Leonard Janke Celebrates 45 Years in Nebraska Region
From the Exhaust Notes
August 2001 - by Jerry Doctor
Published December 10, 2003
In a region where half the members joined within the last three years, the fact that someone has been a member since August 1956 seems almost unimaginable. But his longevity may be the least amazing part of Leonard Janke's history in the SCCA.
In 1952 Leonard was in the Air Force and stationed in England. Weekends were often spent rallying. He became good enough at it (he won the American Challenge Trophy on the prestigious London Rally) that he was invited to join the Cambridge University Auto Club. Soon he began driving a Morris Minor in local races.
Leonard told me that he had an excellent mechanic and his Morris was one of the fastest on the track. At one race he was flying down the front straight at Goodwood (yes, that Goodwood) flat out - about 65 miles per hour. Suddenly another car flew past him easily doing twice his speed. It was Jackie Stewart in his C Type Jaguar.
In 1955 Leonard was in Pender, Nebraska and he purchased the auto dealership he still runs today. He was looking for a place to play with the Austin-Healey 100 he had brought back from England and in 1956 he became a member of the two-year old Nebraska Region when Loyal Katskee sponsored him for an SCCA competition license. In 1958 he finished second in a 200 mile race at Road America.
Leonard raced the Austin-Healey 100 until 1967 when he purchased a McLaren from Carl Haas. In its first outing at a national race at Texas, Leonard only qualified 8th but passed a Corvette Grand Sport (one of only a handful ever produced) with one lap to go to win the race. While telling me this story, Leonard chuckled as he recalled an error he had made at this race. He had selected gears that would have given the McLaren a 150 mph top speed. He later discovered he had put the wrong gears in the car. He had been going 180!
Leonard then took the McLaren to California for back-to-back races at Riverside and Laguna Seca. This was his first chance to play with the big boys of the Can-Am series - Jack Brabham, Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, George Follmer, Jim Hall, and all the rest.
The Laguna Seca race provided a little unwanted excitement. Leonard had been told it was a "slow" track so he had decided to remove the wing from the McLaren. Turns out the track wasn't that slow. In practice, as he went past the pits at 120 mph, the rear wheels of the McLaren lifted off the track. When they came back down, a foot to the side of where they had been, it was all Leonard could do to keep the car on the track. He slowly made his way around the track, pulled in to the pits, and suggested they put the wing back on the McLaren.
After crashing the McLaren in 1970 at Mid-Ohio, Leonard switched to a Camaro. Then in 1971 he got a new McLaren - a Mark 6 "hybrid." Rumor had it that this somewhat unusual Mark 6 had been the prototype for the Mark 8's. Leonard still has the car today and is currently restoring it.
Leonard and his wife Bonnie still keep in contact with friends they made in their Can-Am days. As they told me about their recent trip to Elkhart Lake for the 35th Can-Am Reunion, it was obvious his wife Bonnie shares her husband's love of racing. You could see the sparkle in her eye as she described the way the old cars still make the ground shake at Road America. Leonard grinned as he told me about sitting with Jim Hall at the Chaparral display, signing autographs for fans of what many believe was the finest racing in the chronicles of American motorsports.
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Addendum by Patt Buell:
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 McLaren Mark 6 "Hybrid" (without a body) |
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