn in Glen Ellyn in the Fall. Strolling people walking their dogs would give me a thumbs up sign and teenagers would look up from their cell phones and proclaim, “nice car”. A sense of MG pride that I am sure all of you have shared. I dwelled on the thought of what this car could do on a racetrack. I did run my B attacking pylons at a confined spaced autocross. It was challenging, but it was in a “parking lot”.

This is where our own Dave “Cowboy” Bralich and North Suburban Sports Car Club (NSSCC) - a branch of the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs - comes into focus. Dave races a B in production class. One summer day I was fascinated watching him race at the local Joliet Autobahn Country Club racetrack. I left with the realization that a MGB could make a presence on a track. I got to try, but I got to be realistic. Approaching 70 years old, do I want to risk limb and fender by doing wheel-to-wheel racing like Dave does? You got to have good reflexes/experience and that is not me.

Fortunately, the MSSCC has a division called High Speed Autocross. You are racing on a track against the clock, not another car. Now were talking. So, I signed up and went about getting the car ready for the 2019 season. Again, thanks to Dave (also the racing club’s Technical Director) I found out all the technical and safety modifications that I needed to make on the car. For safety I needed a roll bar, helmet, and seat belts. For the car itself I focused on brakes and tires. Cowboy sold me a set of fabulous racing tires which I had installed on some rims I bought at the Swap Meet. Our club’s traveling mechanics help redo the rear drums and at Steve’s garage I changed the front disc pad to a more racing type material. I cannot emphasize enough how reliable brakes and sticky tires are so, so, important.

First outing April 27, 2019

Blackhawk Farms. A 2-mile, 7-turn racetrack up by South Beloit, IL

Blackhawk Farms. A 2-mile, 7-turn racetrack up by South Beloit, IL. The NSSCC sponsored a driver’s school instructing novices on how to drive the track, when to brake and turn into the corners. Got to track early, unloaded, and passed the tech inspection (Dave!) Met the director of Autocross who assigned me an instructor. I was, nervous, but ready. We buckled into car, started my first lap, and was promptly black-flagged off the track. Turns out I was resting my elbow on the windowsill - a definite no-no as all body parts must be contained within the cockpit. Okay Kevin so this isn’t Sunday drive in the park.

Then it started raining. During the second lap. I am not sure how it happens, coming off the turn 3 carousel I got off the gas and then stomped back on it. Quickly the B spun around and dove for the infield. The soft ground stopped me so abruptly that I was finding infield dirt in my suspension two weeks later. More startlingly, the suddenness of the stop somehow slammed my glasses against my helmet whereas the bridge of the glasses made a very small cut on the bridge of my nose. The bleeding was very minuscule. I’ve done worse shaving. Later in reflection I stole Stephen Crane’s reference to “The Red Badge of Courage”. I should have taken a selfie.

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