Heading down a straightaway and hearing a huge bang from the gearbox followed by parts rattling around his car’s transmission had become an all too familiar race-ender for Bill Okell in recent years.
“Those are just not comforting feelings, you know, hearing this noise, then the big explosion,” the Saanich driver said. “You’re thinking ‘I’m in a small car, what’s coming at me here.’”
He competes in the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) Hoosier Super Tour series, which consists of about 40 drivers competing in races all over the continental United States.
While the gearbox he was using is fast once it gets going, Okell was only able to finish about half the races with it, so he took the out-of-the-box decision to switch it out for one that was more reliable heading into 2023 – a move that’s proved worth the cost and risk.
“There was just no worry it was going to come apart, it’s really the biggest change that made the most significant difference this year,” Okell said.
His red and black MG Midget crossed the finished line first four times this season, vaulting him to the third-overall position in the national point standings championship – the best result the 68-year-old has ever had.
That means he’s qualified for the SCCA national championship runoffs in Virginia this fall, but Okell has yet to decide if he’ll compete at the year-end race after a run-in with a hurricane during his last trip there.
This season also saw Okell take his second SCCA Western Conference Championship in seven years. Rolling off four wins in a row began with an adversity filled start to the season in Bakersfield where torrential rains took him right off the track during a slippery first race of the year.
“To go there and compete and win, and spin out and get back in the race, it was a huge accomplishment.”
After investing thousands to rework his engine and transmission, Okell said it’s nice to see success while having some major costs behind the team.
“As my crew chief said, ‘Bill, just go race the car,’ so that’s what I’m looking forward to,” the driver said.
He enjoys not just staying competitive but being able to keep getting better at his age, noting one of his local sponsors who’s the same age says they like to live vicariously through him. It’s that support from back home, and at car shows he travels to, that helps keep the 68-year-old geared in.
“People recognize you and say well done and keep going,” Okell said. “It’s nice to be sort of a spokesman for that age era.”
READ: Greater Victoria pickleball needs more courts with 300% surge in players
