By: SVRA | August 14, 2018 10:05 AM Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that two more champion drivers with great NASCAR credentials have entered the American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine. The new pro-am race will take place at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) on September 22. Mike Skinner and Wally Dallenbach join NASCAR Cup champions Bill Elliott and Bobby Labonte who announced their entries in the race last week.“After all our success with the original SVRA charity pro-am at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it is exciting to pull together a second one featuring NASCAR veterans,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Wally and Mike are exemplary figures in motorsports. SVRA is proud to be associated with these fine men.”

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The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham has raced in the Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine the past three years, and will serve as one of the amateur drivers at VIR.Skinner won the 1995 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship for legendary team owner Richard Childress. Childress had noticed his domination of the Caraway Speedway track championship as well as numerous other late model victories across the Carolinas the previous year and selected him to drive for his team in the inaugural season for NASCAR Trucks. Skinner rewarded Childress’ trust by scoring 16 victories for the black No. 3 Goodwrench Truck across two seasons. He has a career total of 28 race wins and 50 poles in NASCAR Truck competition.In 1997 Childress promoted Skinner to join the great Dale Earnhardt Sr. as his teammate in NASCAR Cup competition. He again delivered by winning the 1997 Rookie-of-the-Year title as well as six pole positions and a pair of exhibition race wins in Japan. In 2013 he was recognized for his accomplishments when he was inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. Skinner has continued his career with occasional races as well as hosting the NASCAR Radio show, “Skinner Round-up,” with his wife Angie on SiriusXM. Last month he drove a NASCAR Truck up the world famous hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.Dallenbach launched his professional racing career in the Trans Am series in 1984. He was immediately successful, winning the Rookie of the Year title. The following year he won the championship for Jack Roush’s Mercury Capri to make him, at 22, the series’ youngest champion. He repeated as champion again in 1986 for the Protofab Camaro team. These championships earned him an invitation to the elite IROC invitational series in 1987.Other outstanding accomplishments include four class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. Dallenbach began an eleven-year NASCAR Cup career in 1991; scoring 23 top tens – two coming in the Daytona 500 – in 226 races. In addition to NASCAR Cup and Trans Am, the versatile Dallenbach has competed in NASCAR Truck, Xfinity, IndyCar, IMSA Camel GT, and a win in the open wheel division at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. He extended his career by becoming a motorsports commentator for TNT and NBC. Dallenbach has also served as a chief steward with the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli.In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.

By: RACER staff | 15 hours ago The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association has announced that three more champion drivers, Boris Said (pictured above), Ron Fellows, and Dorsey Schroeder have entered the “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine” at Virginia International Raceway September 22. All three scored significant race wins and championships in their careers but were also highly acclaimed as road racing “ringers” in NASCAR competition as teams seeking an advantage on road courses secured their services.

“Boris, Ron, and Dorsey are tremendous road racing talents and their records speak for themselves,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Those were exciting days when the NASCAR teams signed on road racing ‘ringers’ to get the upper hand. We have three of the best in the business right here.”

Fellows built an exceptional career in auto racing both at the wheel and on the business side with ventures such as the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park among others. He is one of Trans Am’s most prolific winners with 20 overall victories, including his latest coming in 2014 after an 18-year hiatus. During a driving career that dates back to the early 1980’s, he amassed an amazing record of championships and victories across a dazzling array of disciplines. His major accomplishments include 25 ALMS wins where he also won three consecutive GTS class driver’s championships. He was the overall winner in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2001 and brought home two first-place GTS class trophies at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2001 and 2002. Fellows competed in all three of NASCAR’s top series, Cup, Nationwide (now Xfinity), and Trucks. He was particularly successful in Nationwide where he picked off four victories to go along with eight other top-five finishes. In the truck series, he scored two wins and two thirds in just 15 races.

