As part of our continuing effort to talk about the people who are a part of the sport of Autocross we are highlighting Raleigh and Velma Boreen. While this couple is well known in the Central and Great Lake Divisions there are some out there who might be wondering who they are and what is it that they have done to earn the 2008 Solo Cup.
Mike Hearne recently talked to Raleigh and Velma to learn a little bit of their background.
MH: Can you give me a recap of when you met and how long you’ve been together?
RB: Actually we met in high school thru our church and we went to different high schools. We dated a little bit in high school and a little bit in college and got married in college. In fact we just celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary.
Both of us are originally from the Minneapolis area that is where we went to high school and grew up and that is where we went to college initially.
MH: How long have you been in the Indianapolis region?
VB: We moved here in the summer of 2000.
MH: Where were you at prior to there?
We were in Saginaw Michigan for 19 years and we lived in Toledo Ohio for a little over a year and Wisconsin for 7 years.
MH: At what point did you both become active in the SCCA?
RB: Well, we started working races when we were in college in 1970. We started working all of the Pro Races (Trans – Am) in timing and scoring…..at Downey Brooke Brainerd International then Road America. In the summer of 73 Mid-Ohio and Road America, Black Hawk Farms. We probably did 10 or 12 weekends working T&S until 1983.
We didn’t know anything about Solo until we moved to Toledo, Ohio in 1981. We met Phil Schmidt and Roger Johnson and the whole crew and they were like “you have to try this� They got us hooked.
MH: How did you get involved with the SCCA?
VB: Raleigh’s dentist was one of the people that started with showroom stock in 1970 and when he wasn’t racing he was working T & S at Brainerd. He told Raleigh one time we’re always looking for young blood. So we went and worked Timing and Scoring for a couple of weekends and that’s what got us hooked.
RB: The big thing was we always loved pony cars. We’ve had a bunch of cars over the years…Barracudas, Mustangs, and different things over the years. We really loved the Trans-Am series, so it was kind of a natural. 1970 was the high water mark for the Trans-Am series and that’s when we got involved.
MH: Going back to Solo was it a one time thing you tried?
RB: I think in ‘81 we went to 3 or 4 events that year. At the time we had a ‘73 corvette (which we still have) that we bought new in ‘73. We tried that at one event, but Velma struggled seeing out of it. So then we started using her street car an ‘81 Dodge Challenger, which ran in H Stock (one of the Mitsubishis) we ran that 3 or 4 times that year…then we went out and bought tires and shocks for it. In 82 we ran four or 5 events. In ‘83 we bought a new VW GTI and I think we ran 20 events and once we had that car it was hook line and sinker.
MH: That leads me to my next question it seems you’ve had a multitude of cars is there one in particular that was a favorite or one you got rid of you kind of miss now?
VB: To me I would say the Rabbit DSP ‘90 to ‘96 was probably my favorite car and I miss the most.
MH: Why?
VB: Not so much that I want it back. Every time I see one running and we had so much success for it and I have such a soft spot in my heart for that car
RB: I would probably say I really enjoyed the Rabbits and we had phenomenal success with them and there were years where in that DSP Rabbit we went 2 or 3 years straight without losing in it except for Nationals.
Right now I would say I’m having an absolute ball with the CSP Miata. Without question that is the favorite car and it does so many neat things and we’ve had so much success with it I just really, really love the Miata.
MH: How long have you had the Miata?
RB: We started racing it the summer of 2002 (half way thru the season).
MH: Has it always been in CSP?
RB: Yes.
MH: Do you see yourselves competing in that car for the foreseeable future?
RB: Right now I think we’re going to stay in CSP with that Miata. We have a list of things to do this winter to make it even better.
MH: Let’s go back to Solo. You’ve had 27 years together in Solo. Are you surprised to see so many couples compete in Solo?
VB: I would personally like to see more women compete. More of the wives or girl friends come out and compete. A lot of times in the local event Indy region out of 120 cars…only 3 gals compete. I would like to see more women compete. On a national level there are more gals, but at the local level I would like to see more of the gals come out.
RB: When we lived in Michigan a lot of the people there were couples and when we used to leave town there were many, many times 6 to 8 couples matching up to go to a CenDiv or Divisional or Tour And most of the times there were couples. Since we’ve been in Indy there are not a lot of gals or girl friends that run.
MH: Do you guys have any insight why women are shying away from the sport?
RB: I’m not real sure. It’s a case where sometimes the gals or the ladies get intimidated either that, or they don’t want to compete with or against their boyfriends and husbands. Velma has always been involved in sports. We played tournament racquetball…we’ve always been involved in sports. She’s very competitive so it’s kind of a natural. If you look at most of the girls involved (Solo) most have been involved in other sports. Running, baseball, softball, tennis or something. I think that’s what you need to do is find someone that is very, very competitive.
VB: One gal that we have here in Indy is at every single event. We have a riders policy. She rides every single run with her husband. I asked her why she doesn’t compete. She says she doesn’t want to embarrass herself, break the car, and I don’t know that my husband even wants me to be driving his car. I think the biggest thing is they are afraid of embarrassing themselves.
MH: Velma, you’re a National competitor. SCCA sent a survey proposing to eliminate Ladies classes. Is that a good thing…or a bad thing in your opinion?
VB: I think the thing that concerns me in a lot of the men’s classes, especially in Street Prepared; there are an awful lot cars that have 2 drivers. All of a sudden where do the women go if she wants to compete? She either has to go into a totally different class. With CSP my car will fit D Prepared I believe or XP. There is a spot for my car to go. I’m concerned all of the sudden let’s say there is an A Mod car that has no place to bump and you have 2 men and a lady that wants to drive. I guess it’s up to the guys that are driving the car to decide, ok who’s sitting out this weekend or year. If we’re trying to encourage participation I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing to be doing.
