Family is a cornerstone value of HSR, and last weekend’s Classic Watkins Glen Six Hour presented by Mission Foods and the Watkins Glen Historics saw several families
in competition. One duo is longtime racer Wally Owens who co-drove the ex-Spirit of Daytona 2014 No. 09 Coyote Corvette Daytona Prototype with his son Kevin Owens to kick off this Sunday’s Father’s Day celebration a week early with a little family fun in the fast lane at The Glen.
“It means a lot,” Kevin Owens said. “That’s basically the reason we do this. We don’t go and do this on our own. We live in different places. We have different lives and all those things. So, this is kind of a joint hobby that we have.”
Wally raced in Trans-Am during the 1990s with his self-owned No. 21 Owens Racing Erin Maxx Ford Mustang. Now, his race weekends are about spending time with the
family, and both father and son embrace every moment. It all began with a simple conversation, and some conjured up memories a few years ago.
“I saw him race when I was a kid, and I was too young to do it,” Kevin said. “Then life happens and this a way to come back together and experience what that was like. I said ‘remember your old race cars? It’d be fun to go drive those.’ That’s what got us into this, and we went on a hunt to find the old cars.”
The Owens embarked on a mission to locate and collect some of Wally’s former race cars, strengthening their bond both at and away from the track.
“We collect race cars,” Wally Owens said. “We have nine race cars right now, and we collect cars with history. We have cars that have won the 24 Hours of Daytona. We have cars that have won the 12 Hours of Sebring. We have cars that have won a lot of things. Our personal collection focuses on cars with history. We have GTP cars from the ’80s. We have cars from the ’90s.”
The search started with a mission to find the 1990’s Trans-Am Mustang.
“The collection literally started by trying to find his old race car,” Kevin said. “This was a Roush Trans Am car from the early ’90s. I spent years trying to find it, and we didn’t think we were going to. We ended up buying cars that were similar and from that era, and then we ultimately found his actual car. That was literally the start of the whole project. It was as simple as an eight-year-old kid thinking, ‘I’d like to see what that feels like to drive.’”
While father and son enjoy sharing race weekends together, a friendly competitive rivalry remains part of the experience, adding another layer of enjoyment to their time at the track.
“Fortunately, he’s a little quicker, he’s a little younger and a little braver, but I have more wisdom than he does,” Wally Owens jokingly said. “But it’s not that far apart. It’s not like he’s three seconds quicker than me. So, we have a good time. It’s fun. We enjoy it. It’s a lot of camaraderie.”
Beneath the friendly rivalry, however, is a tremendous sense of pride. Watching Kevin develop into a capable race car driver after taking up the sport later in life has made
these shared weekends even more meaningful for Wally.
“Nigel Greensall, our driver coach, said, ‘Every time you cross the start/finish line, you should smile because you’re very lucky to do this,’” Wally Owens said. “We try to do five or six weekends a year and take it very seriously, but this is really rarefied air. Not many people get to do this, and it’s the second bite of the apple for me. I’m really having a good time. For Kevin, he never raced a car until he was 38. He never even did go-karts, but he gets in the prototype and he’s as fast as everybody else. It’s really cool and fun.”
Next up on the HSR schedule is the organization’s first overseas race on the hallowed ground of Circuit de la Sarthe in France for the HSR NASCAR Classic at the Le Mans
Classic Legend, July 2 – 5. The event features 36 historic and iconic stock cars spanning multiple eras of NASCAR competition returning to Le Mans 50 years after American NASCAR thunder was first heard and seen in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
