The San Diego Fleet Week Foundation has awarded race production for the prestigious Coronado Speed Festival to Historic Motor Sports Association (‘HMSA’). The 12th annual event is scheduled for September 26-27, 2009.
The event will be held on Naval Air Station North Island, in Coronado, a small, picturesque community of San Diego. This Fleet Week San Diego event is one-of-a-kind, and the only race car and military tribute event in the United States. The Speed Festival will feature some of the greatest vintage race categories. More details on these categories to be released soon.
“We have a vision. The vision is to move the Coronado Speed Festival to a higher and elevated state, to increase awareness of the event, but more significantly, to pay tribute to our nation and our community’s military, and their families,” Jim Philion, Founder of the Coronado Speed Festival, emphatically stated. “The San Diego Fleet Week Foundation will rely on this world-class partnership to provide strategy and execution excellence to help us achieve our mission.”
Philion joins with the other founders, Larry Blumberg and Gina Cunningham Daley, to state, “We are very grateful to all the fans, racers, organizers, sponsors and organizations that have helped grow the Speed Festival to this point. We are proud of what it has become over the last decade. This new alliance is very exciting, and we are confident our event will gain even more prominence, which will in turn secure its future for years to come. We look forward to the growth of the event and the organizations involved.”
Cris Vandagriff, President of HMSA, will organize and stage race production of the Speed Festival, and he comments on HMSA’s involvement, “The purpose of HMSA is to encourage the restoration, preservation and use of historic sports and racing cars. I see tremendous potential in both vintage racing and the event. I cannot imagine a more prestigious event and location than the Coronado Speed Festival.”
His group promises to work diligently to support the Fleet Week San Diego’s mission – to honor and celebrate the men and women of the military. “I intend to work collaboratively with the Foundation and the U.S. Navy in helping them achieve their objective including benefiting and saluting a great cause, the men and women of the military and their families.”
“The Coronado Speed Festival has a tremendous following of participants, sponsors, vendors and fans. We are delighted to have HMSA as our partner moving forward. Vandagriff and his team share our mission of honoring and celebrating the military and providing unparalleled excitement to everyone who attends the event,” says Alexandra Squires, Executive Director of the San Diego Fleet Week Foundation.
[Source: Coronado Speed Festival]
