Tags: Bobby Rahal / Brickyard Vintage Invitational / C7 FIA Corvette GT3 / Corvette Sting Ray / Don Yenko / FIA Cobra / Indy 500 / K-Code Mustang / Mike Matune / SVRA / Tom Sneva / Trans-Am / Vintage Racing

INDY: BRICKYARD VINTAGE RACING INVITATIONAL!

- Sabtu, 20 Juni 2015 No Comments

SVRA enjoyed a second year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with its Vintage Racing Invitational. Mike Matune was trackside for the Chronicles.

Clark Howey’s ‘66 Corvette won its class at Daytona. After more than 20 years and numerous owners, it is once again owned and raced by Howey. So much more than just racing, the event encompasses a car auction, car show, Jaguar exhibit and autocross and an enactment of the very first event at the Speedway - 1909 hot air balloon race. To us, the signature event is the Indianapolis 500 Legends Celebrity Pro-Am that matches 33 former Indy 500 starters with vintage drivers in stunning examples of American Muscle. ’65 Mustang, right, of Davey Hamilton & Frank Marcum awaits the race on the pre-grid. Hamilton is an eleven-time 500 starter with three Top 10 finishes to his credit. 

Pro Bob Lazier and Amateur Jim Caudle in Caudle’s ‘68 Corvette, below, took home the victory and bragging rights. They bested all comers and survived an active race; our congratulations on their well-earned victory.

Set appropriately at the “Yard of Bricks” a group photo shows the 33 Pro-Am teams along with distinguished guests like Honorary Stewards Janet Guthrie & Tom Sneva. As you walked through the crowd gathered in pit lane, you were struck by how close the racing community is and how much respect they have for each other.

Racing included events run on both Indy’s road course and oval. Here James Webb’s March 86C looks right at home at speed on the oval. This car finished second in the 1986 Indy 500 driven by Kevin Cogan.

Cogan was beaten in 1986 by Bobby Rahal in this March 86C. Rahal caught and passed Cogan very late in the race on a restart. It’s owned and driven by Patrick Ryan, shown here on Indy’s road course.

Casey Putsche takes his tube frame Corvette through the hard left-hander at the end of the back straight.  Putsch’s car has history as a GT1 racer. The car is crewed by the Genius Garage, a group of engineering students getting valuable hands on, real world experience. Their collective efforts would net a fourth place finish in one of the Group 10 races in the car’s inaugural competition appearance.

Before Ike Keeler returned it to the configuration of its Trans-Am glory days, his Old’s Cutlass followed a path so common with vintage racers. It had been a front running car campaigned by Darin Brassfield. Then it worked its way through a re-body or two as it moved to other teams in Trans-Am and eventually into SCCA Club Racing. Today it displays all of the features of its initial configuration including a ChevyV-8, tube frame and fiberglass “silhouette” body.

Janet Guthrie and fellow female racing pioneer Lyn St. James were there, competing in the Pro-Am. Adding to the historical perspective of women in motorsports was this car, Donna Mae Mims’ Yenko Stinger (YS-085). Today it is owned and raced James Schradt. 

With a production life of something like 65 years and with over 20 million produced, you would think the sight of a Type 1 VW “Beetle” in competition would be more common. Victor Frazzell has taken on that challenge, actively racing his 1968 version. The car pays tribute to a VW raced in the under 2.5-liter Trans-Am in period by Allen Treuhaft.

Chris MacAllister’s Cobra is steeped in history. Bearing chassis number CSX 2323, the car is one of a handful of FIA roadsters raced in FIA events in pursuit of the World Manufacturers Title. Making its debut in the Targa Florio driven by Grant & Gurney, the car would next appear with Ireland at Spa before a crash at the Nurburgring by Enzo Arena would end its Shelby racing career. Rebuilt, it soldiered on back in the U.S. at Daytona, Sebring and around the Southeast in the SCCA.

Tom Weglarz and friends built this Camaro in 1981 for the Kelly American Challenge. It started as a 1970.5 Camaro body of undetermined origin and was assembled using pieces from GM racers of the Trans-Am era. Updated to 1981 body style, it has fiberglass panels from the then current IROC Camaros. Interesting is that in its post-Kelley racing life, it ran the “Hot Rod Power Tour” with Olds power and was featured in the November 2010 issue of Hot Rod. Today it’s powered by a 331-inch Chevy.

