Mike and Mary Lee Helton
Mike and Mary Lee Helton are two of the more active amateur auto racers in our club. Mike has participated in over 200 amateur starts including 25 endurance races of six to 24 hours in length. He has competed on 15 different racetracks in North America with eight different cars: three 2002s, a 320i, three 325is', and a Corolla GTS—his one non-BMW. This year has been the Heltons' 11th race season. They have a network of BMW friends all around the country that they hook up with at different races.
A windy September day in 1984 was Mike's first track day with the Chicago Windy City Chapter. After that chilly day he participated in more club track days, then started teaching at club driving schools, then went on to racing, joining SCCA in 1987 and started racing in earnest in 1988. Our own Zündfolge Editor David Lightfoot signed off Mike in his BMW ACA Log Book as a Level 1 driver.
Blame it on a 2002
The Heltons moved here from Chicago by way of Missouri. Mike and Mary Lee met in sixth grade when Michael moved and started attending Mary Lee's elementary school. Mary Lee says she became Mike's girlfriend and she's been his girlfriend ever since. The Heltons were married in 1960 and have two children, Chris and Lisa, and seven grandkids. Their son Chris was a bicycle racer until he got hurt. He worked in a cycle shop where a friend drove a 2002tii.
When Chris was close to getting his driver's license Mary Lee says he found an atrocious 2002. During this time Mike found that one of the secrets to raising a boy is to buy him a car that will only go 15 miles between breakdowns. (The author, with a young son, is taking note.) Mike would come home from work and there invariably would be a little old lady calling saying that their son Chris was out in front of her house and his car had broken down. The Helton family learned a lot about the front end of a 2002 fairly quickly.
One day they were driving by a service station that had a bunch of 2002s sitting around the lot. Their son went in and met the shop owner Andy Kritikos. Andy had come from Greece four or five years earlier. He had worked on a race team back in Greece including Opels that ran in the Acropolis Rally. Andy started out restoring 2002s from the ground up. Eventually the motor seized on Chris' original 2002 so he bought one of Andy's '02s. Chris and Andy became friends based on 2002s. Later, their daughter Lisa took her VW Rabbit to Andy because it wasn't running right. He put a big Weber carburetor on it and that fixed everything. He must have done a good job. Soon, Andy and daughter Lisa were dating; eventually they were married.
The BMW Stable
The Heltons are very happy with their current BMW stable (all red) which include an '85 535i, an '89 325is and Mary Lee's '71 2002. Her 2002 was hit in the side by an RV last year and is awaiting repair. It is sitting safely in the corner of their garage. If Mike were considering buying another BMW (but he's not) he would consider an E30 M3.
Mary Lee is hopeful she can eventually persuade son-in-law Andy to fix her broken 2002. Before it was hit it ran great. Mike thinks it should be rebuilt into a race car. He thinks it could look like this (pointing to a picture of Terry Flanagan's bright orange 2002 race car that Mike drove at this year's SIR historic races). "It could be a contender!" he declares.
Club Life
The Heltons found out about our club through their daughter Lisa who was Newsletter Editor for the BMW CCA Chicago Windy City chapter in the mid-1980s. She had been receiving the Zundfolge and showed Mike and Mary Lee a copy once they had planned their move to Seattle. When the Heltons arrived in Seattle they met the Lightfoots and ended up at a club board meeting. Mary Lee started out helping with Membership. She was then the Secretary for a year. She is currently back working as the Membership Director. Her fingerprints are on the renewal cards that everyone receives, as are the new member packets.
Gotta Make a Living
Mike originally graduated from the University of Missouri with a civil engineering degree and he took a regular commission for four years in the Army. He left the Army as a Captain and then pursued his private career as an environmental engineer. He worked for the National Communicable Disease Center in Georgia for a while dealing with issues related to chemical poisoning. Then worked for the EPA in Denver. There may be some good X-File stories based on his experiences during this time. Later Mike attended law school, earning his Jurist Doctor degree from the University of Denver College of Law. He went to work for U.S. Gypsum in Chicago as General Attorney and as an Administrative Manager. Later still, he received an MBA from the University of Chicago.
