VDCA Wild Hare Run. Virginia International Raceway. April 10-12, 2015 story by John Kramer and Bill Stoler photos by Bill Stoler

Transcription

1 VDCA Wild Hare Run Virginia International Raceway April 10-12, 2015 story by John Kramer and Bill Stoler photos by Bill Stoler #62 Larry Smith, 1962 MG Midget; #109 Mack McCormack, 1966 Morris Cooper S. 24 June 2015 Victory Lane

2 Victory Lane June

3 #1 Butch McKenzie, 1966 MGB; #31 Jonathan Lane, 1966 MGB; #28 Richard Luening, 1963 MGB; #99 Donald Dickey, 1963 MGB. It is hard to imagine a better start to a new racing season than VIR in April with VDCA. VIR s variety of corners, always changing elevation and off track amenities are magnificent. VDCA, with Mike Jackson s leadership, offers plenty of track time that runs to schedule under sensible management. And April in Virgina is lovely, especially this #70 Joe Bojalad, 1960 Elva MK V; #37 Dave Good, 1959 MGA. year and especially for those of us who live further North and are still waiting for spring to reliably arrive. If you missed this great event I recommend you make it a priority next year. This was VDCA s 13th Annual Wild Hare Run, and VIR regulars may recall that the first Wild Hare Run kicked off vintage racing at VIR when the track reopened after its long slumber. The monster events -- the Mitty at Road Atlanta, the Hawk at Road America, Indy -- get a lot of attention, but smaller events like this have much to offer with longer sessions, less crashing and a generally more collegial vibe. VDCA makes this event work by sharing marketing chores with VRG and track expenses with the BWM Club. All of these factors draw marque or class focused groups looking for sanctioning groups to work with at desirable tracks. This year the MG fraternity and the Sports 2000 community 26 June 2015 Victory Lane showed up in significant numbers and both groups had feature races Sunday. The VDCA doesn t waste any time getting to the most interesting event of the weekend. The first race of the weekend, The Wild Hare race commenced Friday evening. The Wild Hare is a pursuit race involving 50 plus cars, released at specified intervals based on qualifying times, starting with the slowest car first and the fastest car last! After the final car is released, the race directors/official scorers head to the scoring tower to keep track of this unusual race, featuring cars from all nine race groups! Kudos to the organizers of this race which requires some agonizing mathematics, utilizing qualifying times to come up with a formula, which in theory, should result in all the cars finishing in a NASCAR style pack at the finish! That is, if every driver ran his/her qualifying time and lost no time passing cars, etc. Historically speaking, it is rare that the first car released to be leading at the finish. Equally rare is to have a huge group of cars cross the finish line at the same time. But this was the Lucky 13th edition of the Wild Hare race! This year s contest had a brilliant photo finish with the tortoise just nosing out a well driven mid-pack car at the line. The winner was James Byers in his 1968 MG Midget. Byers did a terrific job running the race and was caught, but not passed by the second place finisher, Stan Heath in his 1965 MG MGB. Heath s drive began at mid pack and his excellent drive allowed him to finish a very close second place. The Wild Hare was followed by an excellent reception at Dave Handy s Sasco Sports race shop next door to the track. Sasco s facility is very impressive and a variety of desirable race cars were on display in various stages of prepreration or restoration. How about a rocket fast Indy Lights car needing nothing more than wheels and the engine cover to bend your sense of time? Or a King Cobra in a very early stage of restoration? Or what must be a one-of-one Ferrari engined Cooper? Cool stuff. Saturday featured some incredibly close racing and Sunday s feature races were preceeded by the one hour enduro before lunch. The visual and oral diversity of the cars in these events is always a treat. This one featured a mix of 356 and 911 Porsches, a few Formula Vees, several Sports 2000s, a BWM CSL Batmobile, an immaculate Elva Mk6 with an incredible race history that is desrving of a feature in a future issue of Victory Lane, an audacious Lola T70 Mk3B coupe, and, well, you get the idea. VDCA sensiby limits the size of the enduro to give everyone room to maneuver and the racers all seemed to find racing room shortky after the green flag. One unusual sight was Paul Netterstrom having to delay his very quick use of his Lotus Super 7 to try and secure the uncooperative hood of the car that was determined to try and open as he drove through turn two toward NASCAR. He finally pulled off driver s right at the exit of NASCAR where the hood fell completely off and he proceeded on. The most potentially serious incident of the weekend occured when the T70 approached two formula cars racing each other towards the end of VIR s long back straight at an enormous closing speed and had to take to the grass in avoidance and spun. Fortunately no one was hurt and the Lola amazingly suffered only very minor damage, but it was a reminder that #56 Sharon Adleman, 1961 Alfa Romeo.

