The Adventures of Vickie Miller at the Historic Sportscar Racing
- Article: Vickie Miller | Photo Credit: Brett
- Nov 16, 2015
- 7 min read
So my 2015 American racing adventures ends where the year began, at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). This was my second year attending the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) 24 hour race at DIS. Why should race fans attend the HSR race event?
According to the event website (http://classic24hour.com/index.html) there were 174 race cars and 300 drivers confirmed for the Classic 24 Hour at Daytona. I was there for one day and it was not enough time to see them all. For the race event, the cars are divided into six groups, with Group B starting at 1pm Saturday, with 45 minute race segments allowing for 15 minutes for one group to get the checkered flag and the next group to grid and take the green.
The process cycles through until the last group ends Sunday at noon, for a combined racing time of 24 hours. This format allows teams to work on the cars before their next cycle comes around for the team to take back to the track.
Teams arrive from across the globe knowing the event will not be on LIVE television, know the overall coverage and most fans will be local, spare huge expense in transportation and equipment costs, to enter a classic car which may not even complete 2 laps, but these teams do it for the pure love of the car, motorsport community, and enjoyment. I had the pleasure of meeting Jay (a friend from Twitter @JComerIV) who traveled from Charlotte NC just for this event!
Yes, each team and driver wants to win, but the chance to get behind the wheel of a car which many wrote off as retired and hear the engine come to life and take to the high banks of Daytona is worth a chance you have to take. There is an inspection area and it appears to be loosely regulated, but I enjoyed watching one team asking another team for various parts, and everyone willing to help each other.
Along with the Historic race, the Trans Am racing series holds the final race of the season at DIS which includes a total of 69 cars on the entry list spread over four classes with this break down:
TA 16, TA2 30, TA3A 13, and TA3I 10. Unsure about the different classes for Trans Am? Yea, me too. I encourage you to check out the series website (http://gotransam.com/) and go to a race near you!
When I first heard of the Trans Am racing series, I thought all the cars racing were Pontiac Trans Am’s. I quickly learned my error, when I reviewed the entry list and was impressed with the variety of manufactures and model of cars racing, along with the world class racing tracks the series attends, like Circuit of the Americas the race event before DIS. The DIS Trans Am race is scheduled to be shown on the CBS Sports Network, Sunday December 6 at 1PM EST.
Whether it’s the Historic or Trans Am race, fans attending enjoy catching up with all drivers either legends or current. Those either racing or just in attendance included (in random order): Eric Curran, Marco Seefried, Andrew Davis, Cooper MacNeil, Shane Lewis, Cameron Lawrence, Gunnar Jeannette, Mark Patterson, Tony Buffomante, Jason Hart, Ricky Taylor, Eric Voss, Tommy Kendall, Derek Bell and Indy car drivers Bobby Rahal, Spencer Pigot and many others! It’s the Who’s Who in motorsports! It was great to catch up with Robert Gewirtz (RG Racing) and Mark Kvamme, who I interviewed at the HSR event last year.
During my day at DIS attending the HSR event, my idea for this article took a turn sharper than Turn 11 at Circuit of the Americas. I had intended to review the Trans Am race series, which I still feel needs more attention and is a series not given enough press or coverage. Trans Am finishes their race calendar at DIS with Saturday’s event not only a race podium but confirmed the championship. I always enjoy a final race in any series where the championship remains in the balance from green flag to checkered. Sorry Formula One!
After seeing the Historic cars and chatting with current and past drivers on Saturday, my focused shifted. While I grew up in a NACAR and IndyCar home, and I started attending races watching NASCAR, it was a trip to VIR (Virginia International Raceway) to watch GrandAm (Grand American) which turned my attention to road course racing.
Looking at the now considered “historic” DP (Daytona Prototype) cars at the HSR event, quickly took my mind back to my memories of the Rolex 24 races where the garages of DIS were packed with DP racing machines. There were 26 DP’s in the 2006 Crown Royal Grand Am Challenge of Long Beach. Just as quickly, my thoughts return to the present state of DP’s and the series struggling to race 10 cars in the now “P” class.
