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“Trophies? I have rooms full of them,” Gayle says. “I don’t do this to win trophies. I just love to compete and drive fast to push myself more every time out.” She emphasizes that she is not out to beat anybody. “I race against myself trying to improve my times. That’s what matters to me. If I happen to pass a few people, that’s nice,” she says.

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Gayle professes to have no fear and those who race against her attest to that, even though she has piled into the wall four times in races where cars hit 160 kilometres an hour. She comes back the next weekend with the car fixed. It can get expensive. It cost $3,000 to straighten the frame after one crash and a damaged car had to be replaced with another race-prepped Honda so Gayle could be back competing against drivers half her age. Daughter-in-law Debbie marvels at Gayle’s no fear attitude. “She just never backs off,” she says.

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Gayle is a veteran competitor at the Knox Mountain Hill climb and vintage races on tracks in the Pacific Northwest. She makes a point to race one-on-one with novices who must do three races to move up. “When you are a new driver, you don’t want to be just doing laps. You get your best times when you are chasing somebody. You need the pressure on. I show them how to I sneak past them and other things. You want to encourage people to come out and have young people to race with. Having a big grid is what it’s all about.” She says novices feel they have arrived when they finally beat her. “I’m not the gold standard, just the grandma standard.”

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Gayle Baird’s race car hauler proudly displays her racing nickname. Photo by Alyn Edwards

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Does she intend to stop racing? “Not until I have to,” Grandma Gayle says. “I still love competing and trying to improve my lap times in every race. I feel good and I’ll keep doing it for as long as I can.”

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Alyn Edwards is a classic car enthusiast and a partner in a Vancouver-based public relations company. aedwards@peakco.com

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