4 #78 Andrew Lewis, 1983 March 83S; #79 Nathan Scigliano, 1986 Swift S2. we all need to be especially aware in these diverse fields. In the end, John Forbes in his quick Porsche GT came home third to break up the S2000s of Ben Sinnott, Claude Malette, Andrew Lewis and Dave Bondon in first through fifth respectively. The first race after lunch was the MG Feature for the approximately 52 MGs entered. Students of road racing in the United States know that the MGs that came home with GIs after the war were an integral part of the development of the racing we enjoy today. The field included a 1949 MG TC Special and a 1953 MG TD, and Dan Leonard and Mark Sherman had a great time racing together for many laps in tight formation. The diversity of the MGs was interesting and included many Midgets, As and Bs and, sounding like a complete imposter, a bellowing V8 engined MG B GT. The newer cars featured lots of close running all through the field with clean fun racing. Dave Nicholas in his yellow MGA was very quick and first among that model. At the end of the race, Butch McKenzie came home comfortably in first followed by #59 Tomas R. LaCosta, 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI; #17 Tim Slater, 1965 Triumph Spitfire. Jonathan Lane and Steve Konsin, all of them racing MG Bs. Next up was Group 9/formula vee and, true to form, the Vees showcased some of the closest racing of the weekend. Mike Jackson, Paul Buttrose and Michael Ennis raced incredibly close and frequently came through the turns leading into NASCAR sideby-side. Their intense racing allowed Charles Jones to catch them until he had a harmless spin in turn 1 and fell back. Engine problems subsequently slowed him while he was pushing to try and catch the leaders again. Towards the end of the race Mike Jackson pulled out a slight gap to win by seconds, and Paul Buttrose and Michael Ennis staged a photo finish crossing the line for second and third seperated by.075 seconds! Incredible racing. Not surprisingly given its tight rules package, the Sports 2000 Feature had similarly close and exiciting racing. The race also offered an important reminder about where we should focus our racing energies. Joey Selmets is in his early 20s and has competed successfully in a handful of races in the Formula Ford 2000 series that is the first step after karts on the Mazda Road to Indy ladder series for aspiring professional open wheel racers. Joey races Sports 2000 in vintage to learn or get addtional track time at tracks that are part of the Road to Indy series. Joey won from pole in a Swift DB2 that is generally not considered as capable as the later Lolas and Carbir s competing in the group. So the reminder is that we should focus on our driving instead of obsessing about car related stuff. Joey had to work for it and Ben Sinnott was only seconds behind at the flag after