The Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational was staged June 11-14, 2015 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) served as the sanctioning body of the Indy Brickyard Invitational where more than 400 race cars competed in 11 different race groups on the 13-turn, 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) road course. The event, which also featured exhibition runs on the famed 2.5-mile IMS oval, gave race fans the opportunity to meet drivers, get close to historic race cars and speak with car owners.
On Saturday at the SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015, 33 former Indianapolis 500 drivers teamed with amateur partners in the Indy Legends Pro-Am, the feature event of the four-day Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational. Bob Lazier and amateur partner Jim Caudle, driving a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette, won the timed race by 48.9 seconds over seven-time “500” starter Mark Dismore and Scott Hackenson and their 1967 Ford Mustang. Finishing third on the road course was two-time “500” starter Max Papis and Curt Vogt, in a 1970 Mustang.
But Sunday featured a moment never seen before at IMS – five members of the Unser family on the track at one time. Al, Bobby, Al Jr., Johnny and Robby reunited for a couple of laps on the iconic oval in vintage cars, a special moment for the drivers, extended Unser family and fans.
“I don’t think there are words enough to tell people how nice it is to come back to something like this,” Bobby Unser said. “It’s a touching thing beyond belief for me, and I know it is for the rest of the family.”
The reunion represented an amazing nine Indianapolis 500 wins – four for Al, three for Bobby and two for Al Jr.
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Photographer Peter Falkner documented the SVRA Indy Brickyard Invitational 2015. In addition to his race gallery, we offer the following selection of images from Peter that offer a ‘Behind the Scenes’ look at the 2nd annual vintage races at IMS. We split up Peter’s 125 pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.
SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery
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SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery Page Two
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SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery Page Three
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SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery Page Four
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SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery Page Five
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
SVRA Indy Brickyard 2015 – Behind the Scenes Main Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)
[nggallery id=805 images=15]
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of any editorial or photographic content from sportscardigest.com without express and written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to sportscardigest.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
[Source: IMS; photos: Peter Falkner]
In every caption that mentions Bobby Unser or Al Unser, Sr., their names are reversed. Great article and photos otherwise.
Robert,
You’re right on, my fault, editing too quickly but no excuse. Thanks for the correction.
Peter Falkner
I admire the goals of SVRA — to bring vintage racing to the attention of more people, and have people follow it. Too bad they are not sanctioning The Hawk at Road America.
My wife& I were there to reunite with our old 1969 Corvette and the current owner Alan Trotter . We were so thrilled to have been invited. Selected 1 of 500 invited out of 2200 vintage race cars considered. Was a fantastic event. Perfectly organized and ran on time over 5 days. Track time for practice and qualifying was extensive for all classes. 4 races for our production class class. 1- an all out 30 min race for owner drivers. 2-a 30 min race with indy driver driving your car. 3- a 45 min enduro with driver switch and fuel if needed with indy driver and owner/driver. 4-finnaly a 20 min going left on the oval. 4 opportunities to cross the bricks and take a checkered flag at indy. amazing event. Alan drove easy with his only goal to take the checkered flag. We personally spent time with Geoff Brabam , Willy T Ribbs, Sat with Bobby Unser for drinks before sat nite banquet. The feature race was the Unser Family Reunion in which their cars were taken out of the museum and made to run for a 5 lap green to checker race on the oval. The cameras were melting down all week as you might imagine.
Because of this event you can now google me “Randy Stafford corvette race car driver” and get a partial list of my racing history and the owner/drivers who raced the car after me.
Indy & SVRA intend to quiet the “nay sayers” by making this the premier vintage event as soon as they can. With advertising and promotion starting as soon as sponsors are acquired .
Randy Stafford NARRA and NASA instructor.
Very cool images, congratulations!
Would love to go to this event one day. What a sight it must be to see the old Indy cars run the oval.
I would like to go too. But I am not independently wealthy, do all of my own work, and need to pick and choose. SVRA events are well run and full of all sorts of neat stuff, but as a consequence they are also quite a bit more expensive than other sanctioning bodies.