Artist, Beacham Owen took photographs of Bobby Rahal racing in Australia, then returned home and painted this scene on a commission from Miller Genuine Draft Beer.By Kyrra Casey - Knight-Ridder Newspapers Archive: June 29, 1996
Last year's Christmas gift was the spark that Florida artist, Beacham Owen needed to follow a lifelong dream of motorsport racing.
"I had been wanting to go racing for the past 20 years, But I didn't get the chance until my wife, Birgit gave me a 3-day competition racing course for Christmas," Owen said.
After completing the course at the Skip Barber Racing School at Sebring International Raceway, Owen has completed two events in the Barber Racing Series and hopes to find a sponsor for the Formula Dodge racer that he drives and compete in the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) National Series.
"I'm in training now for the Formula Dodge Race Series starting June 14, in Lime Rock, Connecticut," Owen said.
Owen's car uses a 2-liter Dodge 4-cylinder 16-valve engine in a Mondiale chassis made in Ireland. The car can reach speeds in the 140-mph range and can go from 0 to 60 in a little over four seconds. "This car handles so good that it can easily beat a more-powerful Corvette or a Viper around the Sebring road course," he said.
Owen, a well-known motorsports artist and co-owner, art director at Graphic Island Advertising said that learning to drive a race car was quite an experience. Owen replied, "Everything about a purpose-built race car is different from a street car. The race car's transmission allows you to up-shift and down-shift much faster and without using the clutch. Handling is go-kart-like and you're practically lying down when you drive, so you must learn every corner entry and exit of the track because you're almost at ground level."
The 3-day driving course cost about $2,000 with each days lapping and practice sessions running about $700.
Once he got the hang of things, Owen caught the attention of professional drivers and instructors, Vic Elford, Walt Boran, John Lewis and Terry McQuistin, who found him passing most of his opponents. They encouraged him to keep training.
"Once you learn the capabilities of the car it's a lot easier," Owen said. "They use the Mark Donohue method of trail-braking into the apex of a turn and I literally spun-out on just about every turn at Sebring until I perfected the method. I also learned to be much smoother, which is very important in such a light car."
You will find a wide variety of people learning how to drive the race cars, according to Owen.
"It was a split in my class between the beginners, like me, and some pro NASCAR and sprint car drivers coming to improve their road racing abilities," he said. We had a few housewives and some other folks who just like to drive fast."
Owen said mental training as well as physical training is needed to be successful. "A race in this series lasts about 30 minutes and the key is to keep focused, know what's going on all around you and where you are in the race. It's also good to practice the foot-work needed for driving fast. I work out physically by lifting weights and riding a bike. Staying in shape helps me get through that 30 minutes without getting too worn out. Plus I was happy to loose 20 pounds."
Owen also said, "There is such an adrenalin rush that I know what Steve McQueen meant when he said, 'life is racing, everything else is just waiting,' or something like that. People that race are thinking about it all the time and waiting for the next one."
Beacham Owen's involvement in auto racing also includes the artwork. For a long time he has been painting cars and motorcycles and selling limited edition prints of his work in galleries and on the internet.
Miller Genuine Draft recently commissioned a painting of Bobby Rahal at the Australian Grand Prix for their Guam office.
