My name is Johnny “Mac” McClellan but I’m sometimes called GrandPaJmc and the car above is a Don Edmans Super Modied kit car that my Brother in Law and I put together and I drove for a couple of years back in the 80’s.  My wife (for 52 years this last Sept. 2 (2012)) Pat and I live in Kingwood, TX, which is about 22 miles north of downtown Houston. I have lived in Houston most of my life (which is a long, long time, LOL). I was 76 on 9/11, 2012. Ever hear of that date before. I had my 65th on “The” 9/11. One I won’t soon forget. My Father was an Assembly of God Minister so I’ve been in Church all my life. (Praise the Lord for Godly parents.)  I have sang solos in Church since age 4 and love to sing for the Lord. I gave my heart to Christ at age 10. Like most of us I didn’t always serve Him as much as I should have but ever since being married have done my best to serve Him the way I should. We now have two remaining children (after the lost of Howard on April 13, 2004), Rick 50 and Hollie 44. Rick and his wife have two beautiful daughters, Jessica 11 and Kathryn 10 and a Son Michael  7. They are the love or this OLD man’s (and wife’s) life. I worked for a construction and engineering firm in Houston. I programmed the emergency shutdown computers for refineries but am now retired (in 2007). My hobbies are radio controlled model airplanes and on-line racing. I raced the real midgets and winged sprint cars on dirt for 14 years and the last several years I was usually in the top 3 or 4. If you’ve ever seen the world of outlaws sprinters run on TV, that’s the type of sprint cars I ran. I’m only 5’ 4” but when I strapped myself in that sprint car, I became 7 ft tall, LOL. The Lord protected me during those 14 years and even though I was knows as a charger, I was never upside down and only had to have my car taken to the pits on the hook twice and those were from very minor damage. Quite a feat for a 140 mph, open wheel car on a 1/4 mile dirt track with 30 or so cars. I give God all the credit for protecting me. I never drove on pavement and dirt is altogether different. On the dirt you drive in about 10 miles over your head, toss it sideways and stand on the gas. Thus my tendency to over drive going into the corners on the paved tracks we run on on-line. I have been racing on-line since the early days of N3 and found Christian Racing quite by accident. I had signed up for the annual online Daytona 500 and while looking over the drivers list noticed the mention of the Christian Racing League. I have been blessed ever since, running with such a great bunch of Christian racers. Such a relief to not have to put up with the filthy mouth flaming you experience in most other leagues. But most of all I’ve been blessed by the way we hold each others needs up to the Lord and the support we give each other. I am truly blessed to be a part of Christian Racing. And again, you’ll never know how much all of your kind words and prayers meant to my family after we lost our youngest son, Howard. Just can’t put it into words. God Bless each and every one of you. GrandMa was born and raised in Arkansas but had enough since to leave and come to Texas as a young teenager (with her parents of course). She had wonderful Christian parents and they attended my Father’s Church. We were married Sept. 2, 1960 and she is 6 years younger than me. Yes I married a child bride, LOL. She was only 18 and I was 24. All I can say about her is God blessed me with the best wife I could have ever hoped for. She is a wonderful Christian and a friend to all.

Below are a few of the other cars I drove:

This was my favorite (and) last ride. It was a CAE sprinter that we usually ran with a wing. It is shown here with me carrying the checkered flag after a feature win in a special non-winged race.

This is the last car I built. I sold to Locklin Tire Company after I got the ride in the 55 CAE Sprinter.  They ask me to crew chief for them for the 1989 Super Modified Winter Nationals in Miami, Florida.  There were over 200 cars from all over the US entered. With John McLaren driving we ran 4th. A year later Paige Reynoilds (pictured above) lapped the field on the high banks at Mobile in route to setting a track record that stood for several years.

This is one of my first creations. It didn’t look like much but was fast a won the annual 100 lap race in Temple, TX it’s first outing.

This is a Non-Winged Sprinter I was helping a new racer/owner set up one night when my 55 Sprinter was sidelined with ignition problems. With a pillow behind me I could barely reach the wheel and pedals but won the race. You can tell I’m stretched out trying to reach the pedals, LOL

Last but certainly not least is the Curtis Craft Offy powered Midget I drove for Al’s Auto Parts. I had never driven a Midget but after 8 weeks I had twice as many Championship points as the 2nd place driver but was fired because I had not won a feature. I had won all my heat races and finished 2nd or 3rd in all the feature races while starting last and was only beaten by a front row starter. The next week another owner had a home built midget with a Chevy II boat motor in it, picked me up and I outran the Offy and won the feature. One piston in the Offy cost more than the complete boat motor.  I probably drove harder (with a mission) than any race I ever drove. The next week the low budget boat motor blew sidelining the home built and ending my Midget racing. My most chariest moment was when I outran my idol Bill White (who was king bee at the time) while driving the 55 Edmonds Super.

We had a 410 Sprint series this spring at Christian Racing and I won the championship. We were using a different sprint mod and only ran tacky tracks.  I’ve only been running with Sim Pro Racing a couple of months and am having trouble adjusting to the BOZ mod and slick tracks. At 76 my reflexes aren’t what they used to be.

I’m in the middle (car 55) taking the lead en route to winning the championship.

Victory burnout after winning championship.

To learn more about the MOWA Sim Series please visit our mowa sim page or go to simproracing.com