MH: In the 27 years you’ve been involved in Solo is there anybody along the way or multiple people that has helped or encouraged you guys along the way from the beginning to where you are now?
RB: Well, one of the people when we lived in Ohio that today is still a very close friend is Phil Schmidt. He was the one that was either a curse or a blessing in the sense that got us hooked. Like I said we’re still very close to Phil and his wife and son….Debbie and Andrew…it’s just a cause where he had a big impact. And I think over the years there have been different people have had an impact.
I look at Lloyd Loring who was the voice of Solo II. To me he really made the big events really enjoyable and today I enjoy announcing and it’s really because of Lloyd. How do we make everyone feel good about themselves? Whether they are winning their class or dead last?
I would say probably the people along the way. We have close friends all over the country because of Solo. I don’t know how we would have ever met that many people from literally all 50 states. A couple of years ago I had co-driver from Alaska. This past year my co-driver was from Hawaii.
VB: Phil Schmidt definitely is one that I would say. When we got the Dodge Challenger that we thought was so cool and he was like “Oh my gosh you need to autocross this” and it was like OK “We’ll give this a try”. He is one person form the beginning…he and his wife encouraged us to try it.
I think what keeps me going more than anything now other than the fact of the pure competition it’s not just seeing anybody we know from many years ago, but seeing the new people coming along and the enthusiasm that they have. Maybe they only ran 6 local events. Now all of a sudden I call it setting the “hook”. We’ve gotten to them the point they are going to the Divisional events, Tours, and all of a sudden we’re telling them to go out to Nationals. That gives me a really good feeling to know that we are perpetuating the sport and we’re encouraging the young people to come along because and if we don’t replace ourselves with younger people the sport is going to die. Mike, I really enjoy seeing the new people coming along.
MH: What is so great about Solo racing? What gets you guys excited about it?
VB: What I like about it is the fact that it is one of the only I guess of the big 3 things that happens with SCCA (Road Racing, Rally, and Solo) it’s the one type of racing that happens that you do not need to have a special group of workers to come in and work. The people who are competing are also the workers. It just doesn’t happen in the other 2 sports (Road Racing and Rally).
People try and get together after the event. They say let’s go out to dinner together. There was a group of people from the SE division this year, and maybe they have done this in the past, but they rented one of the garages and I know at least 2 nights that I know of that they had their big grill out grilling brats and gave anyone that one wanted a brat. That sense of community and welcoming anybody in. I think that is that what’s make us seem like really friendly people, because we are.
RB: To me there are 2 things that kind of make it happen. There are an awful lot of fun cars to drive. You can buy an awful lot of cars that can go into HS (Mini Cooper, Honda Civic,) to Corvettes and just about everything in between. There are a lot of cars that are fun to drive that a lot of people want to play with them a little bit.
Then it’s a case where it’s just the camaraderie. Helping people to try and get excited about doing it. And having some fun and realizing that they can do things with their car and not hurt their car. I just think that’s the real attraction of Solo is it’s something you can go out on a Sunday or a 1 day or 2 day event and have an awful lot of fun. The nice thing that Velma said is we don’t have to have special workers come in….in essence all of the people that are running are running the event. I think it makes everything run a lot smoother.
MH: Describe your involvement in the SCCA as it pertains to Solo. Have you been active on a board, chief of timing and scoring, any other capacity?
VB: We haven’t been to the point where we’ve been on the board in the Indy region. We maybe run 4 or 5 Indy region events per year. They are always looking for people to design a course or chair an event and that is where we offer our services.
RB: We’re dual members of Indy and Saginaw Valley. What we’ve really done here is (Indy) because we’re not available to run every event (8-10 events) many times they run against a National Tour, Divisional, or a GASS (Great American Solo Series) series event. We’ve chosen to chase the GASS series, Divisionals, or 1 or 2 national tours a year.
One of us or both of us try and attend every Solo Board meeting to try and help the club and attend regular board meetings. Velma has been more involved, because I travel a lot for work.
We have been real involved with any big event the SCCA holds. We’ve hosted a lot of events at our house. We have just tried to support Indy region as much as possible.
MH: So the basic gist is if it’s an official or unofficial position…you’re always bending over backwards to do whatever is necessary for Solo.
RB: Yep, that’s pretty true
MH: How involved are you with the GASS series?
RB: Velma and I with Chuck and Ginnette Sample, Davey and Joyce Looman, and Marlene Obennauer…are the 8 people that originated the CenDiv series 23 years ago. Over the years we’ve been off and on the board since the beginning.
MH: In your 27 years together as a couple you’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty in Solo and I had the privilege at the Friday banquet at this year’s 2008 Solo Nationals to watch you both receive the 2008 Solo Cup () Was it a big shock? What was your reaction?To the SCCA member who has made an outstanding contribution to the Solo Events Program. The winner is selected by the Solo Events Board from nominations submitted by the membership at large. Ed.
VB: It was a huge shock. It truly was. To be listed with the people that have received it in the past and it started in 1978. It is such a great group of people that are on that list. I was truly humbled. I couldn’t believe it was happening.
RB: Yeah, I’m the same way. I couldn’t believe it. You hate to say it, because of being the Emcee I was thinking about other things that were coming next…I kind of had the order of things coming next. So I was listening to Bob Tunell when he started talking, but I wasn’t listening real hard. When I realized what he was doing and what he was saying I couldn’t believe it.
Put it this way. We’ve gotten more back from SCCA then we’ve ever given. We have close friends all over the country. We see these people in SCCA more than we see our family who we haven’t lived close to in 35 years.
MH: Well I guess that pretty much sums it up! Raleigh and Velma I want to thank you for spending the time to share a little bit about yourselves with our readers. We’ll see you next year!
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