24 December 2016 • Victory Lane

VSCCA Fall Finale and Pre-War FestivalLime Rock Park, ConnecticutSeptember 29-30, 2016

Victory Lane • December 2016 25www.victorylane.com

#704 Frank Mount, 1939 MG TB Special; #23 Mark O’Day, 1947 MGTC; #179 Erik Thomas, 1940 Mercedes 170VR.

photo by Dow Smith

26 December 2016 • Victory Lane

– story by Dow Smith

As the oldest vintage and historic racing group in the country, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America is dedicated to preserving the spirit and romance of the early years of sports car racing. For almost 60 years, the VSCCA has seen as its mission the preservation and enjoyment, both on and off the track, of rare or unusual sports and racing cars including pre-war and certain important post-war cars now through 1965.

In keeping with that mission, the VSCCA closed out 2016 with a special Fall Finale celebrating the values of the club. Activities Chair Joseph DeLucia and the board of directors designated the event, A Pre-War Festival. Recognizing the increasing value of the pre-war racecars, there is a strong desire on the part of the VSCCA to encourage use of these cars on the racetrack where they began life.

Event chairs Roger Morse and Lynn Arnold and a number of volunteers, worked tirelessly to create a special pre-war happening. The weekend featured a large tent tucked into the famous Big Bend turn. The tent served as a meeting place all weekend with coffee and pastries, where members could gather and

swap stories. The tent served as the location of the a kickoff party on Thursday night with all VSCCA members invited, and the Sherman Cup dinner on Friday evening. Jerry Sherman was a long time member of the VSCCA who was active in restoring and preserving Pre-War cars. Also, an exclusive exhibition space was set -aside in the paddock for Pre-War cars. Some rare gems were on display in the tent including Howard Koplick’s 1909 ALCO “Black Beast”. The car competed in the first Indianapolis 500 and won the Vanderbilt Cup races in 1909 and 1910. Koplick delighted in giving rides around the paddock in the fire-belching beast. Also on display was Julio Grosso’s stunning 1938 Bugatti Atalante coupe with a gleaming but subtle black and blue exterior paint scheme.

After a day of racing on Friday, the VSCCA held a dinner in the tent with music by Phil Roettjer’s bluegrass band but the main

event of the evening was awarding the Jerry Sherman Cup to Sandy Leith and his special 1931 Bugatti T-37. Known as “the Scrambling Egg” in pre-war racing, this car is fitted with a Model B Ford engine and has been since 1935.

It is also totally unrestored, with the original worn paint and cracked leather seats. This car totally meets the Sherman Cup criteria for a combination of period correctness and originality and tidy preparation. The course marshals were asked to rate the awardee on sportsmanlike track conduct decided half of the award. This is the only vintage event where both concours and driving ability of a Pre-War car come into consideration in giving an award.

Second place went to Ben Bragg with his Old Grey Mare Ford powered pre-war racer for its originality and Bragg’s spirited but safe driving. Frank Mount and his 1939 MG TB Special, “Babe,” which is beautifully restored and well driven, were third.

Leith’s dedication to Bugattis and the Bugatti Club led him to this car which had been kept in hiding for 40 years. When the owner decided to sell after all those years,

photo by Dow Smith

#143 Scott Hill, 1960 Alfa Romeo Guiletta Spyder; #555 Santo Spadaro, 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce.

photo by Dow Smith

#256 Roger Cassin, 1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider; #107 Deb Abraham, 1958 Alfa Romeo Guiletta Spyder; #512 Paul Glynn, 1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spyder Veloce.

photo by John Avery

#771 Ivan Frantz, 1958 Lotus 7; #473 Ted Potter, 1959 Alfa Romeo Guiletta.

Victory Lane • December 2016 27www.victorylane.com

Leith was the person members of the Bugatti registry contacted because they knew this car was his holy grail. Given the car’s history, Leith’s commitment to preserving it as a racecar made him the obvious choice for the Sherman Cup.

In the racing, special groups were set up for pre-war cars. The Preservation Class returned as a group after several years. In this class passing can only be done on the main straight to minimize risk to such valuable machines. Time was also set aside on the schedule for an Exhibition group for those wanting to exercise their cars for parade laps behind a pace car. Sandy Leith piloted Julio Grosso’s stunning Bugatti Atalante coupe followed by two HRGs including Gary Ford’s rare and beautiful1949 HRG Aerodynamic and Jim Donick’s more traditional HRG.

