These Days, It Seems, the Most Popular Cars Are All Olds
Call them what you want--antique, vintage, ancient, historic or old--but by whatever name, race cars of earlier eras have become hot items on weekend date books.
From now until Labor Day weekend, nostalgia will be in full bloom.
Old-time drivers are in demand as much as old cars.
Carroll Shelby, who won three national driving championships before designing and creating the legendary Ford Cobra and Shelby Boss Mustang, is being feted from coast to coast. Last week, in the Merrill Lynch/Brian Redman International Challenge
at Elkhart Lake, Wis., the country’s largest vintage racing show, Shelby was grand marshal.
“Carroll Shelby is an American icon,” said Brian Redman, who will be here next week to drive in the Chrysler Tustin Thunder Historic races at the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin. Redman, who won the inaugural Long Beach Grand Prix in 1975, driving a Lola in a Formula 5000 race, will be in a vintage Lola owned by Dick Marconi, founder with his son, John, of the Marconi Foundation for Kids, and Tustin Thunder.
Shelby will be honored again at the 24th Monterey Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca Raceway, Aug. 15-17, where Shelby American cars will be featured.
The hallmark of all vintage events is that the equipment is--or at least looks--old. The usual rule of thumb is that nothing built after 1972 is acceptable.
This weekend, a summer of nostalgia racing will be kicked off by the Goodguys Vintage Drag Racing Assn., which will conduct a two-day drag racing festival at Pomona Raceway, site of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s two national championship events.
GOODGUYS DRAG RACING
The third round of the Goodguys West Coast Nostalgia drag racing series will feature vehicles with body styles limited to 1972 and earlier competing in five professional and six sportsman classes.
Unlike most of their road racing counterparts, the Goodguys permit new equipment and technology in their dragsters--as long as they maintain the look of the ‘70s or earlier.
More than 400 cars are expected, including top fuel dragsters, but the popular class is the Nostalgia Eliminator, which runs on a 7.50-second index. That means any car that runs faster is automatically disqualified.
Phil Lukens, a longtime drag racer who operates Blair’s Speed Shop in Pasadena, will compete in his chopped 1948 Fiat, powered by an alcohol-burning Donovan 417.
“The Goodguys gives us our only opportunity to race since all the great old strips--Irwindale, Lions, Orange County, San Fernando--have disappeared,” Lukens said. “We don’t even have a place to test, unless we go to Carlsbad or Palmdale, and their availability is limited. I never dreamed, when I was racing, that there would be a time when there would be no drag strips around Los Angeles.”
The only time the Pomona strip is used is for two Winston championships and the Goodguys weekend. The Goodguys also have two meets at Famoso Raceway, north of Bakersfield, and two at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma.
“This event is very special to the Southern California-based nostalgia drag racers,” Goodguys President Gary Meadors said. “Until last year, competitors from Southern California had to travel up north to race, but thanks to cooperation from the NHRA and the Pomona Fairplex people, we can race right where all the great ones have competed.”
Qualifying is Saturday, with eliminations starting at noon Sunday.
TUSTIN THUNDER
Although the official name is the Chrysler Tustin Thunder Historic Road Races, the three-day event Aug. 1-3 has become something for everyone.
The emphasis remains on pre-1972 equipment, but to assure spectators nine hours of racing on Saturday and Sunday, after a day of practice Friday, the Marconis have included American Race Trucks, a new class of Dodge, Ford and Chevy pickups; the International Road Racing Assn.’s All American Sportsman Challenge, a stock car series that usually runs at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, and the second round of the U.S. Auto Club’s Russell Pro Series Triple Crown, which will feature former Tour de France cycling champion Greg LeMond.
There will be 28 races--14 each day--over a two-mile, 11-turn course laid out around the Goodyear blimp hangar. Racing will start at 7:30 a.m. each day to accommodate the more than 600 cars, including production, formula, Can-Am and GTP classes.
Redman, one of the world’s foremost endurance drivers and three-time winner of the Daytona 24-hour race, will be celebrity guest host of Tustin Thunder’s Ferrari Show. Redman was a member of Ferrari’s world championship team in 1972.
However, he will drive the Lola 332-T with which he won the Long Beach race in 1975. The car is currently housed in the Marconi Auto Museum in Tustin. Redman, 60, is originally from Yorkshire, England, but now lives in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
“I think I am the only person in the community who has never played golf,” Redman said. Ponte Vedra is home to the PGA Tour and its tournament players course.
The Marconis also will drive cars taken from their museum. Dick will be in a Formula One powered by a Cosworth engine in the Formula race for over two-liter cars, and John will drive a 1965 B Production 1965 Corvette and a pink Chevron in which former world Grand Prix champion Keke Rosberg won the world Formula Atlantic championship.
The younger Marconi dominated last year’s races, winning four main events.
Other feature races include the Jerry Titus Memorial Trans-Am, made up of pre-1972 cars from the popular Sports Car Club of America series, and a GTP and Camel Lights Reunion. Titus, who won a Trans-Am race at Riverside in 1966, died in an accident in 1970 at Road America.
Proceeds from the event, produced by the Marconi Foundation for Kids, will benefit Olive Crest Homes for Abused and Abandoned Children, Covenant House California, Pediatric Aids Research and the Marine Corps Morale, Welfare and Recreation Department.