turning the fastest lap of the race and a personal best 1: Joey s eight laps in a row in the 1:57s were the very model of consistency. There was similarly close racing and lots of swapping of positions all through the Sports 2000 field. Group 1 brought many of the newer MGs back to the grid and added Austin-Healeys, Triumphs, Turners, a Fiat and Alfa and the previously mentioned Elva. Joe Bojalad in the Elva and Beau Gabel in a Turner had a great race wth several passes and repasses. The race was won comfortably by Thomas Grudovich, but in the process of winning he displayed incredible car control and quick hands on one lap when exiting NASCAR with three quick corrections to keep the car under him in a fraction of the time it took to write this. Some notably close finishes were Parker Burke in a Truner Climax ahead of Eric Russell in an #111 Baxter Phillips, 1966 Lotus 7; #16 Neil Sullivan, 1969 Lynx FV. MGA by.052 seconds, and Dennis Gonzalez in an MG Midget ahead of Tim Slater in a Triumph Spitfire by seconds. Dave Good won the hard charger award of the race moving from his pit lane start to P9 at the flag. Groups 2, 5 and 7 without the Sports 2000 were next and the group was mostly Formula Fords. At the start, Alan Friedman in his Chevron B21 took off and used his approximately 300 Cosworth horsepower to good effect. That is what a race car should sound like. Unfortuately, he was out after three laps leaving the top spots to the Formula Fords. And, once again, the racing was fantastic. The front runners put on a clinic in passing and repassing sometimes running in two car groups and sometimes three or four as they caught each other or opened some gaps. In the end, Doug Meis timed it perfectly using Scott Fairchild s draft to move from second exiting Hogpen to first across the line by.037 seconds. Wow! Joe Griffin in third had a similarly close finish over Dave Fairchild coming third by.057 seconds. The large Group 3 field was headed by three Lotus 7s. Eventually two of the three Victory Lane June

5 #5 Ben Sinnott, 1991 Lola T90/91; #17 Claude Malette, 1990 Lola T90/91; #77 Mark Coombs, 1990 Lola T90/90. dropped out leaving the win to Denny Wilson whose car was at Sasco being repaired not long before the race start. The racing mid pack was especailly intense with large groups forming and reforming in too many combinations to track. Jeff Snook in his Triumph TR3 and Allen Gooode in a Triumph TR4 had a fun and close race long duel. Butch McKenzie was very quick in his MGB and headed a large contingent of that model. At the stripe, Denny Wilson in his Super 7 headed Michael Unger in a Datsun SRL311 and Butch McKenzie in an MG B. The last race Sunday was for Groups 6 and 8 and was headed at the start by the improbably large and V8 thundering Pontiac GTO of Bill Feaster. VIR rewards handling as much as power but the big