Making Mitty Magic

By David S. Wallens
Feb 1, 2018 | Posted in News and Notes | Never miss an article

This year’s Mitty celebrated a brand with few equals in the sports car world: Porsche. And the event’s grand marshal, Hurley Haywood, has long been associated with that name, scoring big wins for the manufacturer at places like Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans.

Add that punch of Porsche to a Road Atlanta alive with HSR racing and infield fun, and you have the 2017 Speedfest at the Classic Motorsports Mitty Presented by Hagerty. Here are just some of the highlights from our car carnival.

The Mitty continues to be an interactive event. This year we hosted a pair of drives to the event: one starting at Coker Tire’s Chattanooga headquarters and another launching from Porsche’s Atlanta base of operations. Once at the track, participants got to take a few laps of the circuit.

We added a new opportunity to the Mitty this year: Show off a cool car, and you might take home a trophy along with a collection of Mothers car care products. Javier Sanchez claimed the Coolest Track Car award with his Datsun 510.

No velvet ropes, no VIP tickets necessary. If you’re at the Mitty, then you’re welcome to walk the grid before the big feature races. This year Porsche drivers got their own feature race, with the entry list featuring many of the brand’s iconic models.

Call it a pre-event kickoff: The Wednesday before the Mitty, the SCCA hosted one of its Track Night in America events at Road Atlanta, the program’s first visit to that facility.

The Concours d’Lemons is the car show for the rest of us–those who see the beauty in the unusual and the unloved. Hagerty and GRM continue to support this event, which filled up vendors’ row Sunday morning. The Cosworth Vega club was there holding center court.

A new addition to the Mitty was the BFGoodrich Garage, an onsite service center operated by the popular tire company. Cost for services performed? Nada.