Since the VSCCA is more concerned with celebrating these special cars there was no timing for this event. The schedule was split with the Lime Rock Drivers club so there were five one hour sessions each day for the VSCCA with three 20-minute races for three race groups, plus Exhibition and Preservation classes.

When it came to wheel-to-wheel racing there were three groups including a pre-War field which included post war cars designed using pre-war technology, aka MG TCs. On the grid were some new and interesting cars including Joseph DeLucia’s newly acquired and stunning 1935 Riley Imp roadster, Jim Donick’s rare 1950 HRG, John Mayo’s 1937 Aston powered Attenborough Special and Erik Thomas in his beautiful blue 1940 Mercedes 170VR. The field included a range of pre- and post-War MGTs or MG based specials like Don Leonard’s 1949 MG TC Special and Frank Mount’s 1939 MG TB Special. As is usual, Peter Greenfield piloted his very fast 1932 Alfa Monza carefully through the field to lead most laps.

One of the most popular and competitive fields was in GROUP ONE. The Alfa Giuletta Spiders, Sprint Veloces and, a

lone Sprint Zagato, always feature tight, fast and competitive racing with 13 Alfas entered. This weekend was no exception. However, they were challenged by a variety of Loti, Lolas, Elvas, and Porsches as well as John Dingman’s red OSCA FJ and Robert Goeldner’s Lotus 18 FJ. A rare 1965 Porsche 904 was also out on the track driven by John Romano in his first outing with the car, which won the Targa Florio back in the day.

Morgans, Turners and MGAs populated GROUP TWO but there were also some different cars on track, some new and some seldom seen. Sandra McNeil turned some quick and competitive laps in her 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, John Maiuccoro continued his devotion to big American V8s

driving a 1959 Corvette and Jim Donick also celebrated American muscle with his 1952 Allard J2. The racing also featured some great dicing between Mike Virr ’s 1959 Morgan 4/4 and Carl Whitney driving the silver 1955 Lotus Mark 9.

In the Preservation Class, perhaps the most interesting car was Tom Miller’s 1958 Mong (Bobsy) Porsche special. A frequent competitor at Mount Equinox, this

weekend gave Miller a chance to try out track racing.

At the end of the day on Saturday, everyone gathered in the tent for pizza and the course

marshals’ annual pumpkin carving contest. Judged by VSCCA Chief Steward Bob Melhado and Event Chair Roger Morse, there were a number of strangely creative pumpkins including a two faced scowling pumpkin (Most Angry) and a concrete pumpkin with a railroad spike stem (Most Substantial). Chris Towner won Most Mobile because his pumpkin had wheels, a roll bar and exhaust pipe. Most Quiet went to Jean Pertyshyn’s pumpkin with a SuperTrapp exhaust. Finishing the pumpkin contest was Desiree Faulkner’s pumpkin with a checkered flag so it was The End.

The success and enthusiastic comments about this Pre-War Celebration means there may well be a VSCCA Fall Finale dedicated to these special and historic cars next year. Next on the VSCCA’s calendar is the Nut Meg rally through the fall foliage of New England and upstate New York.

photo by Dow Smith

#447 Mike Virr, 1959 Morgan 4/4.

photo by Dow Smith

#297 Tom Ferretti, 1962 Turner 950S Mk II; #298 Jim Warren, 1957 MGA.

photo by John Avery

#13 Jim Donick, 1952 Allard J2; #645 Jeffrey Sienkiewicz, 1959 MGA.

