Alan Collins 

I'm 54 years old, married and the father of two sons aged 6 and 11 (late starter on a family!). I grew up in Britain and have been into racing since I was about 16, motorcycles at first and cars later. I am old enough to remember seeing Mike Hailwood race Manx Nortons against another good British rider Derek Minter at a tiny local track in Wales.

I got really interested in car racing while doing an old fashioned 4 year apprenticeship as an auto mechanic at a BMC dealership in Cardiff. I even managed to drive MG 1 while I was there and also Paddy Hopkirks Monte Carlo winning Mini-Cooper. At another dealership I prepared a Mini for the '67 (I think) Monte Carlo which was leading the private entrants until in got rolled of the road in the French Alps and comprehensively trashed.

I moved to Edmonton, Canada in 69 and immediately got involved with the local race club which was then running the Trans-Am and Can-Am races at the long gone Edmonton International Speedway. I spent a couple of years, most weekends at the track doing timing primarily. This gave me the glorious opportunity to rub shoulders with the rich and famous (and get cursed by them when they didn't agree with our timing <g>). They were great times as the Can-Am in those days attracted some of the best drivers in the world, so I had the privilege of watching people like Bruce McLaren, Denny Hume, Jackie Stewart, Mark Donohue, George Folmer and host of other great names.

The last few years I have not been able to get to many races so I really appreciate being able to get the feel of things from the many excellent posts here. Oh! like a few others here music has always been a big part of my life, I played bass in a rock band in Britain in the late 60's and still noodle around on a guitar as often as time allows. Looking forward to spring so I can get my 74 Alfa Spider out on the road.

Al