Boris Said amassed myriad accomplishments beginning at the onset of his career when he won SCCA Rookie-of-the-Year in 1987. He was national runoffs champion three times, in 1989, ’90, and ’91. It wasn’t long before he asserted his prominence in sports car racing with GT class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1997 and 1998, as well as the 12 Hours of Sebring also in 1998. In 2004 he was crowned the Rolex Sports Car Series GT champion and followed that up by becoming the first American to score a 24 Hours of Nurburgring victory in 2005. His prowess as a road racer attracted the attention of NASCAR teams and by 1995 he began racing in the Truck series where he scored a victory at Sonoma in 1998. He raced in all three major NASCAR series, scoring eight top-tens and two poles in Cup competition, a win in the 2010 Montreal round of the Xfinity series, along with nine top tens and three poles in Trucks, to go along with his Sonoma win. A versatile talent, Said has also competed in the Australian V8 Supercar series and even the X Games in 2007 and 2015.

Dorsey Schroeder is another accomplished road racer with NASCAR credentials in both Cup and Trucks. He was Trans Am champion in his rookie year in 1989 with six race wins. One of the drivers to beat in 1990s, he accumulated 11 more Trans Am victories for a career total of 17, ranking him among the sport’s elite in history. In 1990 he focused on the IMSA GT Championship and became GTO class champion with three wins. All that success earned him an invitation to compete in the exclusive IROC series in 1990 and 1991. Schroeder’s mastery was apparent from the beginning of his career when in 1971 at age 19 he became the first driver under 21 to be awarded an SCCA national license. After wrapping up his driving career he served for several years as a TV motorsports analyst for top-level professional American sports car racing. Until recently he was Race Director for the Pirelli World Challenge Series and currently serves as Chief Steward for the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli.

In addition to the new Pro-Am, the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.

The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur. Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Mike Skinner, Wally Dallenbach Jr., Ward Burton and his son Jeb are among the professionals on the entry list.

By: SVRA | August 30, 2018 2:57 AM The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that it is co-branding a fuel credit card with Sunoco and WEX. The agreement builds on the momentum gained from the October 2017 announcement that Sunoco is now the “Official Race Fuel of SVRA.”“SVRA has come so far in the past five years to earn the faith of great brands like Sunoco,” said Tony Parella, SVRA president and CEO. “We are excited to unlock the value of this Sunoco fuel card program with SVRA — not just for our members but also the larger SVRA community, including the prep shops supporting our racers and fans as well. Anyone within SVRA can take advantage of this card.”The new Sunoco-SVRA fuel card program offers business owners a choice of two cards: The SunTrak card which can be used at more than 5,000 Sunoco-branded fueling stations and the Sunoco Universal card which can be used both at Sunoco-branded fueling stations as well as at more than 90 percent of all retail fuel locations across the United States. The Sunoco Universal card may also be used at more than 45,000 general retail merchants.Both fuel cards provide savings of up to six cents a gallon each time users fill their fuel tanks at Sunoco-branded locations and at participating U.S. race tracks. For business applications such as fleet management and transport, the card provides one simple solution for streamlined reporting, tracking and cost management. Secure, easy-to-use online tools put accurate and timely information at the fingertips of business managers.“At Sunoco, we have a history of quality and performance and we know that’s a big reason why SVRA named us their official fuel late last year,” said Rob Marro, vice president of performance products at Sunoco. “We take great pride in this partnership – as SVRA is well-established as a premier racing association with a growing following and membership. We’re pleased to expand our partnerships with both SVRA and with WEX to offer a valuable card program to such an enthusiastic and supportive audience.”The announcement extends a string of SVRA sponsorship agreements over the past year. Other top-brand partners to extend their contracts or join the list of investors include Jaguar, Land Rover, Merrill Lynch, NetJets, and Mazda.SVRA’s success in attracting sponsorship investors is a cornerstone to the company’s momentum. Company officials report consistent annual triple-digit growth since 2012. SVRA has rapidly expanded from a regional series largely concentrated in the southeastern United States to one that spans the continent at most of America’s top race courses. These include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, COTA, Watkins Glen, Sebring, and Road America.

