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NASCAR and VARA break the silence: Real racing resumes in two weeks

Tom Stahler
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NASCAR and VARA break the silence: Real racing resumes in two weeks

NASCAR and the California-based Vintage Auto Racing Association (VARA) are the first sanctions to break the silence and will put on races.

NASCAR and the California-based Vintage Auto Racing Association will be the first sanctioning bodies to will stage live races as the coronavirus lockdown is loosened. 

VARA’s British Extravaganza, May 15-16 at Buttonwillow Raceway in California, will go on as planned, the vintage racing group announced.

VARA added that it is working closely with safety experts to practice proper social distancing in the paddock and common areas while getting the cars back on track.

Meanwhile, NASCAR announced “a unique schedule that includes midweek races in primetime and a NASCAR crown jewel – the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway – in its traditional Memorial Day Weekend home for the 60th consecutive season.”

The live racing schedule includes a 400-mile Cup event May 17 at Darlington, South Carolina, a 200-mile Xfinity race May 19 at the same location, a 500-kilometer Cup event, also at Darlington, on May 20. 

Also, the 600-mile Cup race May 24 at Charlotte, North Carolina, a 300-mile Xfinity race May 25 at Charlotte, a 200-mile Gander Trucks series event May 26 at Charlotte and a 500-kilometer Cup race May 27 at Charlotte.

The NASCAR races will be contested without fans in attendance.

In a letter to VARA members, club president Scott Parsons said, “We have been working Capt. Craig Sanford on creating proper safety protocols for the event. Things like one in one out in registration, single page per team waivers sheets, 6-foot social distancing in any que’s and in common areas around paddock spaces.”

“We will also be asking all teams to give a bit more space between Pit spaces, Parsons continued. “The drivers meeting will be in written form and over the Pa system as to limit any large gathering in any single area, along with the use of face masks in and around the paddock.”

This will be an experiment in getting things opening up again. Certainly, the usual jovial comradery of a race weekend will be hindered slightly. However, for many, the ache of getting the car back on track in anger is worth the accommodation.

Many other clubs will most likely follow the lead, whereas the big-time shows such as Formula One and IndyCar remain on the virtual racing circuits. NASCAR announced on April 30, they will resume with no spectators and IndyCar has proposed “no-spectator” races. What is unfortunate is the huge costs to the individual promoters, who rely on ticket and concession sales poses a far greater hinderance.

Many VARA members, including Steve Belfer, one of the soundtrack creators for Sponge Bob Squarepants, are chomping at the bit to get back on track. While he says he will not be participating in the May event due to COVID-19 fears, he has taken full advantage of the quarantine to get his Triumph TR3 ready for when the “all clear” is given. 

Belfer has produced a series of “garage” videos show getting his car ready – including an engine swap (Look for the author at 0:57 of the video).

Cautiously, VARA, a not-for-profit is willing to take this step as revenues come directly from the participants who pay club/licensing dues and entry fees. Spectators, who are usually sparse to club events, must possess a crew pass.

Parsons gives final advice in the letter: “Think of your pit space as home when alone no mask when other are around face mask please.”

’78 Indy pace car draws post position 1 for race

ClassicCars.com
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’78 Indy pace car draws post position 1 for race

The first Chevrolet Corvette to pace the Indianapolis 500, the 1978 model, will start from the No.1 post position in the ClassicCars.com Fiberglass Follies, the “Race for the Roses” taking place the first Saturday in May, the usual date for the Kentucky Derby, which has been postponed this year by the coronavirus pandemic.

Important note: The Fiberglass Follies is not an actual race but a fantasy event designed to fill a pandemic-created void in the calendar.

Drawing the pole position for the race dropped the pace car’s odds on winning from 10-1 to 6-1.

While the Indy pace car benefited greatly in the draw for post positions, the 1955 Corvette, the first year of production with a V8 engine, drew position No. 20. The ’55 already was listed at 99-1 on the morning line and it retains those odds for the race.

The morning line favorite, the 1990 ZR1, drew post No. 6, and its odds slipped from 5-2 to 4-1.

Meanwhile, the 2014 C7, the car that moved the Corvette into global supercar status, drew post No. 3 and its odds fell from 50-1 to 6-1.

