Vintage Racing Shakeups

The 2013 vintage race season may be just around the corner, but some of the big players in our scene—including HSR, HSR West and SVRA—have announced some big changes.

HSR: New Owners and Management Historic Sportscar Racing, Ltd., the East Coast’s largest vintage race sanctioning body, has a new majority owner, Vintage Racing Events LLC. With the ownership change comes a new president, as longtime HSR member David Hinton will take the helm. 

“It’s such a great honor to carry on and move forward with what Howard Turner and Steve Simpson started over 35 years ago at Road Atlanta,” Hinton said in a release. “I go back a long way with HSR as well. I was present at HSR’s first event at Sebring International Raceway and have been a huge supporter of HSR ever since. I look forward to working with Steve and Diane Simpson, Ken Fengler, Judy Marchione and all the valued HSR team going forward.”

James Redman, organizer of the first three Rennsport Reunions as well as the Jefferson 500 and Targa Sixty Six event, will serve as HSR’s general manager. Denise Norton-Beatty has joined HSR as secretary and treasurer. Classic Motorsports will continue its relationship with HSR, renewing the magazine’s title sponsorship of HSR’s flagship event, the Classic Motorsports Mitty, for the next three years. The 2013 running of the Classic Motorsports Mitty will take place at Road Atlanta April 26-28.

SVRA: Adding HSR West to the Fold While Planning Championship Events Tony Parella and his Parella Racing company recently bought the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, primarily an east-of-the-Mississippi group. SVRA has now added a West Coast component to the mix by purchasing Historic Sportscar Racing West (HSR West).

“I’m very pleased to see HSR West become part of SVRA,” said Ed Swart, president of HSR West. “I’m looking forward to managing SVRA West and helping grow SVRA into the only nationwide historic/vintage racing organization in the United States.”

The SVRA has also formally announced its plans for regional and national championship events —16 events total for the year. We’re told that the East Coast regional event will take place during the Gold Cup weekend at Virginia International Raceway; details on the national event are expected to come soon. According to a release for the national event, “The format will be structured so that the SVRA regional points leaders from both coasts (and possibly other vintage clubs or racing organizations) will be invited to compete for a national title during that race weekend.”

More news: Roger Linton has been named the group’s new technical director, and the SVRA has announced stricter scrutineering that includes postrace weighing of cars, engine displacement checks and a formal protest process. The SVRA has also signed a five-year deal to run Virginia International Raceway’s Gold Cup as well as a three-year agreement to run at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

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