Saturday and Sunday at Road America: A flight of Eagles

Story by James Heine

If Friday was rainy and Saturday overcast and gloomy (gloomy enough that the start of the day’s action was delayed an hour by fog), Sunday offered fans a near-perfect combo of sunshine and fair weather, perfect for a day’s worth of racing at this year’s edition of the WeatherTech International Challenge with Brian Redman.

Once underway, Saturday gave fans—and there were plenty of them—a full day of morning qualifying and afternoon qualifying races.

The hands-down highlight of Sunday—and the weekend—was an impressive paddock display of Dan Gurney’s AAR Eagle race cars, including the F1 car in which Gurney won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix. For most fans, seeing the weekend’s collection of some 30 Gurney Eagles in one place at one time was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Also on tap Sunday, the weekend’s second on-track demonstration by a selection of Gurney Eagles (the first was Saturday afternoon), as well as a TABS/B Sedan feature race, won by Erik Wood in a ’66 Alfa Romeo GTV, in a spirited contest with Isaac Keeler and Jeff Werth, both in Datsun 510s.

Among the other winners of Sunday afternoon's feature races: Brian Davis, 1962 Elva Courier, Group 2, Vintage Production; Joel Quadracci, 1967 Brabham BT29 Group 4, Classic Monoposto/Classic Formula; Nick Griot, 1968 McLaren M6B, Group 5, Can-Am/Historic Sports Racer; Brian Garcia, 1965 Cheetah, Group 6, Classic Big Bore Production; and Peter Cunningham, 2004 Acura TSX, Group 8, Post-Historic Production.

Podium for Sunday’s TABS/B Sedan feature: left to right, Jeff Werth, Erik Wood, Isaac Keeler, Brian Redman.

Redman, who now has been coming to Road America since 1972, summed up the weekend nicely. “This is a great place, and this was a fantastic weekend,” he said.

Amen.

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