Decades after his last time behind the wheel, Langford racer Bobby Collins will take a place in the Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame and Museum.
Collins began racing stock cars and super stock cars in 1967. He raced for 10 years, then retired.
Though he got out of the driver’s seat, the 66-year-old started a business building high performance engines. He retired from that in 2005.
“I always thought I was a better engine builder than I was a driver,” said Collins who won the inaugural Vancouver Island Super stock series in 1977. “It was easier to retire because I had just won the championship.”
Half of his life was spent either at the track or in the garage, but now Collins is rarely found at the speedway.
“When I go watch races, I get itchy,” he said.
John Biggs of Maple Bay also earned a place at the hall of fame, located at Western Speedway.
Biggs never raced cars, but his job on the track was fixing the cars up after a crash. He worked in the pit and as a mechanic from 1963 to 1977.
“We totalled a lot of cars, so we had to build lots of them,” said the 72-year-old Maple Bay resident.
Bill Drummond and Harold Sjostrom are also being inducted into the hall of fame. The Hitchcox family, Wayne Townsend, Jimmie Isacson and Ken Keating have been selected to be inducted into the pioneers category.
The Victoria Auto Racing Hall of Fame and Museum will host the induction at Eagle Ridge community centre, 1089 Langford Pkwy on Saturday, April 13 at 1 p.m.