Here is the full field, list by post position and with final race-day odds:

Check back in on Saturday for the race report. In the meantime, you can place your imaginary bet through the form below. Our staff expert at such things says he’d make a $40 wager at the window. “Go with a $10 WPS (win-place-show) across the board wager, with money on the ’63 ‘Split Window.’ Tremendous value at 30-1.

“Also, he adds, “consider a long-odds exotic wager and box the ‘Fuelie,’ the ‘Split-Window’ and the LT1 in a swing for the fences trifecta.”

So if you had $40 in funny money to wager, what would be your picks? The betting windows are open below.

[yop_poll id=”32″]

The story of RUF, one of the greatest high-performance builders

Bob Golfen
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The story of RUF, one of the greatest high-performance builders

The 80-year history of RUF Automotive, the manufacturer of bespoke performance sports cars based on the Porsche 911, is celebrated with a new 30-minute video titled RUF, Love at the Red Line. 

The video tells the story of the Pfaffenhausen, Germany, company that began as a repair shop and transformed into a world-famous builder of fantasy machines.  


There are plenty of action clips and interviews with company director Alois Ruf, whose father started the company, plus guest appearances by such luminaries as car designer Freeman Thomas, Porsche modifier Rod Emory, Gran Turismo producer Kazunori Yamauchi, and well-known car collector and RUF owner Bruce Meyer, as well as a number of longtime company employees and technicians.

“Over the years, the story of RUF has become marked by key moments in our history,” Alois Ruf said. “This film pulls back the curtain.

“We want to share with the world that it has taken the work of hundreds and the passion of many more to get us where we are today. This is for the employees, the customers and the fans who helped turn our vision into a reality.”

Livestream program provides a gathering place for car community

Larry Edsall
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Livestream program provides a gathering place for car community

Considering that this could be a year for the car world “where we cannot be together,” McKeel Hagerty didn’t hesitate to provide a gathering place for the collector car community. It’s a weekly livestream webcast/vlog called The Love of Cars.

The series debuted Tuesday evening and new episodes are planned for each Tuesday evening, but can be viewed anytime subsequently on the Hagerty Media website.

The series hosts are Justin Bell and Tommy Kendall, both accomplished auto racers (Can TK really be in his mid-50s? Doesn’t that make you feel old?) and both with magnetic and outgoing personalities. Both moved from the cockpit to the broadcast booth and already were doing The Torque Show, a motorsports-oriented livestream.

Bell and Kendall apparently were chatting off air not only about auto racing but about their shared love of cars in general, realized an opportunity to expand their programming, and Hagerty almost immediately agreed to be presenting sponsor, and the new show’s first guest. Each episode is planning to run for about an hour, and the last full segment of the debut episode features Jay Leno, who was celebrating his 70th birthday — where else? — in his garage.

Jay Leno opens the hood on a Wills Sainte Clair

But don’t fast forward just to hear Leno talk about the history of the Wills Sainte Claire (yes, he even opens the hood to show the car’s complicated engine architecture), or about the 1950 Plymouth station wagon and the attention it got during a recent grocery shopping trip, or even about how he’s always been unwilling to pay the price to buy an Aston Martin DB5, even back when they were available for $25,000!

Fast forward and you’ll miss Kendall talking about The Chicken Car, Bell talking about being a teenager and his father’s Porsche triggering Justin’s car love. You’ll also miss the hosts’ conversation with Hagerty, his insightful words about the future of the car hobby post-pandemic, and about lowering the bar of entry for young enthusiasts.

“Our job isn’t to judge, but to welcome,” he says.

That’s McKeel Hagerty (lower right), and yes, he did have hair as a teenager restoring a Porsche 911S he’d bought for $500

The Love of Cars is a welcomed addition to the collector car world. 

Episode 2 will feature a visit with Porsche outlaw car-builder Rod Emory, TV personality Courtney Hanson, Michelin star chef and car guy Gary Menes, and perhaps a look at the future of iRacing. 