Pontiac was able to hold its own in the twisty stuff and wasn t lacking for power. The group included an impressive collection of BWM 2002s, several Lotuses and diminutive Ginetta G4s. At the line, Les Gonda in an MGB GT V8 was second and Perry Genova in his BMW 2002 was third. So the 13th Annual Wild Hare Run was a fun, exciting and successful event. Thanks to VDCA and Mike Jackson for making it happpen. Don t miss it next year. ENDURO 1 7S2 B. Sinnott/1991 Lola T90/91 1: S2 C. Malette/1990 Lola T90/91 1 8BP J. Forbes/1970 Porsche 914/6 GT 2: #49 David Conrad, 1959 MGA Roadster. 1 7HS2 A. Lewis/1983 March 83S 2: VS2 D. Bondon/1987 Royale RP-42 2: ITS C. Schenk/1989 BMW 325is E30 2: GTO B. Glavin/B. Glavin/1972 BMW 3.0 CSL 2: BP H. Costanzo/1973 Datsun 240Z 1 8BS J. Liles/1970 BMW : BP T. Cotter/1964 Chevrolet Corvette 2: CS M. McCormack/1966 Morris Cooper S 2: GTO D. Bearden/1972 Porsche 911RS 2 8BS J. Wood/1972 BMW 2002tii 1 3EP S. Heath/1971 MGBGT 2: EP R. Starkweather/1972 MGB 3 8BP T. Goneos/1968 Porsche BS T. LaCosta/1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 2: GP T. Slater/1965 Triumph Spitfire 2: EP S. Heath/1965 MGB 1 1FP D. Gonzalez/1966 MG Midget 2: EP J. Poteet/1962 Morgan 4x4 1 8AP H. Parke/1965 Ginetta G4 2: FV H. Sroka/1967 Autodynamics Mk IV 2: EP D. Bane/1965 MGB 2 1FP R. Brownlee-Tomasso/1958 MGA 1 1EP C. Cogswell/1959 Lotus 14 Elite 2: S2 M. Coombs/1990 Lola T90/90 2 1GP F. P. Burke/1961 Turner Climax 6 3EP G. Getchell/1964 Porsche 356 SC 1 8RS M. Brummond/1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6 2: DP R. Crowninshield/1971 Alfa Romeo GTV 2: EP S. Fohrman/1964 MGB Roadster 2 8AP J. Richards/1972 MGBGT V8 1 3CP P. Netterstrom/1961 Lotus Super 7 2: BS V. Vaccaro/1972 Alfa Romeo GTV 4 7S2 H. Payne IV/1985 Lola T EP J. Hamilton/1965 MGB Roadster MG FEATURE 1 3DP B. McKenzie/1966 MGB 2: EP J. Lane/1966 MGB 2: EP S. Konsin/1964 MGB 1 1FP L. Smith/1962 MG Midget 2: DP J. Lightfoot/1965 MGB 2 1FP D. Nicholas/1960 MGA 3 3EP R. Luening/1963 MGB 3 1FP A. Russell/1972 MG Midget 4 1FP D. Conrad/1959 MGA Roadster 5 1FP C. Pitt/1967 MG Midget 4 3EP B. McKie/1965 MGB 6 1FP S. Hirschtritt/1965 Austin Healey 5 3EP S. Heath/1971 MGB GT 7 1FP D. Gonzalez/1966 MG Midget 6 3EP R. Lasater/1970 MGB GT 8 1FP M. Brandow/1960 MGA 9 1FP D. T. Smith/1962 MGA 10 1FP C. George/1959 MGA Roadster 11 1FP C. Seifert/1968 A-H #3 Billy Glavin, 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL. 12 1FP S. Konsin/1961 MGA 7 3EP B. O Connor/1966 MGB 13 1FP J. Holody/1959 MGA Twin Cam 8 3EP D. Bane/1965 MGB 9 3EP S. Heath/1965 MGB 1 9PW D. Leonard/1949 MG TC Special 2: FP E. Russell/1961 MGA 15 1FP J. Sienkiewicz/1959 MGA 16 1FP J. Byers/1968 MG Midget 17 1FP C. Meyers/1957 MGA 2 9PW F. Mount/1946 MG TC 3 9PW G. Pardee/1954 MG TF 4 9PW T. Stevenson/1952 MG TD 10 3EP D. Dickey/1963 MGB 18 1FP B. Vitrikas/1957 MGA 1 