Interview: Dr. Lee Talbot

To describe 81-year-old Lee Talbot as a race driver for more than 60 years would provide only the tip of the iceberg for this interesting man. Professor of Environmental Studies at George Mason University in Virginia would be a start, perhaps, but then, that’s not enough either. How about an explorer of countries where you could get killed, for example, Kenya during the time of the Mau Mau uprising. He rallied there and raced in other parts of Africa on the Rootes Group factory team. In the 1960s, he raced for Team Lotus in Asia and later raced the Lotus Super Seven in the U.S. before going overseas again. In the 1970s, when he and his wife lived in Switzerland, he was a factory driver for Opel. In 1994 he entered his first vintage event, and subsequently focused on both SCCA and vintage events. The pinnacle of Lee’s racing career was his selection as SVRA’s Driver of the Year for 2010, a mere 62 years after he started racing in Southern California. The following year he was invited to join the Road Racing Drivers Club. We should also note that in 2009 Lee received the highest honor from The Explorers’ Club, the Explorers’ Medal, “for extraordinary contributions to exploration, to science and to human welfare.” The citation went on to note he had organized and led more than 145 exploration and research expeditions to remote or unknown areas on five continents. Somehow he also found time to race or rally on many of those continents! VR contributing editor John Wright caught up to this peripatetic man and his equally active and charming wife Marty during a recent vintage weekend at Mosport.

Can you start by telling us about cutting your teeth racing in an oval event at the Bell Speedway in Southern California?