This is the first article in a series that will explore the kinds of things that GMC Western States members do in their 'spare' time - when they are not working on their GMCs that is. This article was written for us by Audree Rowe - thanks Audree.
JIM’S RACE CAR
Jim’s mother said that “car” was the first word that Jim Rowe ever said, and he still loves his vehicles. Jim has owned, raced, and shown hot rods, muscle cars, and classic cars. He bought his first car when he was 12 years old and parked it around the corner so his Mom wouldn't find out. Jim learned to work on cars and at age 14 he bought a Ford coupe and told his Mom he was going to Lake Arrowhead for the weekend and then he sent her a postcard when he got to San Francisco. Throughout his teens he owned at least 12 flathead Fords; working on them himself and modifying them to make them go fast. He was a local street racing champion and also did his share of drag racing at the local strips. In his senior year in high school he decided get serious and got rid of the Fords. He bought a very nice 1947 Plymouth coupe and that is when he met the love of his life, Audree. At the time, the Plymouth was only four years old and Audree couldn’t resist the chance to ride around in one of the newest cars at their high school. He still loved cars and after high school, some college, the Army, more college, kids, career, he got sports car enlightenment.
It was 1956 at the road races in Santa Barbara. A lone Porsche in a field of Corvettes started in last place but finished second. The race was not long enough for it to get up to first. Jim never forgot seeing that car race and in 1963 Jim got a beautiful 356 Porsche Cabriolet and started sports car racing. He spent nearly two decades racing his Porsche with great success until he sold it in 1979. 1979 was the last year he raced, almost. That year a friend of his was running a midget on circle tracks and asked Jim if he would drive for him. Jim did, but he found he was very much an amateur circle racer. He wasn’t very competitive against kids who had started racing at age 5 in Go Carts and Quarter Midgets and had 15 years of driving experience. One year of circle track racing and Jim took a racing breather for the next 21 years.
He still loved racing and he and his bench-racing buddies would talk about the early days and remember that 1956 Porsche. None of them, including Jim, ever knew who was driving that Porsche. Then at a car club event, Jim was talking with Dan Gurney and when Jim mentioned that early race, Dan told Jim that he was the driver of that Porsche. And that was when Jim knew he had Dan Gurney to blame for turning him on to sports car racing and Porsches.
A few years ago, a friend invited Jim to watch vintage sports car racing at Willow Springs Raceway, and after seeing those cars race he was hooked again. Jim had a chance to acquire a 1982 Toyota Celica that was race prepared for Toyota by Parnelli Jones Racing and run in the 1982 Long Beach Toyota Gran Prix. As soon as he got the car, he took a training course, qualified for his competition driver’s license and began modifying the car by removing unnecessary interior panels to lighten the weight, and installing state of the art racing suspension components and a rebuilt engine with 13 to 1 compression to make it more competitive for road racing. He races under the sanction of the Historic Sportscar Racing Association (HSR) and has run the Toyota at all of the major road racing tracks in the West including California Speedway, Las Vegas International, Willow Springs, Laguna Seca, Thunder Hill, and Phoenix International. The Toyota is competitive in its class and Jim has a collection of first place medals.
The Toyota puts out 155 horsepower to the rear wheels and hits 150 mph on the straightaways in 5th gear. He is currently building a special bodied Porsche 914-6 with a 2.0 liter, 250 horsepower engine at 8,000 rpm, that he says is guaranteed to scare the bejabbers out of him when he lets it out. The Porsche will run under HSR on the same tracks but in a much faster and more competitive class than the Toyota. In fact many of the older professional drivers whose names everyone remembers are now racing 2.0 liter Porsches, so getting a first place in the 2.0 liter will take some skill. Stay tuned to see how he does when he finishes the car and gets it out on the track.