Benneton would finish third in the 1997 Formula 1 Constructor’s Championship behind Williams and Ferrari with its Renault powered B197 chassis driven by Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi. At Indy, we see Brian French in his B197 hugging the curb on another quick lap around the circuit.



Words & Photos: M.M. “Mike” Matune, Jr.



Special thanks to Jan Hyde, Registry of Corvette Race Cars and Tim Sullivan & Taylor Clauson at the Speedway for their help with credentials.



For more information, please visit http://www.svra.com/

http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/

Tags: Adam Carolla / Aston-Martin DB4 Zagato / Group 44 / GT40 / Jefferson 500 Historics / Kas Kastner / Lola / Mike Matune / Paul Newman / Porsche 911 / Racing Corvettes / Summit Point / Triumph / Vintage Racing / VRG / WINNING

JEFFERSON 500: VINTAGE RACERS INVADE SUMMIT POINT!

- Selasa, 26 Mei 2015 No Comments

The Vintage Racers Group (VRG) takes over Summit Point Raceway with their latest rendition of the Jefferson 500. Our Mike Matune was trackside.

Racers and spectators were treated to five days of driver schools, practice, qualifying and, of course, racing.  Here the Cunningham Cup cars, top, are caught coming under the bridge with Hobart Buppert’s Chevy-powered Lola and Michael Zappa’s Ford-powered Superformance GT40 racer at the head of the grid. Behind them comes a field chock full of all manner of noise, horsepower and speed. Herb Wetanson’s Aston Martin DB4, above, has been re-bodied with a shell paying homage to the great Zagato-bodied racers of the 1960s. The body is presented in raw, polished aluminum to show off its lines and workmanship required to create it.

It is hard to dispute the contribution Bob Tullius, Brian Fuerstenau and Lanky Foushee, collectively Group 44, made to the Triumph marque specifically and the sport in general. We were reminded of that by Jim Dolan’s 1972 GT6. For a couple of years in the early 1970s this car cut a wide swath through the D/Production SCCA wars, compiling a surprising record. After its Group 44 days it continued its competitive life with the SCCA and ventured into IMSA in the GTU category. It has since been the subject of a couple of restorations, but remains a track-ready racecar.

Sam Halkias’ TR6 pays tribute to actor/racer Paul Newman’s victories at the SCCA Runoffs in a similarly liveried car.  Newman’s exploits as a racer are told in the Matt Stone/Preston Lerner book Winning and in the new film, Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman. 

But there was more to see than just Triumphs at the Jefferson 500. Here, setting up for Turn 10, we have Charles Powell’s ‘72 Corvette. This was a family affair and they are proud of their efforts at fielding the car. It has been a racecar, primarily in the Midwest, since the mid-1980s. The Powells keep the car as close as possible to its period racing preparation level with allowances for safety concerns.

In talking with the owner of this ‘87 Porsche 911, the word “evolution” came to mind. The car has evolved and been “back-dated” to give it the flavor of a ‘73 RS. Over the years, the bolt-in rollbar gave way to a larger weld-in piece and finally a full cage.

If the Wright Brothers’ original airplane had the lift equivalent to the downforce the wing on the back of Dave Coleman’s Porsche provides, the first flight would have likely been a lot longer!  Racing is full of compromises and I’m sure a wing this size presents a drag penalty that counters its downforce.

After traversing Summit Point’s long front straight, cars must brake hard into Turns 1 & 2 which combine to change a car’s direction 180 degrees. Christopher Zappa is doing just that in his TVR Tuscan which features a race-prepared Ford Essex V6 powerplant. All of the Zappa team cars are prepared to a very high standard as illustrated by Christopher’s mount.

Nick Giampetro’s Mustang reminded me that we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Shelby’s GT350. Today valuable GT350s are popular entries in vintage events around the world. Later this Summer, the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion will honor the GT350 as its featured marque. 

Derek Sweger’s ‘71 Porsche 911 proves that street-driven racecars still exist. Heralding back to bygone days, it features a roll bar and a larger, but still streetable, engine. On the outside he has picked up styling cues from the RSR and included markings from the same era such as the Camel GT logo on the door.

Vince Vaccaro has campaigned his Alfa GTV for about four years. Built on the West Coast in 1980, it is the handiwork of a builder best known for street rods, which probably accounts for the high level of fit and finish as well as the graphics. The car’s performance matches its appearance as Vaccaro finished second in the IMSA RS/SCCA 2.5 Challenge race.

