Q: While SVRA has emerged as the largest organization in vintage racing, there are other noteworthy events like the Hawk, Lime Rock, and the Monterey Motorsports Reunion as well regional club racing. What do you think of the state of vintage racing in its larger context?
Heacock: SVRA is clearly the most prominent vintage racing organization, but I think there is room for variety. All of us in vintage and historic racing have a great deal in common. We all love beautiful vintage cars, and enjoy seeing them in action. Some of the smaller events at less well-known club racing tracks can make for a relaxed weekend. Overall, I'm pleased to see the growing level of interest in vintage racing because, obviously, it is close to my heart.
Q: Tony, is it fair to say that when you acquired SVRA in 2012 you set out to transform it from a club racing organization to an expanding business?
Tony Parella: Absolutely. I have always been an entrepreneur in business. I built and acquired companies generating hundreds of millions of dollars during my decades in the telecommunications industry. But I was always a racer at heart. I raced dirt ovals in New York State as a very young man but set all that aside to get a "real" job and raise a family. Later in life and once I felt I had the resources, I wanted to come back to racing. As I became familiar with vintage racing, I saw business opportunity. It was really kind of a sleeping giant.
Q: At the core of the culture of vintage racing is an ethic of fellowship and sportsmanship. Do you worry that the character of the sport is changing with the influx of sponsors, legendary drivers, and the attraction of race fans more accustomed to the wheel banging world of professionals?
Parella: That's a great question. I think it is like any business challenge; there are always strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. When you ask about sponsors, understand that I developed SVRA as a business to make it sustainable. In order to preserve our sport, we need to make it economically viable. When I have to step away, I want to be able to hand SVRA off with a structure that is sustainable. It requires vigilance.
I'll give you a good example. One of our most important accomplishments for advancing the SVRA brand was to organize the Indy Legends Charity Pro-Am at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We've brought back dozens of Indy 500 veterans to the Speedway and it creates a great buzz. There's a flip side to that when we have people violate the core tenants of our sport by pushing too hard and taking the kind of risks they did as professionals going for that opening that could put them on the podium. In our first two Pro-Am races, we had two of the most accomplished drivers in the field step over the line and tear up two great cars. A lot of vintage racers have a good chunk of their net worth tied up in their equipment. I had to dis-invite both those drivers, and one was a former Indy 500 winner.
I have been very tough and direct in our driver meetings. We don't tolerate drivers who don't respect these values of vintage racing.
Q: Do you think new fans that come out to watch SVRA are disappointed to learn that vintage racers are not taking the same risks they have been accustomed to seeing in the professional series?
Parella: If anyone is concerned about that, it's our job to educate them. Yes, vintage racing is about competition, but we call it "nine-tenths" racing. Make no mistake vintage racing can be intense, but finishing at the front cannot come at the price of damaging cars or hurting someone. We have zero tolerance for that. I use an analogy to flag football. You still have to pass accurately and run fast so it still takes skill and talent. You just don't hit people or even rough them up.
Consider Indianapolis, a true racing city, where it seems everyone "gets" auto racing. Most everyone I talk to there understands where we're coming from. Those fans are there for the atmosphere. I think those coming for the first time walk away a little stunned by how accessible everything is. They can roam the famous Garage Area without credentials, do our pre-race pit walk, and bring their kids or grandkids. They can walk right up and shake hands with Indy 500 winners and drivers with championships from major series. Racing heroes are just wandering around Gasoline Alley and the Formula One garages. Cars that fans remember seeing in years past, sometimes decades ago - but only through the chain link fences - are suddenly right there in front of them. They can touch them and talk to the owners.
Q: Do you think spectator interest in SVRA is the result of promotion or is there something else going on?
Parella: My team does do a lot of great work, but we also came along at the right time. A lot of older fans miss the days of diversity of design and even engine sounds. So much of professional racing today is pretty spec, with little differences between the cars except livery. We typically have hundreds of cars at our races, so I think we are filling a void. The cars span literally 100 years of history. Also, they represent a lot of classes across sports cars, open wheel, and NASCAR.
It's not just the older fan that is interested. A lot of younger ones have told me they go on YouTube and see the old races or even just find pictures from long ago and are kind of envious they missed all that. Now, with phone cameras and social media, they can not only capture an image, but also immediately share their experience with friends. It's kind of ironic, but the vintage cars are great subjects for 21st Century platforms like Instagram. We've done a lot of work to make our events accessible and most of them have a festival theme. We have music concerts and arrive-and-drive opportunities with sponsors like Jaguar and Land Rover. That kind of philosophy was proven in by the gold standard of racing festivals, the Festival of Speed at Goodwood in England.
Q: Has rising spectator interest been a factor in attracting sponsors?
Parella: Well, our gate receipts don't rival the Indy 500 or the Daytona 500 and they never will. The reality is that our sponsors recognize that SVRA members, the car owners, represent an extremely upscale demographic. When you look at the collective net worth, it's no exaggeration to say we are a billion dollar paddock. That's the profile of many of our sponsors' customers, whether you're a Merrill Lynch, a Capital One, or Jaguar. Luxury brands are a natural fit. Obviously the automotive or racing brands like Bell Helmets and Hoosier Tire see our membership now over 2,500 and they want a piece of the action too. Understand that we live in a "lean forward" world today.
More and more people seek experiences and opportunities to participate instead of just watching. A generation or two ago, the kind of person who owns and or races a valuable historic car might have been an Indy 500 team owner. Today, a lot of men and women with those resources would rather find a way to get behind the wheel of an iconic car and do it for themselves. These are people who demand quality products and have the financial power to acquire them. Sponsors see that.
Q: Looking beyond SVRA, what about the vintage racing landscape in general?
Parella: The various organizations have differences because we play different roles. Vintage racing has long been about club racing and while SVRA members are the cornerstones of our business and we will never forget that, we have brought business practices to our branch of the sport. We have made vintage racing accessible to the average race fan that is looking for a fun, affordable, and relatively low-key family weekend outing. I was raised in a blue-collar family and I take a lot of pride in offering a product that appeals to that profile.
We want to continue to live by the values of vintage racing. The spirit of camaraderie and a generally relaxed atmosphere is essential to our success. It is also appealing to fans becoming acquainted with our sport. They can take in so many sights and sounds and get the chance to have a real conversation with champion drivers they may never have imagined they would actually meet. I think the vintage racing world is broad and varied, so I support what other clubs are doing. We recently announced an inter-club B Sedan championship we are doing with regional groups across the country. I'm a vintage racer too, and I completely understand the joy and relaxation of tooling around in one of the race cars I admired as a boy and then kicking back with some buddies outside our transporters and crack a beer that evening. I love the culture of vintage racing.