Road America Vintage Historical races | FerrariChat

Road America Vintage Historical races

Discussion in 'Chicago' started by F1tommy, Sep 30, 2020.

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  1. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    #1 F1tommy, Sep 30, 2020
    Thought I would start a thread for the historical races up at Road America since this is considered to be the main regional track for the Chicago area. Many Chicagoans helped fund and construct the track over the years, so it is a joint effort between Wisconsin and Illinois along with many other states.

    You can see by the cars from years past the Historical races in recent years have gone down hill. They really need either new management or some major changes to get the owners with good cars going back up every year. Number one would be safety including not mixing groups together on the track that have a several hundred horsepower difference. They also need to go back to having a special group of cars on display only, with just a parade lap with those cars. That has in years past brought out museum cars to the Road America event. Also bring in even older cars and do a tie in with the Miller Milwaukee Mile event to bring in historic older open wheel cars.

    Next year they are bringing out vintage Stock Cars. I wonder how many will be original. I also wonder how many accidents they will have. They really have ruined a very good event.

    A few old photos:




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  2. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    #2 F1tommy, Sep 30, 2020
    By the way, the 356 Abarth was John's.....
     
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  3. Jeff328

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    #3 Jeff328, Sep 30, 2020
    The problem is that the old race cars have become so valuable that the rich guys that own them don't want to drive them. Even so, there were nearly 350 entries in the VSCDA event in September. And over 500 in the July event.
     
  4. absostone

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    #4 absostone, Sep 30, 2020
    All I can say is You are lucky Tommy to be able to go and see these events all your life
     
  5. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    #5 F1tommy, Oct 1, 2020
    They were valuable in the 1990's and up to 2015 also and super rare cars continue to go to the Miller event. Poor management going after quantity not quality. The VSCDA event was never the same caliber as the July event.
     
  6. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    #6 F1tommy, Oct 1, 2020
    These historic Road America events should offer a chance to see the cars from those events and even earlier events now. Instead we get poorly done replicas and club racers with many drivers that drive them like they stole them. It was not like that until a few years ago at the Road America Historical races, wich means its a management issue either due to lack of knowledge or they are short sighted. We used to get 50 good cars every year. Now we get 5-10 if we are lucky. They are still racing, but at other race tracks instead of RA now with different organizers.

    Even the historical F1 series hardly brings out any cars to Road America anymore.

    More photos from around 2000-2010...




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  7. Jeff328

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    #7 Jeff328, Oct 1, 2020
    What management policies or whatever do you see as the problem? Road America is a "bucket-list" track for almost everyone. What is making these car owners stay away? I know several people on the board at RA and the boards of SVRA and VSCDA and I'm sure they would like to know if they are creating issues.
     
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  8. F1tommy

    F1tommy F1 World Champ
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    #8 F1tommy, Oct 1, 2020

    First off I would like to say this is not about the track itself. Road America is without a doubt the finest track in North America for fans and drivers.

    I pointed out a few issues in my previous posts but the main issue is they need to treat the valuable cars with more respect by having them not run with the less expensive cars. Come up with vintage classic original class for historically significant cars and showcase them as special. Maybe run them with a 10 to 1 ratio, if the car is worth ten times less they should not run together. You know every 1969 Mustang Trans Am replica will trying to race the vintage Ferrari or real Trans Am race car. This would eliminate that and make less chance for expensive damage happening.

    I have noticed the car owners flock together in groups and this includes the high end owners even more, so you get one or two and you will get more to come down the road. They have stopped coming to the RA historics now or have stopped bringing their better cars so they will need to be recruited into bringing the high end cars again. You can't just expect the track to bring them out because it's on "a bucket list". One way they used to get collectors and owners to come was with a special tent full of one marque(see photos below). That brought out even more cars not included in the chosen marque for the year.
    I know they still do that but it has not been as well organized as in previous years.

    That's all for now. They will have to work to build this historical event back up. It has really declined over the last 5 or so years. It's not only about car count!!!




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  9. GG Allin

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    #9 GG Allin, Oct 2, 2020
    I have pictures (somewhere) of that 908 from the same event.
     
  10. Sig. Roma

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    #10 Sig. Roma, Oct 8, 2020
    Some really cool stuff, and I agree with Tommy, Road America is (in my opinion) the best track in the US, it reminds me of Spa (which was close to me when I lived in Cologne). And Spa is my favorite EU track.
     
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  11. Larsoni

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    #11 Larsoni, Oct 9, 2020
    A bit off topic...FWIW I go back to the beginning, before RA was built, when the races ran clockwise around the lake. As a kid, sitting on the steps of Main St. Elkhart amidst hay bales while headlight-taped cars, mostly driven to the event, streamed past. One can today retrace most of the route, the interesting points marked by signs. I will share one other bit, being the only person ever to drive a Schlitz beer truck the wrong way around the RA course (it's a long story).
     
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  12. F1tommy

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    #12 F1tommy, Oct 12, 2020
    Road America fall colors posted on the RA facebook. What a great track in need of a world class vintage race again. Those Canada Corner terrace upgrades are great.

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  13. absostone

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    #13 absostone, Oct 12, 2020
    New Drone Tom?
     
  14. absostone

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    #14 absostone, Oct 12, 2020
    WTH happened to the pass over bridge after Canada corner?
     
  15. F1tommy

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    #15 F1tommy, Oct 12, 2020
    The drivers said it caused a dangerous blind spot coming out of Canada Corner going uphill, so they removed it.
     
  16. pilotoCS

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    #16 pilotoCS, Oct 12, 2020
    Replaced by a tunnel.
     
  17. absostone

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    #17 absostone, Oct 12, 2020
    I raced it on Superbike and Scca and that corner was fun.
     
  18. absostone

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    #18 absostone, Oct 12, 2020
    Daytona style
     
  19. GG Allin

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    #19 GG Allin, Oct 12, 2020
    Almost the exact same picture, different time of day.

    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Jeffg11

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    #20 Jeffg11, Oct 13, 2020
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  21. F1tommy

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    #21 F1tommy, Oct 13, 2020
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  22. Larsoni

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    #22 Larsoni, Oct 14, 2020
    Actually, the bridge leaving C Corner to the final straightaway turn had less to do with driver visibility, given other blind corners, than with the traffic backup of patrons wishing to enter the "Paddock." If you know what area the "Paddock" encompassed you will understand the reasons for the traffic jam.
     
  23. JP365

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    #23 JP365, Oct 23, 2020
    Just stumbled across this video from the 1996. If you look closely you’ll see Joe.
     
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  24. amenasce

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    #24 amenasce, Oct 24, 2020
    I followed that TDF around RA a few years ago during the FCA annual. It was pouring rain.

    Also spoke to the owner last week when he brought it for the Randy Gori memorial event.
     
  25. F1tommy

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    #25 F1tommy, Oct 26, 2020
    A few more photos from Road America Vintage races of past.. This used to be considered number #2 in quality cars after the Laguna Seca event. Now who knows what its considered?? Maybe still in the top 100 for quality and top 5 for car count?




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