This year’s Jefferson 500 had the additional distinction of hosting the Kastner Cup for Triumph cars. Named for R. W. “Kas” Kastner, it drew a cross-section of the British marque. Kas has had a long and storied automotive career, but it is his efforts in Triumph’s U.S. Competition Department and his authorship of manuals on how to prepare racing Triumphs that endears him to Triumph aficionados. Each year one car is selected as the Kastner Cup winner based on its competition success over the weekend, the car’s presentation and the driver/team’s “attitude & interest in vintage racing”. This year’s winner was Mark Wheatley in his TR4; our congratulations go out to him.



Words & Photos: M.M. Mike Matune, Jr.



For more information, please visit: Summit Point Raceway - http://summitpoint-raceway.com/

VRG - http://www.vrgonline.org/index.html

Tags: BMW / BMW 3.0 CSL Batcar / BMW M / Boris Said / Brian Redman / Classic Motorsports / Road Atlanta / Road Racing / Vintage Racing / Walter Mitty

BMW: SPEEDFEST AT THE MITTY!

- Kamis, 23 April 2015 No Comments

Legendary BMW racer Boris Said will be honored as Grand Marshal at the Classic Motorsports Mitty at Road Atlanta this weekend.

BMW USA Classic will be well represented at this weekend’s Classic Motorsports Mitty Speedfest, at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA, April 24-26, 2015. Charismatic BMW racer and retailer, Boris Said, will be honored as this year’s Grand Marshal for the vintage races featuring over 300 cars. Said was an integral part of the BMW Team PTG years, co-driving to many victories including the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and the Petit Le Mans. Said is the only American to have won overall at the famous Nürburgring 24 hour race, co-driving a BMW Motorsport M3 GTR in 2005.

BMW USA Classic will support the event as a special treat for the thousands of sports car racing fans. Anchoring the BMW corral on top of the famous hill at Road Atlanta, the BMW USA Classic transporter will showcase four key vehicles from BMW racing history, including the 2015 BMW Z4 GTLM No. 25, the 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL IMSA Group 4 Racer, the BMW Team PTG E36 M3 Coupe IMSA Racer (1999 configuration), and the BMW Team PTG E46 M3 GTR ALMS Racer (2006 configuration).

Each day of the event, Honorees Boris Said and Brian Redman will be invited to complete parade laps of Road Atlanta in cars bearing their names: the BMW Team PTG E36 M3 and 1975 3.0 CSL. Race fans will enjoy the sites and sounds of these legendary sports cars that bear an incredible connection through BMW design and engineering.



Speedfest at the Classic Motorsports Mitty has been held at Road Atlanta since the early-1980s. In that time, it has grown into one of the largest vintage racing festivals in the U.S. Each year, hundreds of the greatest racecars in history compete in more than 25 heats.



Check out BMW USA Classic, http://bmwusaclassic.tumblr.com/



For more information about the latest BMW products, please visit http://www.bmwusa.com/

Tags: Alfa / GTO / Lola / MG / Mike Matune / Opel GT / Sting Ray / Tom Cotter / Vintage Racing / VIR / Wild Hare Run

VIR: 13th ANNUAL WILD HARE RUN!

- Rabu, 15 April 2015 No Comments

Mike Matune, our man in the field, blogs about another great vintage racing event 

in Southern Virginia.

VRG and VDCA combined for an early season event at Virginia International Raceway. Despite early threats of intense weather, the event ran under clear skies. The organizers somehow managed to hold the rain off until evening and the racing was over, neat trick! Here the Group 3 field, top, moves out of “Oak Tree” and stretches all the way down the back straight. Noted author Tom Cotter (Holman Moody, The Cobra in the Barn and 50 Shades Of Rust) and friend of CGC editor, turned up at VIR with a Corvette. Normally associated with the Blue Oval and Shelby Cobras, Tom’s Sting Ray sports SAAC stickers front and rear. His Corvette has been a racecar for almost its entire life. Tom, above, signals his intentions to pit on Turn 17.

