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AREA CLOSINGS: Check our closings database for early school dismissals and event cancellations before you head out in the snow. >>

Q-C's Jim Victor lives up to his name

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By Bill Wundram | Thursday, August 02, 2007 |

I suppose this is epic, as such things go.

“Oh, it was just fun,” says Jim Victor, the Davenport financial adviser who put his feet to the ground and to the pedal in a weekend marathon of racing and running.

Few know that Victor is a race car driver. He has his own crew and does the major stuff, like being behind the wheel in the 24-hour race at Daytona.

Turn back to last Friday. He was at Elkhart Lake, Wis., a grand prix type Road America track. He was roaring around the four-mile, 14-turn course in his Formula C that looks like an Indy car. When you’re big-time like Jim, you need a crew and all the toys that go with it.

He ran his Formula C on the tricky track most of the day, practicing for weekend qualifying. Then, he hopped into his Mercedes to hurry home to Davenport. “I called ahead to Centro’s to get a take-out order ready, lasagna and Caesar salad. Lots of protein and carbs, because the next day I was not going to miss running the Bix. It would be my 25th year.

“I got a good night’s sleep and did the Bix in 1:08 (1 hour, 8 seconds). That was five minutes better than I did a year ago.”

After finishing the tough Bix 7, he had two beers before going home for a quick shower. Into his Mercedes he jumped again, heading the 274 miles back to Elkhart Lake for the late afternoon qualifying runs. His car was tuned to run like a sewing machine, and he qualified for the next day’s big summer Road America Cat National race. There were 16 cars, roaring like all lightning at speeds of 150 on the straight-away.

“I went from fourth to first in the first lap,” he says. “I won the race. It was one of my bigger moments in racing. It also happened to be my birthday.” This dapper dude won’t tell his age.

That checkered flag is still draped on the back of his office chair at Smith Barney.

‘What am I doing here?’

One last addendum to the Quad-City Times Bix 7: Unless you read the fine print in the winnings, you would have missed that Sister Ludmilla Benda came in third in her 80-99 age class. It was her 14th run, and in the melee of 15,000 runners and walkers, Luddy admits that she asked herself, “What am I doing here?” Maybe she just can’t kick the habit.

People-ing

MOVING ALONG: The media world is going to miss Cathie Whiteside, who is leaving KWQC-TV6 as station manager a week from today. She’s joining QCR, the banking holding company. She’ll work in fancy digs, the Quad-City Bank & Trust offices in what once was the Velie Mansion in Moline, better remembered as the Plantation.

THE LAST NAME “Outlaw” doesn’t exactly fit a police officer, but it’s no bother for Davenport patrolman Christopher Outlaw. “I’m used to being kidded about it by someone, every day,” he says.

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com