The 2008 Heacock Classic Gold Cup Historic Races closed Sunday afternoon after a vintage race program celebrating “All American Muscle” plus the added thrills of an air show and the always exciting vintage sports cars racing on VIR’s history-laden 3.27-mile road course.
Joining the cars in their on-track action, ‘Wings and Wheels’ car and air show wowed spectators and racers with the comic antics of Kirk Wicker as the “Flying Farmer” in his Piper Cub, plus Rob Holland’s all carbon-fiber MX-2 aerobatics special, with Charlie Schwenker’s Pitts special stunt plane. Ground displays included a Russian Yakovlev 55 trainer, courtesy Cecil Boyd.
Of course, the attractions weren’t limited to racing and aeronautics: there was a car show on Saturday with clubs from all over attending, highlighted by the gathering of the TVR and Griffith club. The car show featured nearly everything possible, including a genuine Ford GT-40, a DeTomaso Pantera, a Cad-Allard from 1953 and many more significant and historic cars.
With “All-American Muscle” featured, it was only appropriate that one of the races featured historic stock cars. Scott Murphy took honors in the historic stock car class, with Dale Phelon zooming ahead of the field in his ex-Trans-Am Mustang, setting the weekend’s best time along the way, at 1:55.627 in Saturday’s qualifying race.
Top-three feature race results and photographs/pictures from the Heacock Classic Historic Gold Cup Races at Virginia International Raceway. Car and hometown in parentheses:
Group A (8 laps) Historic Production, Medium Bore, Sponsored by Royal Purple
1. Craig Chima (1962 Lotus Super 7, Akron, OH), 2. Bob Desloge (1972 Lotus Europa, Charlotte, NC), 3. Stacey Schepens (1964 Morgan 4/4, Atlanta, GA)
The feature race saw the very quick Craig Chima-driven Lotus Super 7 win by over 13 seconds over Bob Desloge’s nice looking Lotus Europa. Chima’s fastest lap was nearly 4.5 seconds quicker than anyone else in Group A. There were several great battles among the diverse field of 27 cars, including Butch McKenzie’s MGB scrapping with Caesar Cone’s Alfa Romeo Duetto and Will Bonner’s BMW 2002 barely beating Skip Bryan’s 2002.
Group B (8 laps) Historic Production, Small Bore, Vintage Production, and Medium Bore, Sponsored by Piloti
1. Nick Swift (1966 Mini Cooper S, John’s Island, SC), 2. Richard Schnable (1968 Volvo D 1800, Topton, NC), 3. Charles Kates (1961 Lotus 7, Nashville, TN)
Nick Swift drifted his Mini Cooper S to a seven second victory over Richard Schnable’s Volvo D 1800. Fastest time of the day also went to Swift.
Group C (8 laps) Vintage Production, Small Bore, Sponsored by Volkswagen
1. John Gaither (1968 Zink FV C-4, Kernersville, NC) 2. Randall Yow (1968 Zink FV, Greensboro, NC), 3. Marcus Jones (1968 Zink FV, Mosley, VA)
In a scuffle that lasted the entire race, John Gaither defeated Randall Yow by less than a half car length, or 0.097 seconds. “I bore down and managed to get back to him on the front straight,” said Gaither after the race. “I followed Randall down the back straightaway,” he added. “I managed to get around him at the end of the back straightaway,” but the race went right to the wire. Gaither saved his best (and fastest time of the day) for the last of the day.
Don’t miss the pictures of the amazing Ferrari 250 GTO and 250 GT SWB that were active on Saturday. (More to follow in a later story).
Group D (8 laps) Vintage Sports Racing and Modified, Sponsored by Bosch
1. Robert Harvey (1957 Corvette, St. Michaels, MD), 2. Tivvy Shenton (1955 Jaguar XK140, Danville, VA), 3. Tim Earle (1956 Austin Healey 100M Devon, PA)
Group E (8 laps) Formula Junior, Formula B, Formula Ford, Sponsored by Pepsi
1. Dave Handy (1968 Brabham BT29, Semora, NC), 2. Bob Bruce (1980 Crossle 40 F, Jupiter, FL), 3. Bernard Bradpiece (1969 Merlin FF 11A, Annapolis, MD)
Group F (8 laps) Historic Production, Big Bore, Trans-Am, IMSA, Sponsored by Red Bull
1. Doug Richmond (1966 Shelby GT350, Newark, DE), 2. Dennis Moser (1964 Pontiac GTO, N. Wilkesboro, NC), 3. Les Gonda (1972 MGB-GT, Keswick, VA)
Group G (8 laps) Historic Sports Racing, Sponsored by Ryan Handy Cup
1. Dave Handy (1968 McLaren M6B, Semora, NC), 2. Jeff Wright (1990 Lola T90/90, Wilmington, NC), 3. David Sugg (1986 Swift DB-2, Cornelius, NC)
Group H (12 laps) Stock Cars and Sedans, Sponsored by Heacock Classic
1. Dale Phelon (1992 Ford Mustang, Fernandina Beach, FL), 2. Scott Murphy (1998 Pontiac Grand Prix, Thomasville, NC), 3. Jack Finch (1991 Olds Cutlass, Thomasville, NC)
Full race results can be viewed at MyLaps.com.
[Source: Virginia International Raceway]
Looking forward to the 2009 weekend. Hopefully they will have a good field.