The 13th annual Wild Hare Run has the distinction of being an MG vintage racers’ “Focus Event” which translated in a large turnout. Bob Virikas’s MGA set the tone. While the safety gear, like his helmet & driving suit and the car’s roll bar, are modern, the car harkens back to another time with taped headlights, full windshield, painted wire wheels and octagon shaped number roundels trimmed in a checkered motif.

Staying with the MG theme, we move to the other end of the speed and noise spectrum with Jerry Richards’ MG B GT V8. Looking menacing with its Sebring bodywork stuffed with large wheels & tires, the car is powered by a Rover (ex GM) aluminum V-8 equipped with a brace of Webers. His was one of two V-8-powered MGs there and they proved worthy competitors in the “big car” racing sessions.

Cartoonist Henry Payne IV proves he is as quick in a race car as he is with a quip. The Payne family has been racing for generations and Henry continues that legacy. His mount is a Lola T596 Sports 2000. While powered by relatively stock 2000-cc Ford Pinto SOHC Fours, the cars enjoy more significantly sophisticated chassis, suspension and aerodynamics. As they are relatively closely matched on power, Sports 2000s put on a great show.

We have shown Dennis Moser’s GTO before, but its unique appearance and scintillating performance bears repeating.  One can’t avoid making the connection to Herb Adams’ “Grey Ghost” of Trans-Am fame. I recently became aware of a book that tells the story of a couple of Adams’ Trans-Am racers in novel form, Blood, Sweat & Gears by David G. Barnes It’s an entertaining read.

With Alfa’s return to the U.S. market, it is time to remember some of their past glory such as Tomas LaCosta’s ‘65 Giulia TI. Under its boxy, sedan exterior, the car holds many of the same powertrain parts as the sexier roadster and coupe siblings. It gives the lucky driver a true sports sedan, “Q-Ship” experience.

Racecars are complex beasts exhibiting strange behaviors and defying logical solutions. Glen Trimper races an Opel GT, hardly a common choice in any kind of racing. The car is still new and only time will tell if it will become his “Unfair Advantage” or just turn out unfair! 

You never know what you are going to find on a pit walk. Here’s Mark Brummond’s ‘56 Marketeer. The name is probably a play on the popular at the time, Disney “Mouseketeer” name. This is an all-electric car conceived as a fully functioning automobile with complete road equipment and designed to be titled and registered for street use. Its lack of practicality inevitably hastened its demise, but today it makes a great pit conveyance.

Todd Brown, at the bottom of the “Roller Coaster”, took another of the Sprint races.



Photos: M.M. “Mike” Matune, Jr.



Thanks to Amber Noya and to Connie Nyholm and her entire staff at VIR for their hospitality. For more information, please visit: http://www.vrgonline.org/   http://www.vintagedrive.com/

Tags: Alfa / Endurance Racing / Ford GT40 / Le Mans / Le Mans Legend / Porsche / Vintage Racing

LE MANS LEGEND: HISTORIC RACING AT ITS BEST!

- Sabtu, 13 Desember 2014 No Comments

Iconic vintage racers ‘open’ for the world’s most famous 24-hour enduro.

On Saturday 13th June 2015, a sensational grid of 61 historic Le Mans cars will race on the full Le Mans circuit just a few hours before the start of the modern 24 event.

The age range for cars taking part in the Le Mans Legend race has been extended for 2015, allowing an even wider selection of racecars to compete in the historic motorsport spectacle that is one of the highlights of the world-famous event.



In a change to recent years, cars will be accepted from 1949 right up to, and including, 1968. This will bring such iconic cars as the Ford GT40, Porsche 908 and 910 and the Alfa Romeo T33/2 into the mix. That’s in addition to the plethora of sports and GT cars from the 1950s and 1960s that so famously ran at Le Mans.



The Le Mans Legend, organized by Motor Racing Legends, is the annual support race at the Le Mans 24 Hours – and a jewel in the crown of historic motorsport. Each year, the organizers select an era of Le Mans history and invite genuine racecars and their sister cars from that period to take part in the hugely competitive historic race on. Its run on the full 8.5-mile Le Mans circuit, on the Saturday morning of the Le Mans weekend.

Duncan Wiltshire, Chairman of Motor Racing Legends, said: “We are extremely excited about this new aspect of the race. It means that spectators will be able to see cars from 20 years of Le Mans history all racing at the same time – a moving motorsport museum!



