In this regular series, OC Catholic takes a deeper look at some interesting and unexpected pastimes of diocesan parishioners.
ST. THOMAS MORE PARISHIONER Tom VanDorpe wears many hats.
He and his wife Lisa currently serve as general chairs for the Build and Believe capital campaign to construct new church facilities at their Irvine parish. He is also the past president of the Orange County chapter of Legatus, a national organization of Catholic business owners.
VanDorpe has over 30 years of professional experience in green building, engineering design and construction. He has been married to his wife for over 30 years, and they have two children together: Camille is married to Adam Kraus and lives in Dallas, and Sam graduated USC two years ago.
VanDorpe indeed wears many hats — one of them being a helmet.
See, in his spare time, VanDorpe is a race car driver.
“When I turned 50, I bought a 911 Carrera,” he shared. “It was stick shift, and I always liked manual gearboxes; however, this Porsche 7-speed is a difficult gearbox to master. So, I decided to really dive in and learn the car. This meant appreciating not just the looks but gaining an appreciation for all that went into this marvelous piece of machinery and specifically taking it to its limits.”
But he’s not alone.
“I discovered there were some serious drivers among my friends and acquaintances, and was encouraged by them,” VanDorpe added.
Then he started to get serious about racing himself.
“After a few open track days, I had lap times that were decent and I joined an amateur road race team,” he said. “In one of the early wheel-to-wheel races (cars race side-by-side), I got passed by a Mustang, which I re-passed and went back and forth battling for 10 laps. When it was time to come in and change to the next driver, that guy found me and marched over.”
VanDorpe continued, “But he wasn’t angry; after confirming who I was, he high-fived me and said that he had just had the best time!” I had just learned the joy of a good dogfight among close competitors.”
Fast forward, and he now has about 50 endurance races under his belt and has been on teams with professional drivers. These series include 24 Hours of Lemons, ChampCar, Lucky Dog and World Racing League (WRL).
“WRL is the most competitive,” VanDorpe points out. “I’ve driven BMW, Lexus, Porsche and Mazda cars, generally worth less than $50,000 but always with full safety equipment including roll cages and fire suppression.”
He has since entered racing events all over the United States and had the opportunity to race at some of the most iconic tracks: Indy, Daytona, Road America, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Barber, Circuit of the Americas; California tracks include Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway and Thunderhill.
Before VanDorpe’s father passed in 2016, they had precious time to discuss the importance of faith, family, good business partners and the commitment needed to make the right choices. His mom, Peggy VanDorpe, is still a positive influence on his family.
“Besides the wonderful people I spend time with at the track, I’ve found the challenge of wheel-to-wheel racing to be quite engaging,” he noted. “Each track has new secrets to discover, even if you think you have been there enough times that you know them all.”