8AP L. Gonda/1973 MGBGT V8 19 1FP D. Good/1959 MGA 11 3EP R. Starkweather/1972 MGB 20 1FP P. Uzdavinis/1964 MG Midget 5 9PW R. Orander/1951 MG TD #58 Graham Adelman, 1962 Lotus 23B. group 9/FV 1 1FV P. Buttrose/1968 Zink FV 2: FV M. Jackson/1969 Shadowfax FV 3 1FV M. Ennis/1969 Lynx B 4 1FV C. Jones/1966 Zink FV 5 1FV N. Sullivan/1969 Lynx FV 6 1FV H. Sroka/1967 Autodynamics 7 1FV B. Lemmon/1965 Formcar FV 8 1FV J. White/1968 Beach FV 9 1FV D. White/1969 Zink Z-5 FV 10 1FV O. Tolksdorf/1969 Zink C4 FV 1 9PW R. Orander/1951 MG TD 2: PW D. Leonard/1949 MG TC Spcl 3 9PW F. Mount/1946 MG TC 4 9PW G. Pardee/1954 MG TF 5 9PW T. Stevenson/1952 MG TD 11 1FV T. Bungay/1969 Lynx B S VS2 J. Selmants/J. Velden/1987 Swift DB2 1: S2 B. Sinnott/1991 Lola T90/91 1: S2 C. Malette/1990 Lola T90/91 2 7VS2 N. Scigliano/1986 SWIFT S2 1 7HS2 P. Krause/1984 Tiga SC84 3 7S2 H. Payne IV/1989 Lola T90 4 7S2 M. Coombs/1990 Lola T90/90 3 7VS2 T.Kaufman/A.Branco/1986 Swift DB-2 2 7HS2 A. Lewis/1983 March 83S 3 7HS2 T. LaCosta/1978 Lola T S2 D. Calafato/2004 Carbir CS2 6 7S2 O. Adelman/1999 Carbir CS2 group 1 1 1FJ T. Grudovich/1960 Elva 200 FJ 2: FP L. Smith/1962 MG Midget 2: GM J. Bojalad/1960 Elva MK VI 2: CS D. Moser/1973 Datsun B-210 2: FP D. Nicholas/1960 MGA 3 1FP D. Conrad/1959 MGA Roadster 2 1CS M. McCormack/1966 Morris Cooper S 1 1GP B. Gabel/1960 Turner Mk 1 2: FP R. Nimkoff/1963 Triumph Spitfire 5 1FP A. Russell/1972 MG Midget 6 1FP C. George/1959 MGA Roadster 1 1FM F. Burke/1957 Elva Mk II 2: FP C. Pitt/1967 MG Midget 8 1FP D. Good/1959 MGA 9 1FP D. T. Smith/1962 MGA 10 1FP S. Hirschtritt/1965 Austin Healey 11 1FP M. Brandow/1960 MGA 12 1FP J. Lesnowski/1963 Triumph Spitfire #51 Tom Kane, 1983 TIGA SC FP D. Gonzalez/1966 MG Midget 1 1HP M. Gobble/1962 Austin Healey 2: FP R. Brownlee-Tomasso/1958 MGA 15 1FP S. Konsin/1961 MGA 2 1GP T. Slater/1965 Triumph Spitfire 16 1FP J. Holody/1959 MGA Twin Cam 17 1FP A. Moore/1964 Austin Healey 3 1GP W. Jones/1967 Fiat Abarth 4 1GP S. Adleman/1961 Alfa Romeo 18 1FP C. Meyers/1957 MGA 19 1FP E. Russell/1961 MGA 2 1HP J. Hofer/1959 Austin Healey 20 1FP J. Sienkiewicz/1959 MGA 21 1FP Jeff Graham/1958 Austin Healey 22 1FP J. Byers/1968 MG Midget 5 1GP F. Parker Burke/1961 Turner Climax 23 1FP B. Vitrikas/1957 MGA 3 1HP C. Gross/1960 Austin Healey MK I 1 1EP C. Cogswell/1959 Lotus 14 (Elite) 2: June 2015 Victory Lane

6 24 1FP P. Uzdavinis/1964 MG Midget 1 1DSR D. White/1969 NTM MkIII 4: FP C. Seifert/1968 Austin Healey 26 1FP T. Kent/1967 MG Midget group 2/5/7 1 7VS2 J. Selmants/J. Velden/1987 Swift DB2 1: S2 B. Sinnott/1991 Lola T90/91 1: S2 C. Malette/1990 Lola T90/91 3 7S2 O. Adelman/1999 Carbir CS2 4 7S2 M. Coombs/1990 Lola T90/90 1 7HS2 P. Krause/1984 Tiga SC84 2: #25 David Hughes, 1961 Aston Martin DB4. 