“We recognize the traditionally broad spread of performance between the fastest and the slowest cars, so we will limit entries from the earlier cars to those we believe capable of lapping Le Mans in a reasonable time. The result should be stunning – from the earliest cars such as C-type Jaguars and Allard J2s up to the newest additions to the grid such as the GT40s.”



For more information on the 2015 Le Mans Legend race, please visit www.motorracinglegends.com

Tags: Audi Sport / Camaro / Corvette / Derek Bell / Lola / Mike Matune / Porsche 914-6 GT / SCCA / SVRA / Trans-Am / Vintage Racing / VIR Gold Cup

HEACOCK CLASSIC GOLD CUP: VIR!

- Sabtu, 04 Oktober 2014 No Comments

SVRA wraps up with 2014 vintage racing schedule with its premier event at Virginia International Raceway. Mike Matune brings us  highlights.

As Summer fades and the racing season begins to wind down, SVRA draws us to Southern Virginia and Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the annual Heacock Gold Cup. Here Mike Fisher, top, sweeps under the vehicle bridge in his ex-Derek Bell Speedvision Cup Audi S4. 

Peter Dunn exits Turn 11 in his Morgan, above, chasing the other Group 3 runners down the back straight. This gives you a better feel for VIR with its meticulously manicured building and grounds. The 3.27-mile circuit never stops moving whether it’s up and down or side to side, mixing high and low speed sections. 

We had to feature Tom Briest’s Porsche 914/6 when  we heard that the Porsche 914 would be celebrated at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance this coming March. At long last, the oft-maligned Porsche will get its due.

It made us wonder, when will the other stepchildren in Porsche’s lineage, the 924/944/968, achieve similar recognition? Here is Kurt Fazekas’ 944 Turbo. It is one of seven lightweight Turbo 944s constructed to compete in the Escort/Playboy Series, where it was originally

driven by Kurt’s father, Dale.

SVRA President Tony Parella ran his Corvette in Group 6 at VIR. He split duties with Dave Nicholas who had “holed” a piston in his very quick MGA, Honey Bee at Watkins Glen and was without a mount. This is Tony in Turn 5.

Tom Shelton’s Lola T70 brings back memories of the USRRC/Can-Am days. My eye was drawn to the “Cox” sticker on the car. Cox was a hobby manufacturer who figured prominently in the slot car craze of the 1960s. They produced some great scale models of significant racecars of the time and sponsored Jim Hall’s Chaparrals.

There are many opinions about what constitutes the Golden Era of American racing and there are many candidates for the title. Among them is the SCCA’s Trans-Am series of 1966-1972, where manufacturers along with top builders and drivers ran flat out on circuits across the U.S. & Canada. Ivey Shannon’s converted street Camaro invokes memories of the early Trans-Am.

Sean Ryan’s ‘71 Camaro was originally built and campaigned by Frank Search in both the Trans-Am and SCCA sedan racing, it has been brought back to life by Ryan and his father who race under the banner of Unfair Advantage Racing. 

The current SCCA Trans-Am series shares the program with SVRA’s vintage racers at VIR.

Cars are divided into three classes. Jason Berkeley’s Corvette waits to be teched behind

Tommy Kendall’s Challenger. 

The top of the Trans-Am class are the TA cars, tube frame racecars powered by 850-plus horsepower carbureted V8s. While car specifications are limited in some ways, the use of one-off components and exotic materials are allowed. Here is the overall VIR Trans-Am winner Paul Fix in his Corvette.

The next rung on the Trans-Am ladder is the TA2 cars. These are also V8-powered tube frame cars, but with component design, manufacturers and costs controlled. Bodies and engines match, with power limited to the 500-horsepower range. This is Tommy Kendall’s Challenger. The car’s paint scheme is reminiscent of the Sam Posey-Ray Caldwell Autodynamics Challenger of the 1970 Trans-Am season.

This brings us the TA3 cars, divided into A (American Muscle) and I (International). These cars retain more of their production car roots and comply with SCCA GT2 or NASA American Iron rules. Horsepower and power-to-weight ratio are further controlled. Thomas Ellis’s Mustang illustrates cars common to this class.



Words & photos: M.M. “Mike” Matune, Jr.



For more information, please visit:

Virginia International Raceway (VIR): http://virnow.com/



Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA): http://www.svra.com/



Trans-Am racing: http://www.gotransam.com/



Heacock Classic Insurance: http://www.heacockclassic.com/