When the Heltons moved to Bellevue they bought the E.J. Bartells Company in Renton and Mike acted as a principal and CEO for nine years before selling the company. Mike says owning a company is like buying a boat. "The best two days are the day you buy it and the day you sell it." Mike took a year off to race, he thought that was pretty nice so he took another year off and so it has gone ever since. Mike thinks he finally found what he's most suited for: "Nothing but racing" he says with a chuckle.
Mary Lee
taught French and English in St. Louis and raised their two children. Mary Lee also got
pretty good at fixing up houses as they moved from city to city, sort of like corporate
gypsies. They have moved 13 times. When not racing they travel and read. Mike also says
he's a history buff. He has a couple ideas for books or extended articles that he might
write having to do with the period before the Civil War.
The Racing Heltons
Mike started racing by renting a 2002 race car from Terry Flanagan and Byron Sandborn. Mike has come to love endurance racing. He says he enters sprint races because that's all there is for much of the year. But by the end of each year there are a number of enduros around the country that they compete in. They have friends that travel along to crew. Mary Lee is the Iron Woman at the enduro races. She handles timing and scoring for the team during the races. She has worked two 24-hour races non-stop. She says she stays by the track "because if you do step away, invariably the car would wreck."
Mary Lee adds that two crews are needed so people can get some sleep. Although the drivers are competitive, Mike says the mechanics are even more competitive. They know they can make the car go faster and last longer. However, "the damn fool driver keeps messing it up and destroying their beautiful work."
They have progressed through a number of BMW race cars (all with names) including The Chicago Flyer, Porsche Anne (now Jacqueline Kahn's car), and Mike's current race car: an E30 325is called The Red Devil. Mike states that all race cars must have names that reflect their personalities.
Andy has built the last couple of race cars for Mike and Mary Lee. Andy also built the very first new VW Beetle race car in the world. The bug was prepared in Chicago, shipped to Germany, and raced at the prestigious 24-Hours of Nürburgring run on the famous 14-mile old circuit.
Mike particularly likes endurance races run at night in the rain. He usually drives dusk to dark and dark to dawn during these events. He says a well set up BMW has an advantage in adverse conditions over a long haul like an enduro race. They can't beat other cars at the track on horsepower but can win with reliability and the excellent engineering that is designed into every BMW car. Last year they won the 2.5-liter class of the Portland Cascade Car Club six-hour enduro in Porsche Anne. Run every year in October, the last two hours of this race are run in the dark.
Both Mike and Mary Lee's son and daughter have raced as well. They grew up around cars. Their son Chris was actively racing for a while, but then eventually got out of it. Mike received a lot of Chris' clothing and gear at this point "which I paid for anyway." Their daughter who they thought would marry a yuppie ended up marrying Andy who now builds racecars. "Thank Goodness for that" quips Mike.
Start Your Engines!
One special cockpit trick Mike developed was used at the Portland Cascade six-hour enduro. The event employs a Le Mans-style start with the cars lined up diagonally on one side of the pit lane and drivers on the other side. Think back to those great pictures from the '50s. A gun would sound and the drivers would all sprint on foot across the track, jump into their cars, put on their seat belts and roar out of the pits. Mike's trick was to hang each of the safety belts from rubber bands in the car. They were then within easy reach to quickly grab and snap in place. Everyone eventually picked up on his trick and he lost that advantage. He did, however, get out quickly onto the track for years.
Another memorable race Mike and Mary Lee experienced was the 1996 24 Hours of Moroso. They competed in this race along with five Australians. One of which was former Formula 1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham. Brabham then was 71 years old and Mike says could still hustle the car around the track. Driving with Sir Jack was a real thrill for the Heltons.
Future Plans
What's in the Heltons' future? More racing of course. This is the first competitive season with the new Red Devil, which they are still sorting out. Mike and club member Terry Flanagan are considering racing in either the Speedvision Cup or in SCCA next year and would probably prepare an E36 M3 for that effort. Going from a rental 2002, through a 320i and 325is, to an E36 M3 is a nice progression of race cars. Look to these pages for updates if they do go M3 racing!
Update 12/02: Wes Tipton's report on a Grand-Am race that Mike and his RTG Ltd. team competed in at Phoenix Int'l Raceway!
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