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Heacock Gold Cup Vintage Races Host to Huge Crowds |
Danville, VA (June 7, 2009) - The tenth annual Heacock Classic Gold Cup SVRA Historic Races at VIRginia International Raceway saw a field of nearly 300 race entrants, plus hundreds of entrants in the car show along with an enthusiastic crowd of spectators enjoying vintage sports cars racing on a classic road course.
"The Gold Cup concept was one of our ideas from the day we decided to reopen VIR," said track partners Harvey Siegel and Connie Nyholm. "As racers ourselves in vintage races, this is a very special event and a special track. We always enjoy hosting vintage racers at VIR."
Three days of racing featured a variety of races, from the enduros Friday afternoon to sprint races Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday's qualifying sessions and races setting the starting lineups for Sunday's events.
Friday's first enduro was won by the pair of Gregg Frey and Ron Zitza, wheeling a Porsche 914/6. Travis Engen swept to the win in the second enduro, driving a Lola T97/20 Indy Lights car, beating out David Porter by over a lap. The rear wing on Engen's car left long vapor trails of condensation in the moist air following rains most of the day Friday. Engen repeated his win again Sunday afternoon, in a repeat of the same finishing order.
Group One's feature race went to Harry Gentry at the wheel of his MG Midget, less than ten seconds ahead of Todd Treffert's MGA. The Group Two feature race Saturday went to engine builder Ted Wentz in a rapid Brabham BT23C Formula 2 car, ahead of Engen's Chevron Formula B entry.
Groups Three and Four combined forces for one of the biggest and most fun events of the day, with Glenn Stephens' lightweight Lotus 11 LeMans taking the victory over Ceasar Cone's Alfa Romeo Duetto.
Group Eight was next on the track, with Keswick, Virginia's Les Gonda battling Chapel Hill, NC's Perry Genova in a struggle between a V-8 engined MGB/GT-V8 and Genova's four-cylinder BMW 2002. At the finish, the pair were only a fraction of a second apart.
Pre War cars have their own race group in a nod to the limited speeds and cornering ability of the cars. Manley Ford, driving an MGTD, headed the similar car at the hands of Steve Konsin in a race that also displayed the historic lines of a Morgan 'Trike' three-wheeler and a 1930 dirt track sprint car powered by a 1923 Chevy four-cylinder engine.
Over fifty cars started the weekend's biggest race group, the MG Feature Race, for all MGs. The race went to Les Gonda's MGB/GT-V8, over Burlington, NC's Butch McKenzie in a four-cylinder MGB.
Sports racing cars made up the second-biggest group of the weekend, with Larry Wilson wheeling his Royale RP17 Sports 2000 car to the group win over Bill Thumel's thundering Lola T70 Can-Am car. Powerplants in this group ranged from about 80 cubic inches to over 460 c.i.
Peter Morgan Race #3, for Morgans only, went to Stacey Schepens, who may have to talk her father out of the car keys from now on. She beat out Dave Bondon by over 14 seconds at the checkered flag.
Ralph Thomas' Kudzu DG1/2 sports racer won the Group Seven feature race, over Howard Katz/ Toj 205C in a case of Goliath beating David for a change.
Always a crowd-pleasing event, the Historic Stock Cars combined their race with the big road racing sedans of Group 10 to end Sunday's racing with local racer Maurice Hull sweeping to a gap of less than a second ahead of Robert Mitten's ex-Tony Stewart stock car.
The weekend's activities were not limited solely to on-track action. There was also the Texas Steakhouse & Saloon car show open to all spectators with cars entered from street rods to classics and everything in between. A surprised and pleased entrant, Reidsville, NC's Wes Harris, entered his Austin-Healey 3000 on a whim, driving to the event Saturday morning when the weather looked good for the day. "Two years ago, we took it to Vermont, to the Healey Conclave and it was put in the concours judging. Four judges spent five hours, just on my car and it ended up with a Gold certification," said Miller about his 'barn find' car.
"We share the passion these drivers and spectators have for classic sports cars," said event sponsor Ford Heacock, CEO of Heacock Classsic collector car insurance, the event sponsor. "Bringing these cars together to race on a track whose layout is essentially unchanged from the day it opened in 1957 reminds us all of the sporting heritage we share."
Spectators at the Gold Cup included large groups from MG and Morgan car clubs; drawn by the Morgan-MG Challenge race. This feature race Saturday went to Les Gonda's 1973 MGB/GT-V8, who finished just ahead of multiple Sports Car Club of America champion Kent Prather in a 1962 MGA.
Activities on the track included thundering historic stock car races; vintage kart races; and fan touring laps of the track.
Full results of the 2009 Heacock Classic Gold Cup Historic Races can be found online at: http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=429258 |
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The grass beyond the pavement is better than on most golf courses and the magnificent Oak Tree corner is a tough one to master. If you walk the course just after sunrise you would swear you were at a resort and not a track
Gerry Chan - Mazda MX-5 Racer
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