An FHS celebrity. Pro-Bodybuilder. The next Lewis Hamilton, except she’s a girl, so it’s even cooler. The woman, the myth, the legend. She goes by many names, but most simply know her as Mrs. Gregg, the AP environmental science teacher.

As you may already know, Mrs. Gregg is retiring this year, but what you probably don’t know is what she plans to do when she retires. In an exclusive interview with the Campus Comet Underground, Gregg shares her experience growing up in the industry and… her plans to return to the racing circuit.

Just like Ricky Bobby, Gregg has always wanted to go fast.

“I’ve actually been driving fast since I was ten,” Gregg said. “My father was a racecar driver, and he taught me and my younger brother how to drive.”

They had courses and tracks set up all over her ranch in Stonewall. Her dad bought them a VW beetle knowing that if they rolled it, they would be fine.

But how did she get into the big leagues? It just so happens that Gregg made a sarcastic comment to JB Springer, a man who owned a race car company.

“I told him that if he let me drive his Porsches, then I’d be more than happy to tell people where I got them from,” Gregg said. “He said ‘So you think you know how to drive?’ and I was like, I know how to drive. He said, ‘Fine, be at the airport at 6:00 on Friday.’ What did I have to lose?”

Gregg flew to the Second Creek Raceway in Denver, and on her first lap out, she was seven seconds off the track record.

Springer told Gregg, “Well, so maybe you do know how to drive.”

Unlike Ricky Bobby though, Gregg had to go through a lot of training.

“It’s not like you see on TV where they suddenly throw you into a race car,” Gregg said. “I got my pro license through SCCA, which is the Sports Car Club of America, and I spent a solid year just doing school. We learned about cars and drove all week long, and then we would fly out on Friday and go to a different state to go to a school or a race. It was a blast.”

As Gregg built up her experience, she was offered a five-year contract to go to Europe with Tablo Favre, an Austin local, and race on the European Market.

“I did road racing. I didn’t do oval track,” Gregg said. “I was actually getting fit for my IndyCar at the time, which sounds great, but it’s really scary because it’s just a narrow metal box, and they sit you in it in a tank top and shorts, and you get as tight as you can in there. You also know that you’re going to have to put on your clothes, your racing suit, and your fire-retardant suit, and by the time you get all that stuff, you don’t move, but if you ever crash, you’re safe.”

When Gregg finally stopped racing, it was because she met her husband, and decided she wanted a family.

“Unless you are willing to have your kids in that life, because it’s all encompassing, it’s really not conducive to raising a family,” Gregg said. “I was actually getting ready to go to Daytona. I had my passes and everything to go, and my dad and my brother were going to be part of my pit crew, but I didn’t sign the contract. They will never forgive me for that.”

Now that Gregg is retiring, and her kids are grown up, Gregg is going to go back and start racing again for Federo Sports Motors. In response to how far she plans to go, Gregg said, “Well, as far as it will take me. I do love the Grand Prix.”

*** April Fools! Mrs. Gregg is not returning to the racing circuit after retirement. She will just be racing to see her new grandbaby. Mrs. Gregg was actually once a race car driver, and this entire story about her is true with the exception that she will be returning to her previous racing career.