Very entertaining, this list...
Thank you, Mike Jackson, Don Marshall, Roger, Craig and Peter v Rossum for
extolling the virtues of VDCA. The weekend at Kershaw was a lot of fun. When
things got too quiet, the Chief Steward said "Open Practice" which, at any
other event, might precipitate a traffic jam AND a pile-up but instead just
resulted in more folks smiling as they courteously waved each other by... I
got enough tracktime to break my new car by Sunday, but I've heard all the
Fiat jokes by now, thank you very much! :-)
I urge everyone who's been on the fence about coming out to a VDCA event to
call, fax or e-mail Alex Quattlebaum or send an entry for VIR in April to
Charleston. The VDCA website (www.vintagedrive.com) has not yet been updated
with new, more reasonable tire rules and eligibility but if you have a
pre-1972 prod car or sedan in pre-1972 trim or thereabouts, any
purpose-built sports racing car up to 1975, a Monoposto Register "Classic"
(treaded tire) Formula car or a car that has run at Lime Rock on Labor Day
up until last year, you're invited to VIR. Otherwise, we'll see you all at
SVRA Savannah!
While the June 8-10 VIR Homecoming event is no longer sanctioned by the
VDCA, all VDCA, most SVRA, all RMVR, all VSCDA, all CSRG, all VARAC, all
SOVREN, all CVAR, some earlier HSR, all HMSA and all VSCCA cars are welcome,
same as last year. There is a place for early (pre '59) sports racing cars
with even the inclusion of an "Exhibition" class to showcase very special
cars by owners who want to exercise vigorously but not present their steeds
to "wheel-to-wheel" competition. Grand Marshal Carroll Shelby is expected
along with Team Shelby drivers Bob Bondurant and Bob Johnson. David E.
Davis, Jr., the sage scribe of first Car and Driver, then the founder of
Automobile magazine, will be the MC at the Shelby "Toast and Roast" Saturday
night, two tickets included in the entry fee. Hell, even the infamous "ride
mooch" BS Levy will be there hawking his latest epic tome "The Potside
Companion" and hopefully will deign to put his voluminous butt in my
proletarian Fiat 124 Spider so he can taste "spaghetti power" and beat up on
Targett's MGB and Wright's TR-4! Details and entry forms can be found at
www.virclub.com under "Reunion 2001" Last year we had in the gathering of
VIR "Alumni" the winner of the fourth-ever Trans-Am race at VIR; lister Tom
Yeager as well as notable and not so notable participants in the previous
life of VIR (1957-1974) Charlie Kolb, Hugh Kleinpeter, Bill Scott, Harry
Ingle, Amos and Bunny Johnson, Ed Hugus, Ceasar Cone, Don Greimel, Randy
Cook, Ed Diehl and a host of others.
It appears that there is a building subscription for the creations of Ettore
Bugatti at the American Bugatti Club Third US Bugatti Grand Prix at VIR as
part of the VSCCA/VSRG weekend May 5th and 6th, 2001. Peter Giddings, Bill
Binnie, Sandy Leith and others are all bringing their "masterpieces of
Molsheim" to exercise them in an all-Bugatti race on Sunday. All VSCCA cars
and selected later cars are eligible, too. The first Vintage Sedan Racing
Group-East (VSRG) 30-minute Feature will take place the same weekend, open
to all SCCA 2.5 Challenge cars (Datsun 510's, BMW 2002's, Alfa GTV's, Ford
Pinto's) Info at www.bsedan.com . Entry info for the VSCCA/ VSRG/Bugatti
weekend can be found at www.krauseandengland.com .
After all of this crass "infomercialism," I urge you to contact your club
Chairs with any concerns, compliments or anything else that you would like
to see discussed at the upcoming Vintage Motorsport Council meeting in
Denver at the end of the month. RMVR, I believe, is having an event that
weekend and it looks like another great gathering of the "tribe" to figure
out how to make a great vintage racing scene even better! Speak up or hold
your peace...
When I read posts on this list, I often smile, but never more than when I
went out at Kershaw last Saturday in the first, cool morning session in my
car. Traveling quickly, there is something wondrous, exciting and intensely
satisfying in wheeling around a car that is often an extension of your own
mind and a product of your own restorative hand. I thank the listers who
contribute to this forum for helping sustain me until I could get my first
good "fix" this past weekend. For those not yet fortunate enough to start
the season, hang on, it's worth the wait!
-Peter Krause
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