As Spring rolls into southern Florida so does the opening round of the of the 2008 Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) season. Run at the legendary Sebring International Raceway, the Sebring Endurance Challenge took place March 1 - 4, 2007, featuring the annual Al Holbert Memorial GTP Reunion. It's hard to believe that we closed out the 2007 season and awarded the season's championship trophies just a few short months ago, here at one of the best known and oldest road courses in the US. Next on tap was the first feature race for the Historic Stocks Cars of the weekend and it was stock car regular Don Soenen that led the field to the checker. Don made a big statement bring home the No. 2, ex-Rusty Wallace '98 Ford Taurus ahead of the newer '05 & '06 Dodge Chargers of Mark Furcini (No. 42) and Jack Finch (No. 49) in third. Both the second & third places cars featured much newer technology; Don proved the older model stock cars can still be competitive. The remainder of the day was made up of 8-lap feature races and the first on hand was the Historic Stock Cars in there feature race 2 and it was the same cast with a different order from race 1. This round saw Mark Furcini, in his '05 Dodge Charger, No. 42 get the best of race 1 winner Don Soenen in his No. 2 '98 Ford Taurus, with Jack Finch in his No. 49, '05 Dodge Charger in third. (From Race Review by, Greg Aleck)
The 31st running of the Walter Mitty Challenge took place once again at the legendary Road Atlanta facility just outside of Gainesville, Ga. With just shy of 300 cars in attendance, the turn out was one of the better events in the past thirty years. A truly remarkable weekend was in store for all. But the "Mitty", always brings together more "special" entries than normally attend HSR events and this year was no different. With the weekends dose of bad weather scheduled to come thought Saturday afternoon, the Historic Stock Car, feature race number 1 that was originally slated to run in the late afternoon was moved to just before lunch, since the group doesn't have rain tires. At the checker just ahead of the raindrops (it rained in victory lane!) it was Eric Lux, not found in a stock car very often, leading the pack in his No. 51, 1997 Monte Carlo, while Stock car regular Scott Murphy in his No. 30, 1998 Pennzoil Grand Prix took second, while Dale Phelon brought home his newest "toy" the ex-Robert Yates Racing '06 Ford Fusion, No. 90 in third. At the '08 Mitty, the "Workers Choice" went to HSR's resident "rocker" lead vocalist for AC/ DC, Brian Johnson, driver of the No. 21 '70 Royale RP-4, Brian gave a very "colorful" acceptance speech, but we wouldn't have him another way, "rock on", Brian. The weekend's final race honor went to the Stock Car boys from Group 8, for the race No. 2. As the checker fell on the weekends activities it was Scott Murphy at the wheel of his Pennzoil No. 30 '98 Grand Prix claiming first, with Dale Phelon in the ex-Robert Yates Racing No. 90, Ford Fusion in second, while third place went to Jack Finch, piloting the No. 49, '06 Dodge Charger. In the Classic division it was Bill Bradford in the former Roush Racing No. 6, '88 Ford Thunderbird, taking the class win. (From Race Review by, Greg Aleck)
HSR's annual June trip to Watkins Glen is once again upon us with the competitors returning to the 3.40 -mile long course at the legendary upstate New York circuit, with an entry list of 200+ cars, it was set to be a good one. Weather at the "Glen" can range from hot summer like weather to a snow storm, but we caught a break for this weekend with low's in the 60's and high's in the 90's, with some rain on Saturday. Saturday was all about qualifying for all groups, with the Historic Stock Cars taking to the track for their first race of the weekend. The Historic Stock Car group took to the track in mid afternoon, with 11 stockers running the 3.4-mile course, unlike their "Sprint Cup" brothers that take to the 2.45 miles short course in their August event. Making his second start of the 2008 HSR season in the Stock Cars was road racing "pro" Eric Lux, taking his second win of the season aboard the No. 51 Ex-Kellogg's '97 Monte Carlo with Phoenix, Arizona's Mark Furcini driving the ex-Jamie McMurray No. 42 '05 Dodge Charger second, while it was Jack Finch driving his EX-BAM Racing No. 49 '06 Dodge Charger in third. After the lunch break on Sunday the Group 8, Stock Car boys took to the track for their weekend's final race, a 1-hr. enduro. And once again it was road racing "pro" Eric Lux, taking his third win of the season aboard the No. 51 Ex-Kellogg's '97 Monte Carlo with Dale Phelon driving his ex-Yates racing No. 90, '06 Ford Fusion, in second place while Maurice Hull in an ex-Petty Enterprises, No. 44 '05 Charger, captured third. (From Race Review by, Greg Aleck)
