Fairfield-Echo

ELKHART LAKE, WIS. — John Higgins spends most of his time running his business, Lexus of Dayton. He also spends a lot of time on the golf course, where his handicap is pretty low. But six or seven weekends a year, Higgins is as happy as he can possibly be, back behind the wheel of a racecar.

"It all started as a teenager. I was working at Lang's Chevrolet, and Dick Lang was racing Corvettes back then. He took me along to a race as a gopher, and I just fell in love," the 58-year-old said while taking a break between sessions recently at Road America. "Once you're hooked, you're hooked. Rehab won't help."

Higgins now races in vintage events, driving his 1972 Chevron B19, and also spends time behind the wheel of a Porsche 910, a Porsche RSK and his most successful racer, the 1986 Porsche Fabcar, all campaigned by Grant Motorsports, based in Dayton.

"It all got started pretty good in the late '70s. I was racing sports cars with Bobby Rahal, Danny Sullivan and Howdy Holmes; we were like a band of gypsies. We raced all over Canada and the U.S., driving fast and having a good time in between. Rahal, Sullivan and Holmes all headed to open-wheel cars, but I stayed with the sports cars. For me, it all really came together in late 1986," Higgins said.

"I bought the Porsche Fabcar that Elliot Forbes-Robinson won Road Atlanta with in '86. I got Chip Mead (a noted Dayton racer who later died in a plane crash) and Howard Cherry to join my team, and in 1987 we went to the 24 Hours of Daytona. We finished second there, won the 12 Hours of Sebring, and won a bunch of other races that year. We logged 5,200 racing miles without a failure, and Chip was awarded the Porsche Cup. That was the year!" Higgins added.

Higgins wound down his professional racing career in 1996 at the 24 Hours of Daytona. He has driven Daytona and Sebring 25 times.

"I've got over 3,000 miles in at Daytona. It's so big, it's like driving on the freeway; but Sebring, well, that's like the Masters — as tough as it get. It's an old concrete and asphalt course that's tight, bumpy and scary fast," he said.

When Higgins is in his blue jeans hanging around the pits, he's irreverent and hilariously funny, but once the driving suit comes on, things get pretty serious.

"I don't take unnecessary chances, but this Chevron is pretty fast. It's a little Cosworth Ford, but it puts out 320 horses in an 1,100-pound car. I'm running 165 mph at the end of the long straights. Some of these guys aren't real good, so occasionally you bounce off each other to make a pass," he said.

In the final race, Higgins was gridded 22nd in the 47-car field, made up of three different classes. Six laps later, when the checkered flag fell, the bright white Chevron was seventh on the track, and fourth in class. "I don't think I hit anyone that time," Higgins laughed.