Country Zest & Style Autumn 2022 Edition

Page 7

Porsches and Horses All on the Same Day

F

By Leonard Shapiro

inal Sunday spectators at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show watched world class equestrians compete, got a glimpse of visiting Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and also could hob-nob with road racing royalty if they walked around a display of gorgeously restored vintage automobiles near the main ring. Bob Garretson, a long-time Californian now living in Warrenton, spent that day at the show along with his shiny yellow 1972 Porsche 911. He’s 89, and still loves driving that car, though at far slower speeds than the 200 mph he often reached while competing at iconic tracks like Sebring, Daytona and LeMans back in the 1970s and early ‘80s. “I’ve been interested in cars all my life,” Garretson said. “My brother and my dad were both car nuts, too, and by the time I started to drive, drag racing was big. One day, I went to a road race and I realized these guys were driving at high speeds for twenty minutes, and it was only twenty seconds in drag racing. That was a lot more appealing to me.” Garretson helped pay his way through the University of California-Berkeley by rebuilding V8 engines. He eventually settled in the Bay Area and worked in the computer business about the time Silicon Valley began to boom. He also opened a Porsche repair shop in Cupertino, California where Apple founder Steve Jobs was a client and became one of Garretson’s sponsors. Garretson also raced Porsches, and one day in 1978, it almost cost him his life. At the 24 Hours of LeMans, after driving for two hours and only three laps from a pit stop, he misjudged a turn and hit a guard rail. According to his biography on the loveforporsche.com website, “When the car crashed, it rolled end-to-end and side-to-side. The wreckage…was spread over a quarter of a mile and left some of the body parts stuck in the nearby trees. The

Photo by Tiffany of Dillonkeenphotography

American racing legend Bob Garretson with his freshly restored yellow 1972 Porsche 911. car was totaled, but Bob Garretson escaped only with some cuts and bruises.” In 1981, he won the 24-hour race at Daytona and ended that season by winning the first World Sportscar Championship based on high finishes in several other major races. Garretson, who teamed with driving legends like Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Rahal and Rick Means over the years, retired from competitive racing in the early 1980s because “it just wasn’t fun anymore,” he said. He started a thriving computer chip business, lived in England for a dozen years and, with his wife Ruth, moved to Warrenton in 2017 to be close to their adult children and grandkids. “I’ve had a great time with it,” he said of his love affair with cars. “My whole life.”

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Articles inside

LETTER from PARIS: A Moveable Feast in a Tour de France

5min
page 78

PROPERTY Writes: A Horsey Hideaway at Hidden Trail

3min
page 77

Common Grounds: 10 Years of Grounding Our Community

3min
page 76

At Morven Park, No is Not an Answer

4min
pages 74-75

SEEN & SCENE

1min
pages 72-73

The Village Green in Orlean, No S Necessary

2min
pages 70-71

Plains Community League All About Good Works

4min
pages 68-69

Talk About a Blood Hound

3min
page 63

The Mission: Go Native, Protect Pollinators

3min
page 62

Honoring Andrew Looney With a Special Brand

4min
page 60

Perspectives on Childhood, Education, and Parenting: Off to Another Fine Start

3min
page 59

Carry Me BACK: It Happened One Day

3min
page 58

A Historic Road Down by the Riverside

3min
page 57

A New Leesburg Home In Sync with the Environment

3min
page 56

From Local Royalty, the Best Ham Biscuit on the Planet

2min
page 54

Mapping the Memories of Fauquier’s African-American Communities

4min
pages 52-53

Kinloch Farm Beefing Up Its Local Hoofprint

3min
page 50

A Day and a Lifetime at The Saratoga Races

3min
page 49

MODERN FINANCE: Swimming Naked Can Be a Bad Idea

4min
page 47

The Magnificent Mister Mayberry

3min
page 46

Reconciliation Begins with Relationship

3min
page 45

CHURCHES

1min
page 44

It’s All About the Brain at Janelia Campus

3min
page 43

Salamander Officially Breaks Ground for Residences

2min
page 42

Soil and Septic Go Hand In Hand for Mark Smith

4min
page 39

At Warrenton WOW, It’s All About the Oxygen

4min
page 37

Ribbons All Around At Upperville

2min
page 35

A SAM HUFF LEGACY: The West Virginia Breeders Classic on Oct. 8

4min
pages 32-33

A Royal Romance With A Whiff of Warrenton

5min
page 30

BOOKED UP: FOX, HORSE, DEER

1min
page 29

An Artful Gift Passed on to a New Generation

3min
page 28

It’s Always Been Miles To Go Down the Road

4min
page 27

Sporting Pursuits

3min
page 25

VIRGINIA POLO: A Never-Ending Commitment to Excellence

5min
page 24

Sadler’s Joy: A Champion in the Flesh and in Bronze

3min
page 22

Edwina Mason: Remembering Millwood

4min
page 21

Fifth Annual BIKE THE GRAVEL: Tour de Conservation Easement

3min
page 20

Sweet Elephant Bestows its Luck on Lauren Connolly

4min
page 19

Make NOTE

2min
page 18

AS EVER YOURS: The Lost Generation

2min
pages 16-17

THIS & THAT

1min
page 14

A Well-Deserved Honor for Oh So Talented Tutti

4min
page 12

HERE & THERE

1min
page 11

The Scent of a Woman

2min
page 10

It's Show Time

1min
page 9

Porsches and Horses All on the Same Day

3min
page 7

Horses Are Not The Only Form Of Transportation At The Upperville Horse Show

1min
page 6

A Red Truck Classic

3min
page 4

Celebrations

1min
page 3
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