The Racing Reverend takes to the track in historic Jaguar

We're used to seeing a little fire and brimstone at the various NASCAR races across the country. That traveling circus is most at home when it swings through the heart of the Bible Belt. But when the English drivers of historic race cars start Tebowing at the finish line, it must be a sign.

Simon Butler, also known as the Racing Reverend, will soon pilot a 1952 Jaguar C-type in competition for the Royal Automobile Club's Woodcote Trophy. The Reverend is the associate rector of Ashtead Parish in Surrey, England. He'll partner with co-driver Jonathon Crouch for the full Woodcote Trophy series. The car is owned by Tony Allen, one of Butler's parishioners.

“I think I'm the only Anglican clergyman who has ever driven a modern Formula One car,” Butler said. “But this will be my first experience in historics.”

“Racing embodies, for me, the idea of living life to the fullest,” Butler said. “When I'm behind the wheel, I feel I'm pushing boundaries and taking myself and the car to the edge. There's a real buzz [in] taking a machine to its limit: You are on the razor's edge of being in and out of control. It's a matter of grabbing hold of what is offered in every one of life's opportunities and embracing the risk that comes with it.”

Risk is part of the C-type's pedigree. Its chassis is numbered XKC 016. It was supplied new in 1952 to a French Jaguar importer. It competed in European events in 1953, until it crashed on the Mille Miglia, killing driver Pierre Gilbert Ugnon and leaving his teammate, Luc Descollanges, badly injured. In the 1970s, the car was restored, piece by piece, by a French Jaguar collector. Now it has been brought back to its original racing specification.

The Woodcote Series starts at the Donington Historic Festival on May 5-6.

Good luck, Reverend, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

By Jake Lingeman