After attending the Monterey Historic races for years, I told my wife I want to go from the spectator seats to the last car on the track. That was in August of 2015.
In January of 2016, I was sitting in a rental race car at the Vintage Auto Racing Association’s (VARA) 2-day race school (VARA University) at Button Willow raceway. After graduating from their school, I was officially a rookie race car driver within the VARA racing program. I was bit by the racing bug and there was no turning back now. Unfortunately, I did not own a vintage race car, so I reached out to Scott Parsons the former President and Jeanette Bourke at VARA for guidance. They introduced me to Joe Siam. Joe owns Chequered Flag Racing, a leading British Car repair shop in Chatsworth CA. His company also offers a turn-key vintage racing program where he will rent you a 1963 Triumph Spitfire for the race season. Problem solved. I had my rookie license and a vintage race car with a crew. Now I had to buy some gear. I needed a helmet, race suit, fireproof underwear, shoes and gloves. The guys at Sube Sports in Huntington Beach were great to work with as they had racing experience and all the inventory I needed. My first race was just weeks away at the world-famous Willow Springs Intl Raceway in March 2016.
The Journey Begins
