Full Speed Ahead: Dr. Walter Halloran Showcases Passion for Automobiles on the Race Track

Long before Walter Halloran, MD, ever picked up a scalpel, the Beacon Medical Group cardiothoracic surgeon was handy with a socket wrench.

As a 10-year-old, his mechanical inclinations were matched only by his need for speed. The back roads and open lands of his rural hometown in southwestern Minnesota made for the perfect setting to explore some speed on a six-horsepower mini bike he built from a kit. He admits to a few misadventures, like the time he had to jump off the bike while traveling at 35 mph before it crashed in woods at the bottom of a ravine. He came out a little bruised, but his youthful confidence was left untouched — and he fixed the brakes.

At 15, he found a second home working on cars at a nearby service station. From there, Dr. Halloran’s automotive mastery continued to grow. At age 16, he rebuilt the engine in a 1972 Ford Mustang, a kind of vehicular surgery that wouldn’t be his last. But as much fun as he had in working on and being around cars as an adolescent and teen, his path to a medical career consumed his life for a period of 12 years, leaving very little time to focus on his beloved hobby.

The Fast Track

His automobile passion reemerged in 1995, four years into his tenure at Elkhart General Hospital, when he purchased a 1995 Porsche 911, the German-manufactured high-performance sports car. Less than two years later, following ongoing conversations with friends who were interested in racing, Dr. Halloran entered the world of sports car racing through the Porsche Club of America Club Racing.

Those first few years on the track were less than spectacular. “I was learning to race and it’s nerve-wracking at first. I had a lot to learn,” he acknowledged.

In 1999, Dr. Halloran bought his next sports car, a 1979 Turbo Porsche to which he did much work to convert it to a safe and fast track car.

“This older Porsche,” says Dr. Halloran with a twinkle in his eye, “was high-powered and unpredictable, with top speeds of 165 mph. It was a handful.”

Despite the high speeds, the Porsche Club of America Club Racing is unlike professional racing with its multiple collisions and accompanying injuries. The racing league has a major emphasis on driver safety. In almost two decades of racing, Dr. Halloran has never crashed into another car, though he has driven off a track several times.

“People still wreck their cars, but I haven’t seen a single injury.”

A Wonderful Escape

Dr. Halloran is well aware of how opinions differ among people about a cardiothoracic surgeon competing in automobile racing.

“Some think it’s cool. Some think it’s ridiculous.”

For him, it’s the best kind of medicine.

“It’s an absolute blast. It’s exhausting, frightening and physically demanding, but exhilarating.

I like the speed, the noise, the smells, the competition and the mechanical aspect of it. It’s infectious. Racing distracts me from my everyday job. It’s a wonderful escape.”

Interestingly enough, Dr. Halloran acknowledges surgery and racing have more in common than some might think.

“Both surgery and racing are decision-intensive. Just as I have to be supremely focused when I’m performing surgery, I need to exercise that same focus when I’m making a turn on a crowded track at 130 mph.”

Still, when he’s behind the wheel on the track, surgery is the last thing on his mind.

“Being a surgeon is all-consuming. When I’m racing, I’m not a surgeon — I’m a race car driver.”