February 2017
• Publication of the final calendar for the FIA’s 2017 Formula One World Championship means that the date for next summer’s Silverstone Classic will shift a week in order to accommodate the changes. The 2017 Silverstone Classic, featuring a 50th anniversary celebration of Formula Ford, will now take place on the weekend of July 28-30. Tickets already purchased for the Classic will be valid on the revised dates, while ticketholders unable to attend due to the change have until February 28 to request a full refund. Further details are available by visiting www.silverstoneclassic.com
• One of the two men who led the Sports Car Club of America into professional racing, Jim Kaser, has passed away at the age of 88 after a lengthy illness. Together with John Bishop, Kaser created the United States Road Racing Championship for the 1963 season, and then followed it in short order with three more landmark pro series, the Can-Am, Trans-Am and Formula Continental (F5000). In recognition of those accomplishments, Kaser was recently inducted into the SCCA Hall of Fame.
• Historic Sportscar Racing has announced an addition to its 2017 calendar, as well as a date change. The first move is actually a modification of the original schedule, which initially listed an exhibition outing in conjunction with the annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring and will be a full racing weekend at Sebring International Raceway on the weekend of February 17-19. The other change comes at VIRginia International Raceway, where the event has been moved to avoid the Memorial Day weekend. The new dates for VIR are now June 2-4.
• Goodwood’s 75th Members’ Meeting this March will feature a full grid of Lister sports-racing cars contesting the all-new Scott Brown Trophy. The name Scott Brown is synonymous with Lister, as William Archibald “Archie” Scott Brown was among the most naturally gifted drivers of his era, and enjoyed particular success racing a Lister-Jaguar “Knobbly.” Celebrating 60 years of arguably Lister’s most famous model—the “Knobbly”—30 Listers, including Jaguar- and Chevrolet-engined examples, will go wheel to wheel at the traditional season-opener. A capacity grid of British sportscars will make this race a real highlight of the 75th Members’ Meeting. For complete information please visit www.goodwood.com
• Arlen Kurtis, son of famed Indycar builder Frank Kurtis, died in early December. Arlen had worked from childhood alongside of his father, and took over the business after his father’s death. Beginning in the early 1990s, he honored his father’s historic footsteps by continuing with a series of the Kurtis 500S roadsters Frank had begun in the ’50s, employing, from his shop in Bakersfield, California, many of the same molds and jigs his father had used. He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Carol, and their two sons, Chris and Dion, to whom, along with all his many friends in the business, Vintage Racecar extends its sincere sympathies.
