SCCA Historic Series Mid-Season Report

Story by Eliot Shanabrook
Photos by Roz Rosintoski

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We found sunny weekends for the first three races in the SCCA's 2003 historic series. Round one was at NHIS in conjunction with a SCCA national race. Mike Lawton was present with his newly-acquired ex-Hayes spider, as was Dick Giambra from Rochester in his '73 GTV. 

I arrived on Friday to test my new watts link that I'd built over the winter. Friday's test day went well and provided needed wet track practice. Nick Fonte in his Sports 2000 race car was testing on Friday as well. We were sitting under the Fontes’ canopy in a deluge and thunderstorm Friday afternoon when the announcement came over the PA saying "Friday's test is over." 

Saturday was sunny, but my outlook was gloomy when the weld holding the crank fire disk to the crank pulley failed on the first lap of qualifying. Andy Kress to the rescue!  Andy took his identical pulley to my house, where Celeste and Reid would be leaving to meet me later that day. On Saturday afternoon, we had the car ready to start from the back of the field on Sunday. Nick & Ven Fonte and Giovanni Tartaglia from Motorsports Garage would not rest until my GTV was running again. Thanks for the help! 

Starting from the back is fun, but my hopes of catching the enemy in the 510 were slim. These hopes got slimmer yet when the pole-sitting 911 (we run five classes in one group) didn't understand the difference between the starter’s green flag and shaking his head. On the next lap, he got the green flag but the field was spread way out. 

I had a blast passing bugeyes, spridgets, 2002s, and Alfas (sorry, Mike), until the next car up the road was the class-leading 510. I couldn't believe my eyes as, little by little, I wound him in. As it turns out, he'd over-revved during a down-shift and broken his alternator. The slack V-belt caused overheating so he had to back off, giving me the win in Class 2. Mike finished 3rd. Giovanni was leading F Production when his X-19 got stuck in gear on the last lap. Nick was leading in the Sports 2000 when his gearbox did the same—he still got fastest lap, though!

Rounds two and three were at Pocono in late May. Again, deluges on Friday preceded a sunny weekend at the normally inclement Pocono. The Alfas at this SCCA double regional race were Todd Redmond driving his Alfetta GTV in ITB, Doug Fields driving a Milano in ITS, and Mike and I in the Historic Series. Pocono is a very fast track using two of the straights (one with a chicane), two oval turns, and an infield section short-cutting the third oval turn. The Mustangs, Camaros, and Corvettes in Class 5 claim almost 160MPH vs. our 125. Again, my qualifying luck struck with a flat battery. It turned out that the voltage regulator wasn't working, so I was running without charging during the NHIS race. (Must check the car more closely between races!)

I had my usual fun starting from the back, and then worked my way to a Volvo 544 and Datsun 510 up the road and out of reach ... 3rd place. Since it's a double, we qualify and race on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday morning was Mike's turn, with overheating problems. We let the spider cool and then refilled the cooling system, but water coming out the exhaust was a bad sign ... head gasket. Mike's running on true vintage rubber; when/if he makes the switch to tires legal in SCCA vintage racing, watch out! 

I managed to qualify on Sunday between the Volvo and the Datsun, who were both behind the class-leading MGB-GT. The big Volvo got past at the start, so I hounded him for several laps. I got along-side three times before I could make it stick. Afterward, I learned that John Hamilton has owned this Volvo 544 since graduate school in 1962! The battle for 2nd turned into a battle for 1^st, when the lead MGB-GT put a rod through the side of his block. It wasn’t to be, though—I could not pass the 510; his fastest lap was about a tenth faster. 

It’ll be a long wait until I try the new track at Beaver Run, but perhaps the rain will be done by then. The remaining SCCA Historic Series races are as follows; I hope to make the last four.