Reviewed

The Love of Cars

Vlog featuring Justin Bell and Tom Kendall

Torque Show and Hagerty Media

Weekly series, episode livestreams on Tuesday evenings

https://www.hagerty.com/media/

Pick of the Day: 1992 Acura NSX

Tyson Hugie
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Pick of the Day: 1992 Acura NSX

Sports cars around the country are breaking free from their battery tenders and shedding that protective winter coating commonly called a car cover.  With spring in full swing, enthusiasts can finally – and comfortably – enjoy the sunshine and clear roads from behind the wheels of their fun rides.

The Pick of the Day is a 1992 Acura NSX coupe that’s begging to carve up the nearest canyon road, advertised on ClassicCars.com by a private seller in Brentwood, Tennessee.

acura

The Acura NSX was a revolutionary car when it first debuted for the 1991 model year. It packaged a high-revving Honda V6 engine, lightweight aluminum body and balanced driving dynamics in a car that was aesthetically modeled after a jet fighter.  The car looked the part, and even though it had only 252 horsepower in automatic transmission configuration, that was still sufficient to give competitive acceleration for its time.  The manual-transmission cars came with 270 horsepower.

This NSX is finished in Formula Red with Ivory leather interior.  The repaint is a few years old but it shows well in the photos with the ad, and the interior presents nicely, too.  The seller indicates that the Acura comes with a fair amount of service history as well as the owner’s manual.  The car recently had some service performed including a timing belt, water pump, and a new radiator, the seller notes. 


The Axura has 132,000 miles on the odometer, but those service items should make the next buyer feel comfortable hitting the open road.

With engineering design input coming from the late Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna, the Acura NSX launch changed perspectives that performance and reliability could not coexist.  And while a six-figure odometer reading on many exotics is a scary thought, this NSX’s VTEC-equipped motor could very well be just broken in.

The seller is asking $42,000.  

acura

The only known mechanical issue is that the radio is inoperable.  “We prefer to listen to the headers and aftermarket exhaust,” the seller states.  The song of a 3-liter V6 behind the ears might be just the right soundtrack for an upcoming summer adventure.

To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day. 

Childress donates Earnhardt race car for Barrett-Jackson online auction

Bob Golfen
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Childress donates Earnhardt race car for Barrett-Jackson online auction

NASCAR team owner Richard Childress is donating an original No. 3 Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet race car for auction during the Barrett-Jackson online-only sale, with all proceeds benefiting COVID-19 relief efforts across the United States.

Barrett-Jackson recently announced the addition of the online collector car auction, which will feature 75 vehicles and more than 250 pieces of automobilia. The sale is set for May 8-17 and will be run on the auction platform Proxibid. 

Bidding for the Earnhardt car begins Friday, May 8, and ends Saturday, May 16. The no-reserve sale will mark the first time  Childress has parted with an original Earnhardt-driven car from his collection.

earnhardt

“I’ve grown my personal collection of memorabilia throughout my career in NASCAR and have especially enjoyed the Dale Earnhardt cars in my collection because they each have such a unique history that bring back priceless memories of my years winning and racing with Dale,” Childress said in a Barrett-Jackson news release.

“I’ve never parted with an Earnhardt Chevrolet from my collection, but with a global pandemic taking place and people in our communities suffering, it’s time to do what I can to help. All proceeds will benefit much-needed causes to fight the devastating effects of COVID-19 on a local and national level.”

earnhardt

Earnhardt made select NASCAR Cup Series starts in this intermediate-style Chevrolet chassis No. 22, at such tracks as Bristol Motor Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and Darlington Raceway between 1996 and 1999, according to the news release.  Earnhardt won with this car at Rockingham Speedway in 1996, and did not finish worse than fourth with chassis No. 22 in its first three on-track appearances. 

Childress will donate 100 percent of the sale price to various COVID-19 relief efforts, including providing support to national and local first responders and front-line workers in need of personal protection equipment. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Feeding America, which provides meals to children out of school, supports food banks and the distribution of essential food and non-food household items.

For information about the Barrett-Jackson’s online-only sale, visit the Proxibid auction website.

‘Eroded Porsche’ unveils in Hong Kong

Larry Edsall
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‘Eroded Porsche’ unveils in Hong Kong

American artist Daniel Arsham’s exploration of the fate of humanity continues with his display of his latest “future relics” series, the “Ash & Pyrite Eroded Porsche” taking place April 30 to May 1 at the London Opera House in Hong Kong. The exhibition is organized by Auction house Phillips and by K11 MUSEA, which is considered to be Hong Kong’s Silicon Valley of Culture.