By: RACER Staff August 22, 2018 11:49 AM The growth of American vintage auto racing over the past five years is a welcome phenomenon for a motorsports industry in transition. Long-established gatherings like the Monterey Motorsports Reunion continue as marquee events, but Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) is leading the surge of new interest. The 40-year-old organization experienced a rebirth since entrepreneur and corporate turnaround artist Tony Parella retired from the telecommunications industry to acquire it in 2012.Parella recognized opportunities to develop new revenue streams from partnerships and ticket sales. The strategy is based on leveraging the value of high net worth car owners to premium brands, creating marquee events, developing associations with legendary drivers, and knitting together a national platform at top road racing venues.Fans longing for diversity of racecar design and engine sounds rejoice in machines spanning more than a century. Weekends transcend the traditional older age demographic of spectators to include millennials with their phones sharing images on Instagram. Ticket sales have steadily increased as fans see the sport in a new light.SVRA gained momentum with its Golden Bell Racing Champions Helmet for the national championships at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas in 2014. That event is an invitational that includes entries from outside the SVRA membership. It attracts professionals like James Hinchcliffe, Ana Beatriz, and Geoff Brabham to have a go at the home of the United States Grand Prix.Another breakthrough event that draws tons of attention is the Brickyard Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Launched in 2014, it attracted over 700 racecars and featured veterans of the Indianapolis 500. Among them was Al Unser, Jr., who co-drove Velocity TV personality Peter Klutt’s 1969 Corvette to victory in the first Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am.Dozens of Indy 500 veterans have competed in the Pro-am. Past winners include Paul Tracy, Max Papis, Robby Unser and Sarah Fisher, and young gun Matt Brabham stormed to victory at this year’s race.Premier venues like Road America, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, Portland and Watkins Glen naturally appeal to racers like Lyn St. James, Boris Said, Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Dennis Firestone. Many are huge events that earn the support of the surrounding community. A prime example is the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. Organizers in Village of Watkins Glen work with SVRA to integrate the vintage races at the track with their Watkins Glen Grand Prix Festival, an annual celebration of the first sports car races on public roads in 1948.Despite sponsor investment and fan growth, SVRA is diligent about protecting the culture of vintage racing. Its Gold Medallion Program rewards owners who prepare collector cars with adherence to the highest standards of authenticity. The racing is intense, but as Parella stresses in drivers’ meetings, it stops short of fender rubbing. Violators are sent home. The culture is about fellowship and a relaxed atmosphere.Jay Creech embraces that atmosphere. He owns Creech Motorsports, a prep shop garage for vintage racers in Avon, Indiana. He is a former senior mechanic with the Forsythe and Hemelgarn Indy car teams.“First and last place pays the same here,” he says. “We help each other out, even direct competitors. I like answering questions fans have, and at the end of the day, I enjoy sitting around with other racers and maybe having a beer or two. It’s the way racing used to be.”THE GOLD STANDARDSVRA’s Gold Medallion certification recognizes owners who have painstakingly preserved significant racecars to original condition. Appreciation for history and authenticity is the culture of vintage racing.Many owners describe themselves as caretakers. For most, the seriousness of the matter is understandable. Many machines have a market value of tens of millions of dollars. Owners don’t talk specifics unless you’re serious about negotiating in a private room.Champions like Denny Hulme, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, and Tazio Nuvolari drove some of the cars. Still, the Gold Medallion program is more about authentic preparation. Car owners are issued a logbook. Here they record the history of ownership and details of construction.SVRA Gold Medallion classes are wholly different from standard vintage racers. Gold Medallion cars are truly historic machines with records of accomplishment and faithful restoration. Find regulations and application forms online at svra.com/gold-medallion. —Mark Dill

