by Jake Grubb
As the stunning effects of the 2020 Coronavirus have pummeled forth in their ravage of USA and world auto racing, the venerable world of vintage and historic motor racing has suffered equally. One-by-one followed by two-by-three and finally most all of the races on the vintage auto racing calendars in the USA and around the world are essentially postponed canceled for the spring racing season.
On the American landscape, seemingly just days or even hours before the stark arrival of the Coronavirus realization, it seemed as though the 2020 racing season was under green flag. In early March, Vintage Auto Racing Association [VARA] on the west coast ran their traditionally idyllic “High Desert Challenge” at California’s Willow Springs Raceway and SVRA was able to run their always awaited spectacular Sebring kick-off event in Florida. Although both affairs were enthusiastically participated in, there was an unspoken reduction in entrants from prior years — almost undoubtedly due to the mounting media information on Coronavirus realities.
And then ever-so-suddenly, vintage racing calendars of every organization went from “under consideration” to “tentative” to “postponed until further notice” to in some cases the dreaded, “cancelled.” In a recent online address to the vintage racing community, SVRA president Tony Parella didn’t pull punches. In verifying that the best next hopeful race date was in June, he spoke words like “fluid” and expressed the affirmation, “we’re gonna get through this.” He even alluded to the tangible possibility that SVRA is shifting their race schedule such that fall events in November and even December are being officialized. (Note, a newly updated 2020 SVRA race schedule was released on 4/7/20 and is posted on the SVRA website). Other vintage auto racing organizations are carefully reworking their schedules. Updates for all of the organizations will be published on their websites and will be available on the “EVENT CALENDAR” in the EVENTS & TRACKS menu section of this website.
And so like the rest of the world, we are left with the fundamental imperative to COPE — somehow, some way within new health-driven societal rules, whether we like it or not. And so we will. But we won’t all do it the same way. In the wise southern accent-laden words of Dan Davis, publisher of Victory Lane magazine: “racers are lone ‘wooves’, they do it THEIR way.” The accompanying video of California vintage racer Steve Belfer offers a peak into Steve’s way. We invite you to send us yours. All of us need to open our minds and innovate in order to somehow prevail through the recent wrath that has beset our world.
Keep the pedal to the metal.
