Life is Good
– DR. RONALD FINGER
Doctor
HOT
ROD
Dr. Ronald Finger is famous in
these parts as being one of the
best plastic surgeons in the
south. Few people know him
as Ron the Race Car Driver.
by
B A R R Y
photos
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K A U F M A N
PA U L
S OUT H M AGA ZI NE.C OM
G R A H A M
LIFE ON THE EDGE
Over 25 years of races, Dr. Finger claims to
have won over 75 first place victories, but he
didn't cross the finish line every time.
“I’ve had some spectacular crashes,” he said.
Besides breaking his neck in a motorcycle race
in 1971, Finger has started a few races in one car
only to finish them in an ambulance.
During a practice session in Atlanta, he had
just passed another car when the driver decided
to get back around him in the middle of a hairpin
turn. “It broke the car in three places and my
back in three places,” he said with a laugh.
Another accident at Watkins Glenn brought
him closer to the edge than anything else he’d
done. Heading into an S curve, mechanical failure
caused Finger to slam into a wall at 145 miles an
hour. “I was airlifted out of there. I shouldn’t have
survived.”
Dr. Ron Finger has a habit of taking pretty
things and making them even more beautiful.
As a plastic surgeon, he’s gained widespread
renown for his work in Savannah and Bluffton,
representing the leading edge of his field. His
practice, rated No. 1 in Georgia by RateMDs.
com, has helped countless locals look and feel
their best.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that
he treats his cars with the same care he treats his
patients. A self-professed gearhead, he recently
let us into his semi-secret lair tucked away in Sa-
vannah to get a few shots of his prized collection
of vintage automobiles and muscle cars.
“There’s a lot of overlap,” he said, discussing
the skill sets needed to race cars and perform
plastic surgery. “Hand eye coordination, preci-
sion… the big difference is, with plastic surgery,
you’re dealing with other people’s lives.”
Regarding restoration of vintage cars to their
one-time glory, he’s not averse to getting out
there and tearing up some pavement in them.
“Racing is exhilarating. It’s an endless frontier
– like plastic surgery, you can always get better
at it.”
START YOUR ENGINES
While he describes his passion for cars as more
of a hobby when compared to his work as a plastic
surgeon, it’s easy to tell how much this hobby has
meant to him over the years.
As a young man in Marion, South Carolina he
first built his need for speed racing his dad’s cars
against his friends (when asked if his dad knew,
Finger responded with a hearty chuckle and a
“hell no.”)
“The guy that got me interested in cars is a
cousin of mine, Henry,” he said. “He still loves
cars and he’s still my hero in that respect.” The
pair of them used to head out when Finger was
around 9 years old, riding shotgun while his
15-year-old cousin tore up and down King Street
in Charleston in a 1936 Ford, Henry had modi-
fied himself. “Of course, back then everyone was
drag racing down King St.”
From there it was, ahem, off to the races. In
college, Finger rebuilt a 1955 Chevy, adding in
a four-barrel, dual exhaust and a Duntov cam
that he bought for $12.50. When he rolled into
Savannah from California after leaving the Air
Force, he did so in a Ferrari he’d bought for
$8,200 (plus the cost of a Sears & Roebuck roof
rack). He would later sell it for $10,000. “That
car’s probably worth a million now, I wish I had
it back.”
It wouldn’t be the only Ferrari that Finger