By: SVRA | September 4, 2018 6:40 AM Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Ron Hornaday Jr. will join an impressive field of champion drivers in the “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine.” The race will take place at Virginia International Raceway September 22. NASCAR Cup Series champions Bill Elliott and Bobby Labonte previously announced their entries along with Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and another Truck series champion, Mike Skinner.“The field we are assembling is flat out awesome,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Ron Hornaday is a four-time champion in the NASCAR Truck Series and an all-time leader in career wins. With talent like Ron, this is shaping up to be an amazing weekend.”Hornaday is not only one of the latest members in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but was also voted the most popular driver in the Truck series twice (1997, 2005) and the Busch (now Xfinity) series in 2000. His career 51 race wins ties him with Kyle Busch as the all-time leader in NASCAR Truck series history. He won the championship four times in 1996, 1998, 2007, and 2009 (pictured above), amassing 234 top-10 finishes and 27 poles. Hornaday has competed in all three of NASCAR’s top series, running a full season in Cup for the legendary A.J. Foyt in 2001. He scored four Xfinity Series victories driving for two other racing legends, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Childress. Hornaday’s greatest success in Trucks came when he raced for Earnhardt five years and later for Kevin Harvick across seven seasons.In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur.

By: SVRA September 13, 2018 7:43 AM Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that two-time NASCAR Truck Series champion and Fox Sports analyst Todd Bodine will be in the starting lineup for the “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine.” The race will take place at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) on September 22.Bodine’s entry enhances an already outstanding field of racing champions from NASCAR and beyond. The two-time NASCAR Truck series champion (2006, 2010) joins fellow Truck champs Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Skinner and Greg Biffle in a line-up of speed kings. Biffle also won the 2002 Xfinity series championship. NASCAR Cup champions Bill Elliott and Bobby Labonte, Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and his son, Jeb, entered the pro-am previously.

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The entry list boasts other top professionals with a host of championships across a variety of series including Boris Said, Dorsey Schroeder, Ron Fellows and Wally Dallenbach Jr. An SVRA promoter’s option adds outstanding open-wheel talent to the otherwise NASCAR field with two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser, Jr., Willy T. Ribbs, and Max Papis. All have NASCAR credentials and are master road racers.“I couldn’t be more pleased with the level of response to this charity event in its first year,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Just in terms of NASCAR race wins alone, the drivers entered so far account for 375 victories. That’s excellence. That’s motorsports history. There will be more.”

Todd Bodine contributed 37 of those wins, with 22 in Trucks and 15 more in the Xfinity series. In a NASCAR career that extends back to a single Busch Series (now Xfinity) race in 1986, Bodine has amassed, in addition to race wins, 21 top tens and five poles in Cup competition, 160 top tens and seven poles in Xfinity, and 124 top tens and seven poles in Truck racing. His most recent NASCAR race came in 2017 in Xfinity competition at Charlotte. Bodine comes from a famous and successful racing family with older brothers Geoff and Brett.In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.

The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur.

By: SVRA 14 hours ago Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that Johnny Benson Jr., who won championships in the Busch (now Xfinity) Series and Camping World Trucks, has entered the September 22 “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine” at Virginia International Raceway. Six other drivers who will join him boast NASCAR champion credentials, including Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Greg Biffle, Ron Hornaday, Mike Skinner and Todd Bodine. Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton and his son, Jeb, are also entered.“This starting line-up will be packed with talent,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “Our focus is NASCAR, but we have champions from an array of disciplines. What’s more, the level of accessibility fans will have to these racing heroes will be unprecedented with autograph sessions, a pit walk, and lots of time for pictures.”Superstars entered include two-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser Jr., and the famous NASCAR “road course ringers,” Ron Fellows, Boris Said and Dorsey Schroeder. Other masters of road racing in the lineup are Wally Dallenbach, Jr., Willy T. Ribbs, and Max Papis. All have NASCAR on their resume and have had tremendous success in Trans Am and/or IMSA sports car competition. SVRA officials have deliberately set about giving their pro-am events an IROC quality and many of these drivers once competed in that elite invitational championship.Benson is one of only 37 drivers to have won a race in all three of NASCAR’s major series – Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks. He is also one of only three drivers to have won championships in Xfinity and Trucks, the others being Biffle and Austin Dillon. Early in his career, Benson also scored an American Speed Association championship in 1993. He was ASA rookie of the year in 1990, and also won the same honor after stepping up to the Cup series in 1996. Benson has a career total of 18 NASCAR race victories with one in Cup, three in Xfinity, and 14 in Trucks. His Xfinity and Truck championships came in 1995 and 2008 (pictured) respectively. He represented the Xfinity series in the IROC invitational in 1996, finishing an impressive third in the season standings.In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur.