From the series shift leaving Grand Am for the present International Motor Sport Association (IMSA) so much has changed which I won’t even begin to admit I understand. Yes, the recession hit and the teams suffered losing sponsorship, which is still an issue today. It was nice to see the Verizon DP car even in the category of “historic” but gone is Ruby Tuesday, McDonald’s, Gentlemen Jack, CompUSA, soon to follow was Crown Royal .
If a business is financially struggling, I understand the stockholders may not support financially backing a sports car team not in NASCAR, but there is corporate money out there. Is the series not pursuing these opportunities? Is IMSA not attractive to corporate sponsorship? I don’t have the answers but I found a hopeful article regarding partnerships back in 2006. Take a look:
If you have followed me on Twitter, on Facebook, or saw me at the track, you know my favorite driver is and always will be Oswaldo Negri, Jr. But holding the 2nd spot as favorite driver is shared by 30 or so guys! Over the years, I have enjoyed meeting and getting to know many drivers which makes it difficult on race weekends. Because there are so many drivers and teams, who do I cheer for to finish 2nd or 3rd but I’m usually pretty happy with the race results.
Another disadvantage to loving so many drivers, I am torn when the driver rankings are announced. Just as mentioned before I don’t understand IMSA, I further do not understand the thought process, or lack thereof, in determining the rankings. I am assuming many will agree with me drivers should basically be divided in one of two categories, either you pay or you get paid.
Some of my favorite drivers benefited and some suffered with the rankings. While I don’t know how (factors, figures, statistics, etc) the ranking was determined, I am surprised to find out the process of the determination. Again, I am not an expert, I am just a fan on the outside looking in.
First a little understanding of FIA, according to Wikipedia: The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, English: 'International Automobile Federation') is an association established as the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR, English: 'International Association of Recognized Automobile Clubs') on June 20, 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organizations and motor car users. To the general public, the FIA is mostly known as the governing body for many auto racing events.
According to Vickipedia, FIA starts with a list of all the drivers eligible to race in the upcoming racing calendar year. When the FIA group, travels down the list and happens upon an IMSA focused driver, the name is put on a separate list which is passed onto IMSA to set a ranking.
I always thought the IMSA ranking was discussed among a committee who reviewed the before mentioned facts, figures, statistics, etc. of drivers and made an informed unbiased decision. Also, the committee was comprised of one or more driver representatives, several past drivers, several IMSA officials,
Well, I think Vickipedia is wrong on both counts. In some cases, it appears driver race results are not used, it’s not unbiased, and the committee is really one person. Am I the only person and sees an issue with this? While I don’t claim to all or any of the answers, I am always ready with an idea to improve.
First, consider the committee idea. And I would like to see a “fan factor” be added to the decision for ranking. Some drivers who benefited from the rankings are not what I consider to be “fan friendly” at all. Others who are damaged by the rankings use social media to increase fan awareness and promote the series. I also feel helpless to come to the aid of the drivers with their appeals and hopes in changing their ranking.
From the FIA website: Protests against any new categorization in this 2016 list must be submitted until Friday, November 20, 2015 at the latest. The definitive list will be published on December 1, 2015. Here is the link to the FIA driver categorizations regulation and list:
While I have no information on driver appeals, the bottom line racing will go on. To me, rankings, penalties during race weekend, the BoP issues can all be considered controversial, but what I've learned as a young child, Life Isn’t Fair.
Do you agree with the driver rankings? I want to hear how you would fix it. What would you change? Please don’t make this a driver bashing topic. I am interested in your ideas on how to group or rank drivers. Should there be a ranking at all?
Thank you all for reading and I welcome your comments. I have no affiliation with IMSA, TransAm, DIS, HSR, etc. just a fan. There are many blogs and websites where you will find statistics, results, and scoring from the race; this is “just the way I see it”. Got a response? Follow and tweet me @viclovesracing If you see me at the track, please be sure to say hello.
And look for future “Vickie’s Trackside Report” coming to a track near you!
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