If It Involves 4 Wheels, Your Vacation Is Her Work
Layna Browdy looks back fondly on her teenage years, especially those weekends she spent in her uncle’s garage with the blowtorch.
“My dad and I, when I was about 17, spent nine months building a dune buggy together. Talk about a daddy-daughter experience--that was really neat. It was a 1965 Volkswagen that had been rolled. We bought it from a salvage lot. We cut off the top and we cut 13 inches out of the chassis and we welded it back together.”
Browdy had wanted to be a Formula One race car driver since age 12. She’s not sure why.
“I really was kind of a tomboy at heart. I was running around scraping my knees as I was roller-skating and trying to race my bicycles and later on, my cars. By the time I was doing this with my dad, my mother’s biggest objection was that half her family would disappear all weekend into the garage. She wanted to do other things with her family.”
In the 1960s, she was refused admission to her high school’s all-boy automotive class three consecutive semesters. Ultimately, Browdy forced the teacher to inspect her newly completed dune buggy.
“I drove up to the garage area of the auto shop. I got the teacher’s attention. I walked him around the car and I told him how my dad and I had built it. I told him I wanted to take his auto shop class and he said, ‘Fine. You’re in the class.’ I was the first female student to break into that auto shop class.”
The 44-year-old Irvine resident never became a race car driver, but automobiles are still a big part of her life. As corporate communications manager for the Automobile Club of Southern California, Browdy spends much of her time studying the habits of motorists, who she says will be vacationing in record numbers this summer, despite an 11% increase in gasoline prices compared to the same time last year.
“In the early ‘90s, people were being more careful and travel was down, especially among families. What we’re seeing now is that this will be a record travel year in the United States and in Southern California,” Browdy said. “About 80% of those people will travel by car. The thing that is extraordinary about all of this is that 54% of these travelers plan to take children with them. That’s up a record 7%.”
Baby-boomers are apparently mellowing a bit, Browdy speculates, planning less ambitious vacations that include the entire family. She said the most frequent summer vacation destination category mentioned by Automobile Club members is “friends and family.”
“It sounds like people are looking forward to a real kick-back, relaxing kind of vacation season. We’re not seeing as much of these intensely planned trips--going from city to city and museum to museum--although there are always travelers who travel this way,” Browdy said.
More people may be planning summer vacations, but they will spend about the same amount per trip as last summer, which was a record year for vacation spending, according to Browdy. Travelers surveyed by the Automobile Club expect to spend an average $1,076 per trip.
“The trend over the last few years had been that travelers were taking more long weekends and fewer long trips. This year, it looks like they’re starting to go longer again.”
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Of the 232 million trips of 100 miles or more planned by Americans this summer, 187 million will be in an automobile, truck or a recreational vehicle.
“The price of gas will not deter them. They’re more inclined to make other changes in how they’re spending their money. When we sat down and calculated how much more it will cost per gallon for the gas people were using, you’re talking about an average $15 or $20. That’s not enough to deter a family vacation.”
The vacation destinations most frequently chosen by Southern California travelers continue to be the Grand Canyon, San Diego and Branson, Mo., according to Browdy. New vacation “hot spots” are summer Olympics host city Atlanta; Stateline, Nev.; and Lake Buena Vista, Fla., home to Walt Disney World.
Travel to Orange County’s beaches should also be heavy, according to Browdy, considering that 81% of all family vacationers list trips to beaches and lakes as their top summer activities.
Though Browdy may be immersed in the travel plans of Automobile Club members, she has yet to plan a summer vacation for herself.
“I don’t take much vacation time. Vacation for me is to stay home for a long weekend. But I also live in one of the most desirable travel destinations on the face of the earth. When I do have free time, I spend it exploring the coast.”
True to her childhood ambitions, Browdy confesses that her ideal vacation would be a trip to Italy, to take part in the fabled Mille Miglia road race from Rome to Brescia and back, in a red Ferrari.
“It’s my ultimate dream in the whole world. If I win the lottery, the next thing I’m going to do is buy a Ferrari and sign up for this race.”
Until then, she will continue her daily commute to Los Angeles--50 miles each way--in a Saab 9000 Turbo, a vehicle that recently passed the 100,000-mile mark. After years of trouble-free operation, she fears the car may have caught the attention of her employers. It has been towed by the Automobile Club three times in the last four weeks. “I was so embarrassed, because I know it must have cost the club a lot of money. But I guess it was an important experience. I can now really identify with our members who get stranded.”
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Profile: Layna Browdy
Age: 44
Hometown: Chicago
Residence: Irvine
Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism from USC
Background: Worked 12 years for American Savings Bank, becoming senior vice president and director of corporate communications; corporate communications manager at Kaufman and Broad Inc.; joined the Automobile Club of Southern California in 1991 as corporate communications manager; a volunteer executive working part-time with former Orange County Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy during the county bankruptcy.
Racing days: “My handle was ‘Porsche-Killer.’ One time, I raced a 1600 super Porsche coupe on Mulholland Drive when I was a teenager in my dune buggy. As I led him into the turn, I barely made it and he didn’t. He rolled over and wrecked the car. Fortunately, he didn’t go over the edge. When you’re a teenager, you feel invincible. Today, I drive a much bigger car, I always wear a three-point seat belt. I wouldn’t encourage students doing that [racing] today.”