By: SVRA | September 20, 2018 10:06 AM Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that former NASCAR stars Jack Sprague and Steve Park have completed the field for the September 22 “American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine” at Virginia International Raceway.Sprague, who won three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships, joins seven other NASCAR champions on an entry list of 18 that includes champions from an array of series, including two-time Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champion Al Unser, Jr.Entry list — American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine“I am blown away by the support we have received from the racing community,” said SVRA CEO Tony Parella. “This is a first step toward building a series we are calling VROC, for Vintage Race Of Champions. This is inspired by the old IROC series from years ago.”Among the top NASCAR drivers in the impressive field are Bill Elliott, Bobby Labonte, Ward and Jeb Burton, Greg Biffle, Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, and Mike Skinner. NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Ray Evernham will serve as the SVRA grand marshal for the weekend. Cumulative career highlights for the pros is the stuff of legend. Combined, they have 10 championships and 321 race wins across NASCAR’s top three series. That includes 92 Cup wins, 63 in Xfinity, and 166 in the Trucks. In Trucks alone, we have champions who account for 12 championships. There are two Cup champions in the field, as well as two Daytona 500 winners and two Xfinity Series champions.Highlights from other series include two Indianapolis 500 wins, 37 IndyCar victories, and two IndyCar championships. Trans Am is also well represented with three championships and 66 race victories. The field achieved numerous sports car accomplishments including a Can-Am championship as well as four overall Daytona 24 wins and a GT class victory at Le Mans. The drivers represent a diverse array of racing disciplines from Formula One to modified stock cars on dirt. Everyone in the field has competed in NASCAR at the Cup level, amassing 3,965 starts in that level of auto racing.Sprague competed in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions but is best known for his tremendous success in the Camping World Truck Series. There he won three championships for Hendrick Motorsports in 1997, 1999, and 2001. In the process, he scored 28 race wins, 192 top tens, and 32 poles. He added to his victory total by taking a Busch (now Xfinity) Series win at Nashville in 2002. Sprague also scored 24 top tens and a pole in that series. The Daytona 500 veteran quickly established himself early in his career with track championships at Thunderbird Raceway and Winston Raceway. Sprague was a prolific Late Model winner, with 30 race victories to go with championships in the Winston Racing Series in Charlotte and the Big Ten Championship at Concord Motorsports Park.Park has not only competed in all three of NASCAR’s top series but scored race wins in all of them as well. At the Cup level, he has two victories, 35 top tens, and four poles — all for Dale Earnhardt, Sr.’s team, DEI. Park’s wins came at Watkins Glen and Rockingham. He also won three Busch Series races for DEI in 1997 when he finished third in that championship and was awarded their Rookie of the Year honors. Park also has 29 top tens and one pole in the Busch Series to his credit. His Truck Series victory came at Auto Club Speedway in 2005. Park was also a force in the K&N Pro Series East and the Whelen Modified Tour. In K&N Pro he brought home three first-place trophies. Park also won 16 Whelen Modified races.In addition to the new Pro-Am, the professional Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli Series will join SVRA at VIR. Trans Am and SVRA continue to leverage growth for both series by sharing the track at eight event weekends in 2018. This approach delivers a motorsports festival atmosphere. Fans can expect more of the Hagerty Insurance “show and shine” car corrals and a marketplace of accessory, memorabilia, art, and apparel vendors. The event includes an entire weekend of racing with hundreds of vintage cars competing in a variety of classifications.The VIR event will benefit IGNITE – the Autism Society of North Carolina’s community center for young adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome. IGNITE was founded by The Evernham Family Racing for a Reason Foundation – a nonprofit established by legendary Ray Evernham and his family. Evernham will compete in the race as an amateur.

