Gearheads and Daredevils: Residents of Monarch Senior Living Community in Naperville Take to The Racetrack

If you think people slow down in retirement, you haven’t met Jeff Schur. The resident of Monarch Landing senior living community in Naperville is a high-performance race car driver and instructor. Late last month, Jeff hosted a group of his friends/fellow residents at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, where he took some of the participants for hot laps in his BMW M3 race car. Others drove their own vehicles, and Autobahn made cars available to others to take around the track.

The outing came about as Jeff was sharing his profession with some of his friends living at Monarch Landing. They expressed interest in learning more and experiencing the adventure. Jeff, who works at Autobahn Country Club, put the outing together.

A highlight of the outing involved resident Bob Blanchard. His father had been a professional racecar driver. Jeff learned about this and the fact that Bob himself had never ridden in a car at race-pace. Jeff provided that first-time. Adventure for Bob at Autobahn. While planning the event, Jeff had come across a picture of Bob’s dad after he’d won a race in his Corvette many years ago. Bob, at the age of 11, was pictured sitting on the car. Jeff had the red Corvette Z06 that he took Bob for his ride on, painted with the number of Bob’s dad’s car as a surprise.

Also ‘along for the ride’ were Pati and Rick Saulig. Rick formerly raced Corvettes, and he and Pati remain avid Corvette enthusiasts. The couple drove their own metallic brown Vette at the event.

Nancy and Dan Marion drove one of Autobahn’s cars, a 2024 riptide blue Corvette E-Ray. Ron Gasperini drove one of Autobahn’s cars, a Lexus LC500 convertible, with his wife Kandace in the passenger seat and Donna and Ray Fonda in the back seat.

“People don’t often think of driving race cars as an activity for residents living in senior living communities.  The fact is though, that living at Monarch Landing provides the opportunity to meet people with interesting backgrounds, professions, and hobbies, and the freedom to try new things. This event put our residents ‘behind the wheel,’ in a whole new way,” said Mark Trnka, Executive Director of Monarch Landing.

MONARCH LANDING

Monarch Landing is a Life Plan Community located on a scenic campus in Naperville, Illinois-named “one of America’s best places to live and retire” by Modern Maturity, and “the best city for early retirement” by Kiplinger. Monarch Landing offers independent living, promoting a vibrant lifestyle for active seniors.  The Springs at Monarch Landing offers memory supported assisted living, respite care, rehabilitation, and skilled nursing services, thus providing complete continuing care for seniors. Monarch Landing is owned by Senior Care Development and managed by Life Care Services®. For additional information visit www.WelcomeToMonarchLanding.com or www.TheSpringsatMonarchLanding.com.