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  May 25, 2010 7:28 a.m. TJ Dork

  This past Sunday I attended theLegends of Motorsports event at Barber Motorsports Park (link).

  I was unable to make it to the Mitty and wanted to get a vintage racing fix. Barber is a beautiful track. There were some really nice cars - lots of Lotus' (Loti? Lotuses?), lots of open wheel cars.

  There were not all that many other cars. For instance there was a Cam-Am group - I think there were three Can-Am cars there and one didn't run. They were combined with another group so that they had to battle it out with Lotus 23s. The Trans-Am group consisted of two Camaros (One was a Mark Donohue Penske camaro) and then two Trans Am 2.5 cars, and then the rest of that run group was made up of a Lotus Elan, Lotus 11, an Allard, a Jag XKE. There wasn't a single sprite, midhet, bugeye, MGB, triumph, corvette, mustang, BMW (there was a single 510 there, but it was in the same group as the driver's other car so it didn't run). I like seeing (and hearing) old formula 1 and Indy cars, but I get more inspired by the production based cars - mostly because I can imagine owning one someday. Was this event heavy on the formula cars because of Bobby Rahal's desires/influence or because the economy has hurt the smaller guys with the cheaper cars more than it has the guys who have the resources to own ex-formula 1 cars?

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  May 25, 2010 11:42 a.m. OFracing Reader

  I suspect a big reason for this event only having high end cars is the cost. Rahal's group isn't cheap, the entry fee for the 3 day Watkins Glen event next month is $800. The cost or the 4 day Fall Vintage Festival at Limerock is "only" $400, which isn't too bad compared to an SCCA National event at Limerock, $450 for a 2 day race.

  There really aren't many events where you can run your old F1 car so you pay the price. If I wanted to, I could do a race, HPDE or track day with my Spitfire somewhere within an 8 hour drive just about any weekend.

  I like Bobby Rahal, met him a few times and he's really a nice guy, a true car lover. I hope he doesn't price himself out of the market with his new series. A race event needs lots of race cars to be a success. He's not the only game in town and there are only so many vintage cars to go around.

  mike

  63 Spitfire

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  May 25, 2010 2:08 p.m. TJ Dork

  That makes sense. I didn't look at entry fees. I enjoyed it. It was well run. I would attend again. I would rather see a larger and more varied field. Hopefully my schedule works out better for next year's Mitty - couldn't go this year.

  "Members of Congress should be compelled to wear uniforms just like NASCAR drivers so we could identify their corporate sponsors."

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  May 26, 2010 12:33 a.m. dougie Reader

  I agree Mike, I was happy to see Bobby enter this arena of vintage racing. He has to take a real look at the competing events though and position his accordingly. I received my entry forms to the 2010 Monterey Historics and Cris Vandergriff's HMSA is asking about $500.00 for entry to America's premier vintage event. They turn away 3-4 times the cars that they accept to this event as well.

  Dougie

  

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  May 26, 2010 11:16 a.m. gjz30075 Reader

  I really wanted to make this event but couldn't. Tj, any pics?

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