28 December 2016 • Victory Lane

EXHIBITIONDRIVER/CARK. Duly/1929 BentleyJ. Grosso/1938 Bugatti AtalanteH. Kroplick/1909 Alco BeastM. McCullough/1934 Alvis Speed 20E. Thomas/1928 Bentley 3 literJ. Vogel/1927 Bugatti GP T35D. Milligan/1951 Riley RMC

RoadsterGROUP 1DRIVER/CARD. Abraham/1958 Alfa Romeo Guiletta

SpyderJ. Bok/1961 Lotus 7R. Cassin/1956 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Spider

photo by John Avery#60 Mitchell Eitel, 1965 Elva Mk 7S.M. Cendron/1959 Alfa Romeo GiuliettaC. Chenoweth/1959 Lola Lola Mk 1T. Daniel/1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

750D. Dingman/1959 OSCA FJM. Eitel/1965 Elva Mk 7SJ. Feng/1957 Alfa Romeo GiluliettaI. Frantz/1958 Lotus 7B. Gelles/1959 Stanguellini FJP. Glynn/1957 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Spyder VeloceR. Goeldner/1959 Lotus 18 FJJ. Greller/1958 Elva Mk 5

W. Herman/1959 Lola Mk 1S. Lehrman/1954 or 59 Alfa Romeo

Guiletta SpyderM. McCullough/1956 Lotus 11L. McKenna/1959 Stanguellini FJS. McNeil/1960 Alfa Romeo Sprint

Zagato

photo by John Avery#78 John Greller, 1958 Elva Mk 5.J. Messenger/1957 Alfa Romeo GiuliettaT. Millar/1958 Bobsy-Porsche Bobsy

SpyderT. Potter/1959 Alfa Romeo GuilettaB. Price/1959 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Spider VeloceJ. Romano/1965 Porsche 904E. Sanson/1960 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Spider VeloceS. Spadaro/1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta

Sprint veloceJ. Stein/1959 Porsche 356 A CoupeE. Steubesand/1962 Lotus Super 7C. Whitney/1955 Lotus MK 9GROUP 2DRIVER/CARC. Brown/1957 Morgan +4M. Clifford/1959 MGAD. Dazet/1961 Healy SpriteJ. Donick/1952 Allard J2T. Ferretti/1962 Turner 950S Mk IIF. Filangeri/1951 MGTDS. Forer/1958 Turner 950S

J. Fuller/1958 Morgan Plus 4A. Greenberg/1963 Aston Martin DB4

GTS. Hill/1960 Alfa Romeo Guiletta

SpyderJ. Juhas/1959 MGA CoupeE. Logan/1964 Formcar Vee series 1J. Maiuccono/1959 CorvetteR. McCurdy/1958 Triumph TR3S. McNeil/1962 Ferrari 250 GTOT. Monti/1963 Formcar FVD. Moskin/1966 Volvo 122S AmazonB. O’Connor/1959 MG A roadster Old

EnglishP. Rehl/1957 Cooper Norton Mk 11D. Rose/1959 Aston DB4 or Lotus 11J. Shelly/1957 MGAM. Sherman/1953 MG TDJ. Sienkiewicz/1959 MGAE. Thomas/1963 Formcar Porsche FJM. Virr/1959 Morgan 4/4A. Ward/1963 Formcar Vee Mk 1J. Warren/1957 MGA

photo by John Avery#790 John Feng, 1957 Alfa Romeo Gilulietta.PRESERVATIONDRIVER/CARR. Campbell/1959 Special H-ModF. Ceklarz/1949 MG TCP. Charlap/1925 Bugatti Type 30V. CromieP. Daniel/1959 Jaguar 3.4 Mk 1

J. Greller/1948? Veritas RSP. Murray/1959 Lotus 7 T. Monti/1963 Formcar FVJ. Sanders/1953 MGTDPRE-WARDRIVER/CARM. Bartell/1934 MG TBB. Bragg/1934 Reuter V8 SpecialR. Burt/1938 Aston Martin 2 LitreE. Callo/1947 MG TC

photo by Dow Smith#34 Joseph DeLucia, 1935 Riley Imp Roadster.J. DeLucia/1935 Riley Imp RoadsterJ. Donick/1950 HRG 1500T. Ellsworth/1935 Ford Amilcar

RoadsterD. George/1936 Indy Champ Car Bear

SpecialP. Greenfield/1932 Alfa Romeo

MonzaS. Henderson/1923 AmilcarS. Leith/1931 Bugatti T37 SpecialD. Leonard/1949 MG TC SpecialJ. Mayo/1937 Attenborough Specialone

offF. Mount/1939 MG TB SpecialM. O’Day/1947 MG TCJ. Schieffelin/1939 MG TBG. Smith/1948 MG TCC. Smith/1948 MG TCE. Thomas/1940 Mercedes 170VRR. Waite/1932 Ford Sprint