Old Race Drivers Never Die ...
They Just Lose Their Grip!
by Don Scheidt
Published April 1972
Yes, those were the days; I know you've all heard, back in 1954 when we drove a Healey or a Jag to a race, checked into tech, then taped up the front end to save the paint, and prayed nothing serious happened so we could drive the 3 to 5 hundred miles home. Hopefully with a trophy displayed in prominent view of all the service station attendants to admire.
My first sports car race as a driver began on a rainsoaked airport just outside of Independence, Kansas. I was driving a new '59 Austin Healey, front end all taped up and ready to go. The flag was dropped and there was a false start. Before I realized it, I had met one of the top drivers of the day. Physically. (Art Bunker.) Well, $35.00 for a dented fender didn't stop me. I got to race on most of the tracks in Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.
One of my fondest memories was the new track (1965) outside Des Moines, Iowa, called Greenwood Raceway. A real road course in the truest sense. Up, down and around curves into blind corners at speeds which seemed at the time to be way over my head.
My second place that day in a C-Modified (Corvette-Healey or Chev-Healey), among the top cars in the Midwest area for that class, was probably a high point in my racing career. It was a wonderful feeling to get an invite to the ARRC run-off in Daytona, Florida that year, even though I was unable to make the trip.
I look back upon my racing and car building experiences as being one of the more rewarding activities I have ever done. The many friends I have made and the people I met, it was wonderful -- I only wish I could give my past experiences to a new 20 year old driver that is willing to put the time and money toward a racing career.
A word of advice: start in a small and lesser expensive class; get acquainted, then work up til you find your level. And don't let go until you lose your grip ...
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