ARIZONA REGION – Gary James was born in Canton, Ohio, "a long time ago," he says. Soon after (and, paradoxically, not so long ago), the family moved to southern California.
Gary was raised in the Los Angeles area, only a few miles from the Rose Bowl. That annual New Year's event drew him to high school sports and later to college football. As a sophomore and a junior, he was the starting fullback for the University of Washington Huskies, before a leg injury ended his football career.
After Gary earned his business degree from UW, he and his wife Trudy moved to the Bay Area. Work ensued, and he was dreaming about a vacation in Hawaii. Fate intervened so emphatically that, within a year, he was working in Hawaii and flying home to San Francisco on the weekends. (He didn't complain about the flights, though. Couldn't really, could he? Between Hawaii and San Francisco?)
Over the next 23 years he continued his expense-account travels through jobs with tour operators, cruise lines, and a hotel company. He and the family moved many times, but always to the same places: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC. After an early retirement from Marriott Corporation, he entered the technology sector with a Washington beltway consulting firm, and later with a Palo Alto based application service provider.
When their two sons left home, Gary & Trudy began looking for a place where they could enjoy life. Both sons had attended ASU, and Gary & Trudy had visited frequently and loved the weather and the lifestyle. So they moved to Scottsdale in 1995. After some time as a golf addict, Gary decided he wanted to go into business for himself. He has published magazines, operated a fast food restaurant, and currently provides outsourced medical services to hospitals and clinics. Gary says, "As for hobbies other than cars, between the business, house remodeling, and watching one of the grand kids two days a week, there's not much time left."
Gary has always been interested in cars. There was a Lotus dealership about a mile from his high school. He and his friends would spend lunchtimes bench-racing the cars they planned to own one day: Lotus Elans, 1275cc Minis, and the occasional Cobra. When "one day" arrived for Gary, so did the cars: an MGA, MGB, '57 T-Bird, Sunbeam Tiger, Porsche 911, Ferrari Mondial, Bentley S1, and the last of the project cars, a mighty 1970 Mustang 428 Cobra Jet. Most of these were street cars; only two of them were actually fast enough to make it to the drag strip, which was an interest his car buddies shared.
One day four and a half years ago, by chance, he walked into Scottsdale Lotus
and spotted a European S1 Elise.
That car bug rush welled up inside him.
He told the salesperson how much he liked the car and learned that Lotus was
planning on producing an S2 version for the US.
A check and a year and a half later, he had his current toy, a 2005 Lotus
Elise.
"One day" had arrived, indeed.
During the wait for the Lotus, he looked around to see what automotive activities he could share with the car. At an SCCA road race event, the drivers told him he'd need to cut the car up to add a bunch of safety equipment, or he could go over to the other side of the parking lot and talk to the autocrossers if cutting up a brand new shiny red Elise seemed like a bad idea.
His first visit to an autocross event "was a great experience." He attended as a spectator and, while watching, struck up conversations with Darrell Covert and Mike Rogers. "Both were good ambassadors for the club, and Mike even took me out as a passenger," he recalls. He was hooked, and has competed locally ever since. He trophied in ST1 in summer 2005, and won the 2006 summer series in SS.
"Last year," says Gary, "I realized that I was getting far more from the club than I was giving back." He offered to help out however he could, and since then has been drawing on his background in the hospitality business to serve very capably as our Awards and Banquet Chairman.