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| Jim Clark at Indy 1963-1965 |
Ever since my Dad took me to the Indy 500 in 1963, when I was 12, I've known that motorsports and internal combustion engines would be part of my life. That was the year when the era of the old front engined race cars was coming to an end, replaced by rear engined ones--the first glimpse being the Lotus driven by Jim Clark, finishing 2nd that year. Still, the sound of Andy Granatelli's powerful but old fashioned Novi engines reving up was quite impressive. My Dad was a gifted mechanic with an extraordinary knowledge of automobile, aircraft and diesel engines. My early life centered around an interest in engines and vehicles. I became a Certified Master Auto Technician and a graduate Mechanical Engineer. I owned a chain of car repair centers and later co-founded a company that designed engine parts and components.
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| My Swift DB1 Formula Ford--1986 |
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| National Championship Runoffs-Practice in the rain! |
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| My TranAm Car at Brainerd MN--1985 Racing against the likes of Paul Newman and Bruce Jenner (Sponsored by Enginetech and Metal Leve) |
I tried my hand in drag racing at an early age, but quit to pursue my business career and take care of my family. Later, at age 34, after attending the Bob Bondurant Racing School, I competed in SCCA Club Racing (GT1, FF, and FV) and Pro Racing (Trans Am and FF2000). I became the SEDIV Champion for GT1 and competed for the National Championship in GT1 and FF. At age 36, I decided to form a NASCAR Winston Cup Team, building a 10,000 square foot shop in North Carolina where I built engines and did research using a dynomometer. I qualified for my first Winston Cup race at Dover in 1987. A serious accident at Rockingham convinced me that God had other plans for me. (The first lesson--I had let Pride cause me to ignore God's "still small voice".)
(One of the major benefits of these activities over more than three years was that my son, Donald Jr. was 14 when we started. He was actively involved and at age 15 actually served as my chief mechanic at some SCCA races---he was able to rebuild the Formula Ford transmission and cylinder heads at the track without supervision and faster/better than I could! He learned a lot from the experience and we grew closer together. Perhaps that was one of God's intended purposes for it all.)
My Winston Cup Car at Charlotte-1987
(Sponsored by Greyhound Package Express)
I went back to school and earned an MBA from the Wharton School. I used that education in Finance to serve others--helping other people manage Private Equity investments (As a CEO/COO) and to later help people on a local level as a Financial Advisor and as an Investment Manager/Economist. I became a diligent student of God's Word. I was ordained as a Ruling Elder at my Presbyterian Church. My life became less about me and my pride and more about living according to God's plan for me.
Fast forward to 2011, at age 60, I heard that still small voice clearly. (Read 1 Kings 19:11-13) Link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%2019:11-13&version=NKJV I was making a living as an Investment Manager, helping people find God's plan for them in regards to money and wealth. I felt the call that I could do more. God was not calling me to end my service to others regarding financial management. He wasn't calling me to be a missionary in some far off land. He was calling me to expand my service to others by using my gift for teaching to go out and encourage others to make God a part of their entire lives--including their recreational "weekend" activities. In other words to stay connected to God and Christ in everything we do. I realized that perhaps my background and interest in racing, as well as my participation might be the basis on building relationships. I was appointed, and volunteered as the unpaid Northeast Chaplain for Road Race Ministries and I purchased the race car that I intended to drive. (I would never claim to be a "great" racing driver, but like many others, I have a God given talent and aspiration to control and "master" the operation of a race car on a road racing track.)
The mission and work of Road Race Ministries is about providing Pastoral Care (Prayer, Concern, Understanding, Teaching, and Encouragement) to the SCCA Club and Pro Racing Communities--an entity of people that have their own culture and interwoven relationships. A special people who may or may not have an affiliation with a local church but in any case, seldom have the opportunity to worship together at the track.
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| See link to website below |
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