Staff Writer

It has been nearly 40 years since Hurley Haywood showed up at a Jacksonville, Fla., autocross with a fast Corvette and the brashness of youth — 40 years since the beginning of one of American road racing’s most distinguished careers.
All these years later, that brashness has been replaced by the sagacity of age and Haywood, 59, says maybe — with the 2007 Rolex Grand Am season in the record books — it’s time to step away from the race car.
Maybe.
“I’m going to be 60 years old next year, and I think it’s time to cut back a little bit,” Haywood said. “I think over the course of a race, I can still be pretty competitive, especially in the long-distance races.
“It’s so competitive out there, I don’t want to be a hindrance to our team in any way… I’ve extended my career for a long time — I’ve been racing for 40 years competitively, and I want to end on a good note, not a bad note.”
This past season was not exactly a farewell tour for Haywood, who plans to race in the four endurance races on the Grand Am Schedule in 2008, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, a race he won five times between 1973 and 1991.
As for the rest of the schedule, Haywood said he will attend the races in the role of coordinator-coach for the Brumos Porsche team.
“I’m going to be doing just as much work, but I’m not going to have as much fun doing it because I love driving the car,” he said. “I’m still going to have a hands-on job with the cars and with the team, and that’s the part I really enjoy doing.
“I’m going to gradually wean myself out of the (driver’s position). Next year will be kind of a trial period to see if I really like doing it. … If I don’t like doing that, I’ll either step away completely or I might even come back in the race car. It wouldn’t be the first time somebody has retired and then came back.”

FORTY YEARS OF HAYWOOD: Hurley Haywood (center) celebrates his 1977 24 Hours of Daytona victory with co-drivers Dave Helmiek (left) and John Graves. It was Haywood’s third of five wins in the endurance race. (NASCAR/ISC Photo)

In addition to his five overall victories at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona, Haywood also has recorded three at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and two at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He also has the 1988 Trans-Am title to his credit, as well as two IMSA GT championship, three Norelco Cup championships, a SuperCar title and 18 IndyCar starts. He was the fastest rookie at the Indy 500 in 1980.
Haywood has already been inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.
There has been little time for reflection, despite a pending pseudo-semi-retirement from the driver’s seat. Haywood has helped to manage Brumos Porsche dealerships since the death of car owner, mentor and friend Peter Gregg in 1980.
“I’m lucky enough to be able to drive for Brumos and I am lucky enough to work for Brumos,” Haywood said.
The chance meeting between Haywood and Gregg in 1967 in that Jacksonville autocross was the beginning of a long partnership and friendship that was the onus behind Haywood’s early career.
After testing at Roebling Road in Savannah, Ga., Gregg hired Haywood on the spot and success followed.
While Haywood believes American road racing to be on the upswing with improved television ratings and attendance in both the Rolex Grand Am and American Le Mans series, had he been born later he might have taken a different path — the same path several open-wheel drivers have chosen over the past couple of years.

STILL INVOLVED: Hurley Haywood has been involved with Brumos Porsche since a chance meeting with car owner Peter Gregg in 1967 in Jacksonville, Fla. (Grand Am Photo)

“I thought about (NASCAR), but I was thinking about it before NASCAR really took off,” he said. “I was very comfortable with Porsche — I had won some big races early in my career — so, I didn’t want to mess that relationship up by going off into NASCAR… If I was back in that same position and 18 years old now, I would have a completely different outlook on what type of racing I wanted to do.”
So, 40 years after the beginning, with an end of some sort in sight — maybe — Haywood said there are no regrets, only decades of good memories.
“I am really a lucky person, when I look back at the last 40 years of my career, every single one of those years have been memorable. My life as a racing driver has been terrific. I’ve won a lot of big races and by winning those races, it’s helped propelled my name where people want to meet Hurley Haywood and want to know who you are.
“Because of that fame, I want to be able to take that platform and help nurture the sport so that the guys coming up now can have a healthy career for the next 40 years of their lives.”