Hot Rod Granny races two cars to beat the clock
Gayle Baird is on a mission. That is, on the two-kilometre, nine-turn road course at Mission Raceway Park, competing with other members of the Sports Car Club of B.C. Known at the track as Grandma Gayle, her mission is to not miss a race.
A two-car strategy
On Mother’s Day, the soon-to-be octogenarian had already handed out dozens of cookies in plastic bags to the volunteers who run the races. Now her daughter-in-law Debbie is helping her climb out of her unique and rare Auto Trends Formula Vee race car that looks like a small pontoon on wheels and into the race-prepared 1991 Honda Civic for the next race that starts in a matter of minutes.
There is no time to waste as Debbie hands her mother-in-law her helmet and helps to strap her in before Hot Rod Granny roars onto the track. Gayle’s grandson has delivered flowers to the pit where Gayle’s two trailers are set up with spare parts and food to cook for the weekend.
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The 80-year-old purchased the 1964 Autodynamics MKIII Fox Formula Vee track racer in California and had a 1991 Honda Civic prepared for the track so she could compete in multiple classes. There is a practice, a qualifying and a 20-minute race in each category she enters.
“I’m a busy girl. I never want to miss a race,” the soon-to-be octogenarian says. “I use the number 62 because that was my age when I retired.” That original 62 ‘met an untimely death’ went it hit the wall during a race. Now her number is 75 because that’s the age she was when the accident happened.
Racing against herself
Gayle is a veteran competitor at the Knox Mountain Hill climb and vintage races on tracks in the Pacific Northwest. She makes a point to race one-on-one with novices who must do three races to move up.
“When you are a new driver, you don’t want to be just doing laps. You get your best times when you are chasing somebody. You need the pressure on. I show them how to I sneak past them and other things. You want to encourage people to come out and have young people to race with. Having a big grid is what it’s all about,” she says.
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She says novices feel they have arrived when they finally beat her. “I’m not the gold standard, just the grandma standard.”
Gayle professes to have no fear and those who race against her attest to that, even though she has piled into the wall four times in races where cars hit 160 kilometres an hour. She comes back the next weekend with the car fixed. It can get expensive. It cost $3,000 to straighten the frame after one crash and a damaged car had to be replaced with another race-prepped Honda so Gayle could be back competing against drivers half her age.
Daughter-in-law Debbie marvels at Gayle’s no fear attitude. “She just never backs off,” she says.
Trophies? I have rooms full of them, Gayle says. “I don’t do this to win trophies. I just love to compete and drive fast to push myself more every time out.” She emphasizes that she is not out to beat anybody. “I race against myself trying to improve my times. That’s what matters to me. If I happen to pass a few people, that’s nice,” she says.
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It is not uncommon for members of competing race teams to look after Gayle’s cars and take them back and forth to the track. She has a lot of friends at the track. She is secretary-treasurer of the Vintage Racing Club of British Columbia which races at Mission Raceway Park. She has won the REVS Overall Champion award for being a standout competitor in the racing series multiple times.
The physical and financial demands of maintaining two competitive vehicles ensure Gayle’s schedule remains packed. While her passion for the sport is undiminished, the logistics of racing at her age require a level of preparation and support that goes far beyond simply turning a key in the ignition. The commitment to staying competitive means she must be constantly present at the track, managing repairs and logistics that younger drivers might outsource to professional crews.
Does she intend to stop racing? “Not until I have to,” Grandma Gayle says. “I still love competing and trying to improve my lap times in every race. I feel good and I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can.”