By: Mark Dill | 8 hours ago Sports car champion and renowned NASCAR road course “ringer” Boris Said had his day against some of that sport’s greatest stars Saturday when he came home the overall winner in the American Racing Legends Charity Pro-Am Presented By RACER Magazine at Virginia International Raceway. The 50-minute race featured eight NASCAR champions, including two from Cup competition. Bill Elliott ended up second overall, while Bobby Labonte ran near the front until transmission failure in the Dave Handy 1965 Cobra ended his day after 11 laps. Former Xfinity and Truck Series champion Greg Biffle was fourth overall to take the B Production class win in Scott Hackenson’s 1967 Mustang.ResultsSaid’s co-driver was NASCAR Hall of Fame crew chief Ray Evernham. The Evernham Family Foundation’s non-profit charity, IGNITE, which helps highly functioning young adults on the autism spectrum, was the race’s beneficiary. Evernham had been on the podium at other SVRA pro-ams at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but this was the first time he had mounted the top step. He also served as event grand marshal and asked his son, Raymond John, to give the call for drivers to start their engines. “This is a charity event for a great cause, and we’re all here to have fun and do the right thing,” Said declared. “It’s special to come back here and just see some of the great people I came to know over 33 years of racing. It means a lot to me. The last time I saw Biffle I was ready to punch him, but all is good now.”While Biffle had the small-bore BP class under control, Said and Evernham were in an all-out brawl with Elliott and his fast co-driver Dennis Olthoff as well as the Legendary Motor Car entry of Peter Klutt and Al Unser Jr. The amateurs started the race with the admonition that they had to surrender their cars to the pros by Lap 8 or suffer disqualification. They mastered a flawless start through the typically crowded Turn 1 — much to the relief of SVRA president Tony Parella, who wanted every pro to have time at the wheel.Unfortunately, not all of them did. One top threat was eliminated during the first go-around on the 13.27-mile, 18-turn course when Curt Vogt’s 1966 Shelby Mustang slowed to a stop. That scuttled the hopes of co-driver Max Papis, who has enjoyed a great deal of success in the Indy Legends Pro-Ams. At the front, Olthoff was power-sliding his red 1970 Mustang and smoking the tires through turns with Klutt hot on his tail. Pole winner Evernham shadowed them, keeping his gleaming blue 1965 Corvette within reach of the leaders.As the race progressed, the mandatory five-minute pit stop shuffled the standings, putting amateur John Atwell and his 1971 Camaro at the top of the running order. Atwell had not pitted to turn the wheel over to NASCAR Truck Series champion Jack Sprague and as he looked to do so, SVRA officials threw a full course yellow and closed the pits. The caution was necessary to retrieve the 1969 Corvette of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Ron Hornaday after he lost power and involuntarily parked at a point track officials deemed a hazard. Sticking to the rule book, SVRA disqualified Atwell and Sprague for not surrendering the car on time. Sprague did eventually get in the BP machine to continue on, but his laps were not counted.The running order sorted itself out and the fast cars of the early laps returned to the front, but this time in the hands of racing legends. Unser Jr.’s stint proved brief when a power steering line worked its way loose to spray fluid out the back of Klutt’s 1969 Corvette. Unser made two pit stops to effect repairs, but he retired after completing 11 laps.Said muscled his pole-winning 1965 Corvette to the lead with Elliott doggedly hanging on. Todd Bodine climbed into the third spot overall just ahead of the first BP car of Biffle. Jeb Burton, who set fast time in the Friday pro practice session had moved steadily through the field after co-driver Debbie Cloud handed over the car. Ron Fellows, another of the NASCAR road course ringers, moved into third in the BP class and ended up holding that spot to the finish to earn car owner Dave Roberts’ first SVRA pro-am podium after five years of trying with his 1969 Camaro.Said was in full command during the last few minutes of the race, pulling away to complete 19 laps. Along with runner-up Elliott and third-place Bodine, all three of the top big-bore A Production podium finishers completed 19 laps. Biffle and Hackenson finished the 50 minutes with 18 laps to win the BP class. Second-place co-drivers Burton and Cloud, with Fellows and Roberts following, also squeezed 18 circuits of the course in the allotted 50-minutes.For Biffle’s co-driver Scott Hackenson, it was an emotional victory. It was his first race back in a year after taking a hiatus to be with family and tend to personal matters after the loss of his father in 2017. Obviously choking back tears, he declared from the podium that he was dedicating the win to his dad. Hackenson has been on an SVRA pro-am podium before with open-wheel standout Mark Dismore at Indy. “When Scott told me he had his ’67 Mustang for me, I had to wonder what I was getting myself into,” Biffle said. “I own a ’65 Mustang and I couldn’t imagine taking that thing up to 160 mph like these guys do. But these cars are really well prepared. They put down plenty of power and provide a great driving challenge controlling it.”Jeb Burton thought he had a chance to crash the Biffle-Hackenson party. He spent much of his stint carving his way through the field to get within sight of the leading canary-yellow Mustang. “I could see I was closing on Greg,” reported Burton. “But I just ran out of time.”

