24 Hours of LeMans : Pasadena Banker and His Son Rent a Racer for This Weekend

During the week, John Hotchkis juggles pension fund portfolios in a downtown Los Angeles office, trying to stay a step ahead of the fluctuating world money markets.

For relaxation, Hotchkis, 57, drives high-speed race cars.

This weekend, with his son, John Jr., and Lee Delano of New York, the Pasadena investment banker will be in France to drive a turbocharged Spice in the 24 Hours of LeMans.

“I find it an enormous tonic to find myself strapped in a race car in the middle of the night, going through the gears--first, second, third--each one a click in my head, driving at incredible speeds,” he said.

“At that time, it makes no difference if the stock market is up or down or whatever. Running pension funds is an extraordinarily pressured business, but it’s nothing like the concentrated effort it takes to run lap after lap, doing exactly the same thing every single time around. When you come in and climb out of the car after an hour or so at the wheel, you’re physically spent but mentally you’re way up in the clouds.”

This will be the senior Hotchkis’ fifth LeMans, but the first for John Jr., 30, a 1986 graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. After graduation, he spent two years racing in the highly competitive British Formula Three series, but is now working in the auto design field.

“Driving in LeMans is a dream come true for me, especially since my father and I are teammates,” John Jr. said. “We have the skill to do very well, but these 24-hour races have a large luck factor.”

The elder Hotchkis has not raced at LeMans since 1986. His best finish was ninth overall in 1979, when he drove a Porsche 935 with the late Rolf Stommelen of West Germany. “It was an unforgettable race,” Hotchkis said. “The entire last 12 hours was run in the rain.”

Hotchkis did not become a race driver until he was 38.

“I didn’t get into racing until I was completely established in business,” he said. “One day I went out to Riverside with a friend and watched some Cal Club races. I thought it might be fun to try, so I did. Those were the days when you could take the license plate off your car and drive it around in a race.

“I had to find out what it felt like to drive as close to my capabilities as I could, and I became addicted. I can’t think of any other way to describe it. I was addicted.”

At LeMans, the British-built Spice the Hotchkises will drive is owned by Hugh Chamberlain of England. “It’s so bloody expensive (to race at LeMans) that it’s better to rent a car, which is essentially what we’re doing, than preparing your own,” Hotchkis said. “Hugh had a second car that was available, so we’re in it.”

The Spice is powered by a turbocharged Cosworth Formula One engine, prepared by Brian Hart, that delivers 480 horsepower to an extremely light chassis.

“It goes like a bullet,” Hotchkis said.

“How fast? Well, nothing goes under 200 at LeMans without getting run over. And if you get behind one of the larger cars down that four-mile straightaway, you go whatever speed he goes (because of the draft).”

Hotchkis also drives his own Porsche 962 in the International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GTP series. “The 962 is getting a bit long in the tooth, like some of its drivers,” he said. “Since Porsche got out of road racing to concentrate on its Indy car, some of the other manufacturers have passed us by.”

Hotchkis has one of the last four 962 prototypes built by the late Al Holbert. The others went to A. J. Foyt, Bruce Leven and Holbert himself. “We got that car in 1986 and while we’ve tried to keep up with improvements, there’s no overlooking the fact that, as racing goes, it’s an old car.”

It finished sixth in this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring but did not finish the 24 Hours of Daytona. “We ran the 22 Hours of Daytona,” Hotchkis said. “Two hours from the finish, our engine went out and that was it.”

Last Sunday, in the Grand Prix of Ohio on the Mid-Ohio course, Hotchkis drove his Porsche with Jim Adams of Los Angeles in an IMSA GTP race won by Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson in a prototype Nissan. Hotchkis and Adams had been running near the leaders when suspension failure sidelined the car.

Then Hotchkis left for France to join his son for this weekend’s twice-around-the-clock race in the rental car. “I’m not going to keep doing this a heck of a lot longer,” he said. “This is my 20th year, and I might add that I’m running LeMans against all advice, but John wanted to do it once as a father-and-son team.”

Jeff Kline, 45, a veteran IMSA driver from Topanga Canyon, will also be at LeMans, as part of a four-car effort by Jaguar.

“I was really flattered when I got a call asking me if I wanted to drive for Jaguar,” Kline said. “Were they kidding? How could I help but be thrilled to get a chance to drive in LeMans with a team like Jaguar.”

Kline will drive with Davy Jones of McGraw, N.Y., and Derek Daly of Ireland, both of whom drove in the Indianapolis 500. It will be the only Jag entry with American drivers.