"Loving Life in the Fast Lane"
Imagine you’re at the wheel of a 600 horsepower Indy class race car going into a curve at, oh, 195 miles an hour in the middle of a pack of other cars all going just as fast and all headed in the same direction. And you’ve got milliseconds to make separate decisions about what you need to do with your left hand, your right hand, your left foot and your right foot.
Talk about multi-tasking in an environment that can truly be life-or-death. It’s a world Tom loves, living his life to the fullest.
What makes this Indy Racing League licensed driver all the more fascinating is that he turns 68 in 2020, and still holds the record for being the oldest driver ever to compete on the Indy Lights racing circuit, the last rung on the ladder leading to clearance to compete for a place to race on Memorial Day at the Indianapolis 500.
As if race car driving wasn’t enough excitement in his life, Tom also loves downhill skiing and giant slalom ski racing out on the Rocky Mountain slopes all around his Denver home, and he keeps busy working as a logistics specialist and consultant for the food and beverage industries. His expertise in logistical systems flows naturally from his successful career as the founder of a large food and beverage distribution company. Tom sold that business after it had grown to about a thousand employees serving a nation-wide customer base.
All of this – the race car driving, the severe downhill skiing, the complex logistics of delivery systems — share a commonality in Tom’s mind: “I think of my brain and my body as a high-performance car or a complex trucking delivery system with many parts that must be kept in top working order. So I take very good care of my body by walking 40 to 50 miles a week, working out, eating a healthy and high-protein diet, and hanging out with a group of friends who also take good care of themselves.“
Another element of his approach to a successful life has been his mental attitude. “Always think positive,” he says, “and live in the moment.”
A key part of Tom’s fitness regimen has been the Prevagen he began taking in 2018. The effect was amazing, he reports: “I felt like a brand new man, just plain sharp as a tack,” he says. “And memory improved.”
Tom says his goal is to once again go into the next curve at speeds approaching 200 miles an hour. At the age of 67, that’s saying something.