If there can be any doubts that SVRA pro-am races aren’t serious competition, Biffle, in response to Burton, quickly asserted he had things under control.“It’s called managing your race,” Biffle said. “I knew where I was on the track and how much I had to use up my tires. I was just wishing I had something for Boris and the other big-bore guys. It would have been serious fun to run with them.”One point both Biffle and Burton agreed on is that SVRA racing is a lot of fun and that the cars are well-prepared, stout racing machines. Like all their competitors they were enthusiastic to be invited back next year for a second pro-am at VIR that both Parella and track president Connie Nyholm agree is already planned.

By: SVRA | October 9, 2018 6:38 AM The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today that Formula Experiences is now the “Official Driving School of SVRA.”

Formula Experiences is based at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and provides experiential instruction and driving experiences for novices to advanced race drivers seeking licenses as well as corporations that want to offer unforgettable and thrilling experiences for their clients and employees.

“Formula Experiences is a world-class operation and our partnership provides aspiring vintage racers with a direct path to pursue their wheel-to-wheel competition goals,” said Tony Parella, SVRA president and CEO. “You don’t even have to own a car. Packages come with state-of-the-art racing machines. This agreement enables us to deliver a turnkey solution for drivers seeking a competition or an advanced super license to drive ultra-fast Group 9 and Group 11 formula and prototype racers.”

Formula Experiences provides on-track and classroom instruction with professional race drivers, top-of-the-line simulators, and lots of time at the wheel. Students have access to professional racing engineers who collect data and debrief with each driver. NASCAR and Indy 500 drivers such as Ward and Jeb Burton, Al Unser, Jr., and Willy T. Ribbs made extensive use of the simulators in preparation for the September 22 charity pro-am at VIR. For Unser and Ribbs, it was their first trip to VIR. Both pronounced the track to be an outstanding racer’s course.

“Everyone at Formula Experiences is excited to enter this relationship,” said Peter Heffring, Formula Experiences CEO. “SVRA truly is the premier vintage racing series in America and we are delighted to partner with them as we both grow and expand. Our licensing school is designed for everyone with options to bring your own car, rent a track-prepped sports car, or rent a modern downforce racecar.”

Formula Experiences is the only formula and prototype driving and riding opportunity in America and uses modern downforce racecars to create the closest Formula One or IndyCar experience anywhere. Located at VIRginia International Raceway, near the Virginia/North Carolina border, it offers the world’s only ultimate driving experiences set at a resort, including options to add trackside accommodations, gourmet dining and additional activities ranging from shooting sports, karting, autocross, and a day spa. Formula Experiences is the ultimate all-inclusive extreme speed racecar driving experience at VIR to enjoy on your own, with friends, or corporate retreats and entertaining. Learn more at formulaexperiences.com or YouTube.

With this announcement, SVRA extends a string of agreements over the past year. Other top-brand companies to renew their contracts or join the list of sponsors include Jaguar, Land Rover, Merrill Lynch, NetJets, Sunoco, and Mazda. Company officials report consistent annual triple-digit growth since 2012. SVRA has rapidly expanded from a regional series largely concentrated in the southeastern United States to one that spans the continent at most of America’s top race courses. These include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, COTA, Watkins Glen, Sebring, VIR, and Road America.