Ashton’s “Eroded Delorean” was featured in an exhibition in New York City in 2018.

“Arsham re-imagines everyday objects as artifacts unearthed in a futuristic geological dig, years of material damage from the elements captured in ghostly, intricately crytallized erosions,” Phillips and K11 MUSEA said in a news release. 

“Arsham has explored this concept through collaborations with global lifestyle brands including Rimowa, Dior, Adidas, Pokémon, Uniqlo and many others, highlighting him as one of the hottest names in fashion right now. 

“Working with Porsche was a childhood dream for Arsham and with Ash & Pyrite Eroded Porsche, the artist pays tribute to one of the most acclaimed sports cars of all time, the Porsche 911. Its distinctive two-door, rear-engined silhouette is still instantly recognizable after more than three decades of modifications. 

“Designed with volcanic ash, Arsham re-imagines the car as a witness to one of the most devastating kinds of natural disasters, its ashy grey body abruptly gouged and delicately encrusted with his signature crystal erosions. Enigmatic and ever-compelling, Arsham’s practice continues to explore dichotomies between reality and fiction, as well as destruction and creation in his apocalyptic world of the future.” 

After the exhibition, the Porsche will be offered in Phillips’ 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Day Sale, scheduled for June 9 at the JW Marriott in Hong Kong. A work by Arsham’s, “Quartz Eroded Vogue Magazine 101,” set an auction record at Phillips’ Hong Kong sale in 2019, selling for nearly $300,000.

Gale Halderman, designer of the Mustang 1933-2020

Tom Stahler
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Gale Halderman, designer of the Mustang 1933-2020

Gale Halderman, the original designer of the Ford Mustang, died April 29 near Dayton, Ohio. Halderman has suffered from liver cancer, according to his family. He was 87.

His iconic Mustang design sold more than 8 million units, inspired 6 model generations of design and has been continuously built for more than 50 years.

Jimmy Dinsmore, author of Mustang by Design: Gale Halderman and the Creation of Ford’s Iconic Pony Car, and spokesman for the Halderman family said, “To have lived 87 years and to have designed something that is part of pop culture and automotive history, he had such an impact.”

Most people consider the late Lee Iacocca as “The Father of the Mustang.” However, Iacocca wasn’t the man who put the pencil to the paper. Gale Halderman, however, remained in the background.

Dinsmore added, “He did it in such a humble way that has touched the heart of every Mustang enthusiast out there. As great of a designer as he was, he was an even better human being. The most striking thing about the 40-year Ford employee was Halderman’s humility. For many years, Halderman did not receive much attention for being the Mustang’s original designer, preferring to let others take the credit.”

Halderman was a member of the Mustang Hall of Fame for his design. He received the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award for the design of the 1990 Lincoln Town Car.

Hamilton, Rolt partied overnight before winning Le Mans

Larry Edsall
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Hamilton, Rolt partied overnight before winning Le Mans

Duncan Hamilton talks in this video about how he and Tony Rolt had been told their car had been disqualified, so they retired to a French bistro on the eve of the Le Mans race. 

They were still there in the morning.

In the video, Hamilton recalls Williams Lyons pulled up to the bistro and informing his drivers that he had paid a 25£ fine and the car was back in the race.

Hamilton and Rolt then faced hours of black coffee and hot baths before the 4 p.m. race start of the 24-hour race, which they won in record-setting form.


Journal Podcast: Trials of a new IndyCar owner

Tom Stahler
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Journal Podcast: Trials of a new IndyCar owner

John Stange, a Chicago-area businessman, talks about the trials and tribulations of putting together the deals that get cars and drivers on track. He was set to enter a team into the 2020 Indianapolis 500 with driver Oriol Servia — Then came the pandemic…  This insightful interview with the veteran dealmaker gives the layman a genuine insider’s perspective on the day to day challenges of big-time motorsports.

Thanks For listening on your device of choice — and your platform of choice! You can download or stream the show on the following platforms:

 

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