2 7VS2 H. Payne IV/1985 Lola T BSR A. Friedman/1972 Chevron B-21 2: BSR G. Adelman/1962 Lotus 23B 2: VS2 T.Kaufman/A.Branco/1986 Swift DB-2 5 7S2 D. Calafato/2004 Carbir CS2 2 7HS2 A. Lewis/1983 March 83S 3 7HS2 T. Kane/M. Kane/1983 TIGA SC83 4 7HS2 T. LaCosta/1978 Lola T CF S. Fairchild/1978 Zink Z-10 2: CF D. Meis/1974 Lola T VS2 D. Incantalupo/1985 Swift DB2 3 2CF D. Fairchild/1978 Zink Z FF J. Griffin/1981 FF 2: FF B. Bradpiece/1972 Crossle 20F FF 5 7VS2 D. Bondon/1987 Royale RP BSR R. Cassin/1964 Elva Mk 7S 1 2FL B. Miller/1979 Crossle CF 2: FF B. Thomas/1969 Lotus FJ R. Koons/1962 Lotus 20 2: FF B. Farmer/1970 Macon MR8 5 2FF M. Stumbo/1972 Titan Mk 6 FF 6 7VS2 N. Scigliano/1986 SWIFT S2 #57 John Forbes, 1970 Porsche GT. group 3 1 3CP C. Chima/1962 Lotus Super 7 2: CP D. Wilson/1962 Lotus Super 7 3 3CP P. Netterstrom/1961 Lotus Super 7 4 3CP M. Unger/1967 Datsun SRL DP B. McKenzie/1966 MGB 2: CP S. Schepens/1964 Morgan 4/4 1 3EP J. Lane/1966 MGB 2: EP J. Poteet/1962 Morgan 4x4 1 3DM R. Morgan/1964 Merlyn Mk 6 2: CP M. Oritt/1961 Ginetta G-4 3 3EP S. Fohrman/1964 MGB Roadster 4 3EP S. Konsin/1964 MGB 5 3EP H. Giffin/1959 Elva Courier 6 3EP M. Wheatley/1962 Triumph TR-4 7 3EP J. Hamilton/1965 MGB Roadster 2 3DP T. Drews/1963 Triumph TR-4 3 3DP J. Lightfoot/1965 MGB 8 3EP R. Starkweather/1972 MGB 9 3EP J. Styduhar/1962 Triumph TR3B 10 3EP S. Heath/1971 MGBGT 11 3EP J. Snook/1961 Triumph TR3A 7 3CP C. Kates/1961 Lotus Super 7 4 3DP A. Goode/1967 Triumph TR4A 12 3EP B. McKie/1965 MGB 1 3BS T. LaCosta/1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TI 2: BS D. Hughes/1961 Aston Martin DB4 13 3EP H. Frye/1956 Triumph TR3 14 3EP R. Lasater/1970 MGBGT 15 3EP D. Tetterton/1964 Triumph TR4 1 3ITB K. Berzins/1976 BMW : EP B. O Connor/1966 MGB 17 3EP D. Bane/1965 MGB 18 3EP S. Heath/1965 MGB 19 3EP G. Getchell/1964 Porsche 356 SC 5 3DP R. Deanes/1962 Triumph TR EP G. Trimper/1971 Opel GT 8 3CP L. Oddi/1968 Triumph 250 group 6/8 1 8AP T. Grudovich/1966 Ginetta G4 2: AS D. Moser/1964 Pontiac GTO 2: BP J. Forbes/1970 Porsche 914/6 GT 2: #41 Jeff Snook, 1961 Triumph TR3A. 1 8RS P. Genova/1970 BMW : AP L. Gonda/1973 MGBGT V8 1 8CP C. Guest/1981 Mazda RX7 2: AP D. McChesney/1970 Porsche AP J. Richards/1972 MGB GT V8 2 8CP B. Desloge/1972 Lotus Europa 5 8AP H. Parke/1965 Ginetta G4 2 8RS M. Brummond/1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6 1 8DP B. Phillips/1966 Lotus Seven 2: BP H. Costanzo/1973 Datsun 240Z 1 8ITS C. Schenk/1989 BMW 325is E30 2: RS M. Skeen/1972 BMW BP T. Cotter/1964 Corvette 2: BS V. Vaccaro/1972 Alfa Romeo GTV 2: BS J. Liles/1970 BMW BS E. McMahon/1972 Ford Pinto 1 6GTO B. Glavin/B. Glavin/1972 BMW 3.0 CSL 2: GTO D. Bearden/1972 Porsche 911RS 3 8BP T. Goneos/1968 Porsche DP R. Crowninshield/1971 Alfa Romeo GTV 4 8BS J. Wood/1972 BMW 2002tii 1 6AP J. Cruso/C. Forbes/1970 Porsche 914/6 2: ITS A. Taylor/1987 BMW 325i 6 8AP G. Wright/1972 Datsun 240Z 2 6AS B. Feaster/1964 Ford Falcon Victory Lane June