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It’s Going To Be Awesome – The Story of Bill Caswell
A couple of months ago I heard a rumour that an unemployed resident of Chicago had bought a $500 1991 BMW 318i, not to race it in the 24 Hours of LeMons or Chump Car, but to race it in legitimate rally events.
I figured that couldn’t be right. No one would attempt to race a 20 year old rear wheel drive sedan in competitive rally events.
Then I thought of what an awesome idea it would be, to buy an old RWD BMW or something and race it in a local rally we have yearly just outside Ottawa and I figured more power to him, he’s found a way to do what he loves without really ‘breaking the bank’.
Up here in Canada rally racing doesn’t get much coverage, if any, on the television. It’s not covered by TSN (our version of ESPN), and it’s typically not covered on SpeedTV either. But a friend of mine from New York told me that someone had entered into a Rally America event with 20 year old BMW. William Caswell had gone down as a DNF in the 2010 Sno*Drift rally. He wasn’t the only one racing an old car though, there was actually an early 90s Volkswagen GTI and a mid 80s Golf in the same race, and they actually finished.
I was interested though, so I did some searching around. Eventually I came across this article on Jalopnik. It’s an excellent write up of how Bill Caswell brought his 1991 BMW to WRC Mexico and raced it on the same dirt roads as Seb Loeb and the rest of WRC. Now obviously he didn’t win, but he also ran the race with a co-driver he barely knew, no mechanical crew, and without the endless supply of spare parts that the huge sponsored drivers get. If you have the time I highly recommend watching the youtube videos, as they’re very entertaining.
Since WRC Mexico, Bill has driven his BMW at the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb, gaining the summit of 4, 721 feet, 12.42 miles of road, in 13:
50.1. (The record for gaining the summit of Pike’s Peak is 10:01.401, by Nobuhiro ‘Monster’ Tajima in a Suzuki Sport XL7 Hillclimb Special).
I’ll be eagerly watching Bill’s career as he continues to live his dream and will hopefully continue updating this space with his competitions and results.
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3 Comments to “It’s Going To Be Awesome – The Story of Bill Caswell”
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[...] We’ll get as many pictures as we can and have been invited to a one-on-one interview with Bill Caswell as he does serious fabrication work right from the booth throughout SEMA on his BMW which will [...]
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[...] Ian reported on in June, Bill Caswell captured the interested of everyone who has ever dreamed of racing against the pros with what they [...]
Just amazing what this guy is doing. He gives hope to anyone who wants to compete and shows the true spirit of racing. As someone who has had much sturdier vehicles surrender to the dirt roads of Mexico, I have to say that I am very impressed and can’t wait to read the Jalopnik article!
[...] We’ll get as many pictures as we can and have been invited to a one-on-one interview with Bill Caswell as he does serious fabrication work right from the booth throughout SEMA on his BMW which will [...]
[...] Ian reported on in June, Bill Caswell captured the interested of everyone who has ever dreamed of racing against the pros with what they [...]