Bucking the current trend, despite a gas shortage in the Southeast, entries were up at this year's Fall Festival. At last year's Fall festival we were treated to three days of glorious Fall weather, not so this year. Friday it rained on and off, Saturday was gloomy, but the rain held off until the end of the day when we had a deluge. The sun finally came out Sunday, but the skies opened up again for the Group 3 and 4 race. The sun came back out and quickly dried the racing line, but there were still puddles off line at the end of the day. Saturday was taken up with qualifying sessions, followed by qualifying races. Then it was off to the VIR Gallery for the SVRA event party, one of the best of the season. Why the best? Any race party that serves ice cream and hot fruit cobbler for dessert rates with me. Sunday's race schedule started early then dark skies and then heavy rain greeted the field for the start of the Group 8 OPTIMA BATTERY Sprint. The order for the last two races of the weekend was switched to allow the track to dry further before it was time for the Stock Cars, making the S2000 race next on the schedule. Finishing off the weekend, the Stock Cars took to the track for their eight lap sprint. We had another flag to flag winner, but it wasn't easy. Scott Murphy, '98 Pontiac Grand Prix had the lead but he was chased the entire race. Jack Finch's '06 Dodge Charge held second at the star with Dale Phelon's '89 Thunderbird third. A lap later Phelon and Finch had switched positions, but the next time by Finch was back in second with Maurice Hull's '05 Dodge Charger now third. For the next four laps Hull kept looking for a way past Finch, finally making the pass on lap six and holding the position to the flag. SVRA's final event of the season is the Road Atlanta Season Finale October 16 - 19 presented by Mike Stott-UBS with a full schedule of OPTIMA Batteries Sprint Series Races and MotorCheck Enduro Series Races. Featuring ~ Historic Stock Car Series and the SVRA Twenty-ninth annual awards banquet it is a don't miss weekend. See you there! (From Race Review by, Bob Harrington)
Friday, at Atlanta was wet, but the skies cleared Saturday giving us bright sunny skies for the balance of the weekend. The featured Historic Stock Cars had the last race of the weekend and the season. Jack Finch's '06 Charger led the charge into turn one with Gene Felton, '02 Dodge Charger, and Maurice Hull, '05 Dodge Charger challenging for the lead. At the end of the first go around Felton was out front, but the following lap Finch had it back only to lose it the next time by. This time Felton was able to hold on to it to the flag with the finishing order being Felton, Finch and Hull. (From Race Review by, Bob Harrington)
Thursday's open test day gave everyone a chance to get their bearings on the 3.56 mile (5.7 km) road course and Friday was made up mostly of practice and qualifying for the weekends feature and endurance races. The "Big D" is no better place for the Group 8 Historic Stock Cars to shine with 11 "unrestricted" stockers taking to the track for their first race of the weekend. And it was Stock Car regular Maurice Hull, driving his No. 44, '06 Charger to the win with Don Soenen taking second in his 15-year old ex-Brett Bodine '93 Ford T-Bird, No. 26, while taking third was Tom Salley driving another former-Brett Bodine stocker the '02 Ford Taurus, No. 11. Group 8 for the Historic Stock Cars took to the track for their final race of the weekend, with 10-stockers running wild at the "Big-D", but this time Don Soenen wasn't about to settle for anything but first, taking the win ahead of Larry Hoopaugh in his No. 7, '00 Grand Prix, with Race 1 winner Maurice Hull driving his No. 44, '06 Charger in third. (From Race Review by, Greg Aleck)
