I grew up more than 3,000 miles from my 84-year-old grandfather, Gary Nylander. In fact, I’ve only met him in person a handful of times. But after spending a Sunday afternoon on the phone with him, I learned how much we actually have in common, which made me wonder: How much of who I am is “in my blood?”
My grandfather was, among other things, a competitive race car driver, so it seemed appropriate that I would be interviewing him during his favorite race, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, a 24-hour race on the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) circuit. The interview was littered with brief moments where he would comment on something going on in the race, clearly showing his lifelong passion for the sport.
Gary was born on December 27, 1940, in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. At 15, he bought his first car, a 1949 Chevrolet four-door sedan, which was necessary for his weekend job distributing newspapers. “I went in, picked up about 500 newspapers, and I then drove them around in my ‘49 Chevy and dropped them off to the guys who sold them,” Gary described.
He collected exotic diecast cars as a child and got interested in “playing around with hot rods” in high school. He explained, “I had friends who had some nice cars.” In college, he and some fellow car enthusiasts began attending local races around Los Angeles, Riverside and Santa Barbara.
Gary was drawn to sports car racing, specifically foreign cars like Ferraris, Porsches and Aston Martins. He bought his first Porsche shortly after graduating from college and landing a job at IBM. He also joined the Porsche Owners Club (POC) of Southern California, a club for fellow Porsche enthusiasts, where he was surrounded by other like-minded car people. He later served as President of the POC for several years.
Just out of college, he met my grandmother, Bobbee, and they got married and had two daughters, my aunt Kristin and my mother Karole. The entire family would then spend weekends at car races and other Porsche club events. Gary and Bobbee advanced into professional racing in the 1970s, becoming the first husband-and-wife racing team in IMSA history. Their forte was endurance races (6 hours or more).
Through his work and Porsche club friends, Gary was also introduced to sailing. He found a free 13-foot sailboat in need of repair, fixed it up, launched it at Marina Del Rey, and taught himself how to sail. He also began boat racing on friends’ larger boats. He continued racing for almost six decades.
Gary now lives in a harbor town on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. He is now no longer able to sail or race, but he hasn’t fully given them up. He competes in model sailboat races and volunteers at the local maritime museum and car museum.
When I asked him if he thought he was a competitive person, he said, “When I’m involved, I’m not a spectator.” He explained that he was just a fan, and “just didn’t get it” until he bought his first Porsche. That sparked his competitive nature.
I definitely share my grandfather’s passion for car racing. My favorite circuit is NASCAR. Grandpop and I have had some fun conversations about races over the years.
I also relate to my grandfather’s dedication and tenacity when it comes to the things he is passionate about. His interest in cars developed and grew into a passion for professional racing. His interest in sailboats developed and grew into a decades-long obsession with sailboat racing.
I think I have the same dedication and tenacity as my grandfather. When I am interested in something, I become engrossed in and committed to it. For instance, I always have sports commentary, a game or a race on, even if I’m doing homework. I can’t get enough of it.
Interestingly, I also learned that my grandfather was briefly a journalist! He was a pit reporter at the Formula One and IMSA races at Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway. He hung out in the pits during the race, conducted interviews of drivers and crew chiefs, wrote down what was going on during the pit stops, and delivered notes to reporters in the press box.
Is it possible that journalism is also somehow in my blood? Maybe. But at the very least, I got to spend a really nice afternoon chatting with my grandfather about some of the things we have in common, while he got distracted by an interview on the race broadcast of IMSA Hall of Famer Hurley Haywood, a racing friend of his from back in the day.
“This was really fun,” he said. I agreed.