L.A. GRAND PRIX
The inaugural Ford Los Angeles Grand Prix Vintage Races and Concours d’Elegance will take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 on streets of downtown Los Angeles. A 1.6-mile course with 11 turns will start and finish in front of Union Station.
Racing will be conducted by the Vintage Auto Racing Assn., which holds monthly races at such venues as Willow Springs, Las Vegas, Pomona, Phoenix and Buttonwillow.
Ford Mustang will be the featured production car.
“This is a dream that we’ve been working on for more than seven years,” said Dr. William Burke, president of L.A. Events, producer of the vintage extravaganza. Burke also stages the L.A. Marathon.
The course will make use of surface streets in and around the historic Plaza District on Alameda and Main streets and Cesar Chavez Avenue.
There will be 12 races each day, after practice and qualifying.
CART
The season is two-thirds complete and finally CART has a 500-mile race. Never before have drivers and crews waited so long for a race of the traditional championship distance.
The U.S. 500, which last year was scheduled at Michigan Speedway on the same day in May as the Indianapolis 500, will take place Sunday at the same site. The only other 500-miler this year will be the season-ending Marlboro 500, Sept. 28, at Fontana’s California Speedway.
After 11 of 17 events, only six points separate the top three drivers--Paul Tracy, Alex Zanardi and Michael Andretti--and only 15 separate Tracy from fifth-place Gil de Ferran. Greg Moore is fourth.
Jimmy Vasser, who won the U.S. 500 last year, has not won since, although he is also defending CART PPG Cup champion.
IRL
Tony Stewart and the rest of the Indy Racing League go back under the lights Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the running of the VisionAire 500, a 500-kilometer (312.6-mile) race on a 1.5-mile oval. It will be the first national championship race in Charlotte for Indy cars since 1927 when Babe Stapp, driving a Miller, won a 100-miler on a board track.
Former motocross champion Jeff Ward is scheduled to make his first IRL start since finishing third in the Indianapolis 500.
FORMULA ONE
With former world champion Michael Schumacher in a Ferrari and his brother Ralf in a Jordan-Peugeot, the home folks will have a rooting interest when the German Grand Prix unfolds Sunday on the 4.2-mile Hockenheim circuit. Schumacher has complained of problems with his car but said he was not worried about it. “Problems during the tests have always been a good omen for me,” he said.
LAST LAPS
Dennis Andrews Sr. of Redlands, after winning seven of 12 races at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, has moved into second place in the Pacific Coast Region of NASCAR’s Winston Racing Series. Bobby Hogge IV of Salinas is the leader. Dick Shepherd of Bakersfield won three of 12 races at Mesa Marin Raceway to take fourth place.
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This Week at a Glance
BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL, Gateway 300
* Site: Gateway International Raceway, 1.25-mile paved oval, Madison, Ill.
* When: Saturday, 10 a.m., Channel 2.
* Qualifying: Today.
* Defending champion: Inaugural event.
* Last week: Idle.
* Fast fact: Defending champion Randy Lajoie, the point-standings leader, has been no lower than third since March 23, 1996--a span of 41 weeks.
INDYCAR, U.S 500
* Site: Michigan Speedway, 2-mile high-banked oval, Brooklyn, Mich.
* When: Sunday, 10 a.m., Channel 7.
* Qualifying: Saturday.
* Defending champion: Jimmy Vasser
* Last week: Mark Blundell started second, took the lead on the first lap and never relinquished it for a victory at Toronto Molson Indy.
* Fast fact: Vasser started on the pole and led 35 laps en route to last year’s U.S. 500 victory.
IRL, VisionAire 500
* Site: Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Charlotte, N.C.
* When: Saturday, 10 a.m., Channel 2 (tape).
* Defending champion: Inaugural event.
* Last week: Idle.
* Fast fact: This is the first Indy-car race in Charlotte since Sept. 19, 1927, when Babe Stapp won a 100-mile race.
FORMULA ONE, German Grand Prix
* Site: Hockenheim-Ring, 4.234-mile course, Hockenheim, Germany.
* When: Sunday, 5:45 a.m., ESPN2.
* Qualifying: Today-Saturday.
* Defending champion: Damon Hill.
* Last week: Idle.
* Fast fact: Hill finished sixth in the British Grand Prix, earning him one point in the driver standing. It was the first point the defending champion has gained in nine races.
CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS, Lund Look 275
* Site: Heartland Park, 2.1-mile paved road course, Topeka, Kan.
* When: Sunday, 11 a.m., TNN.
* Qualifying: Saturday.
* Defending champion: Mike Skinner.
* Last week: Ron Hornaday surged to the front with 38 laps left in the Colorado 250 to earn an NCTS record-tying third consecutive victory.
* Fast fact: Hornaday has three victories in five road course races. He won at Heartland in 1995 and finished third last year.
NHRA, Auto Lite National
* Site: Sonoma, Calif.
* When: Sunday, 4 p.m., ESPN2.
* Qualifying: Thursday-Saturday.
* Defending champions: Blaine Johnson (top fuel), Cruz Pedregon (funny car), Warren Johnson (pro stock).
* Last week: Cory McClenathan won his first top fuel title of the season at the Mile-High Nationals with a quarter-mile run of 4.864 seconds.
* Fast fact: Gary Scelzi’s streak of advancing to at least the semifinals at every race this season ended Sunday with a loss to McClenathan in the second round.
