One of many largest editions of the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Mitty within the occasion’s almost 50-year historical past got here to a aggressive conclusion Sunday with greater than a dozen HSR Characteristic Race winners topped within the remaining two day’s of competitors within the forty sixth operating of HSR’s oldest race at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta.
Opponents in automobiles from almost each era of sports activities automobile racing and different classes from the final 60 years plus made it to victory lane over the course of the three-day blockbuster occasion that showcased ‘The Vehicles of Japan’ as this 12 months’s Featured Marque.
Quick and full subject units the tone for a aggressive weekend on the forty sixth HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Highway Atlanta
One in all two rivals doubling up on HSR Characteristic race wins on the Mitty was Todd Treffert in his 901 Store 1972 No. 14 Porsche 911. Treffert add the general and GT Basic (GTC) wins in Sunday’s B.R.M. Endurance Problem race to his Friday Sasco Sports activities total and Porsche class victories.
The weekend’s different double Characteristic Race winners had been Cory Friedman and his Autometrics staff of their 2016 No. 515 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. Friedman gained Sunday’s World GT dash and co-drove with Shannon Heford to the GT Trendy (GTM) win in Saturday’s B.R.M. Endurance Problem one-hour race.
Friedman and Heford completed an in depth second total in Saturday’s B.R.M. Endurance race to total and Prototype winners Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss. Making their first begin of the season within the Matador Motorsports 2017 No. 02 Cadillac DPi, Marshall and Foss secured their second B.R.M. victory in a row after profitable the identical race at 2023’s season-ending Sebring Historics. The win was additionally the fourth total B.R.M. Endurance victory for the Matador duo at Highway Atlanta since 2020.
Saturday’s third B.R.M. Endurance race winner was Benjamin Myers, who scored Historic-class honors and a powerful seventh total end in a packed 47-car subject in his Wolf Motorsports 2001 No. 29 Carbir CS2 sports activities 2000.
The weekend’s remaining B.R.M. Endurance victor was Craig Watkins who completed simply behind Treffert in second total whereas securing the Classic division victory in his 1968 No. 46 Porsche 911 ready by the 901 Store.
Following up on Friday’s Sasco Sports activities Worldwide/American Problem race for larger basic GT automobiles, Saturday’s Sasco Sports activities “B” race was a showcase of small-bore sports activities automobiles delivering some massive pleasure.
The general and Porsche class win went to Gary Stanberry, who pulled off a last-lap move within the downhill run to the checkered flag for some of the thrilling finishes of the weekend. Stanberry led solely the ultimate few hundred toes of the race nevertheless it was sufficient for the win within the 1988 No. 77 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup collection automobile ready by DAS Sport.
Michael Leveque was the primary non-Porsche finisher to the road in his No. 23 1966 Yenko Stinger Corvair. Leveque secured the Sasco Sports activities American division win along with a stout seventh-place total end within the 41-car subject.
Sasco Sports activities “B” Worldwide-class honors went to John Bibbo who broke via for his first HSR race win in his 1976 No. 208 BMW 2002 ready by Motorsport Companies and run out of Heritage Motorsports within the paddock.
Reigning Gene Felton Memorial Problem winner ‘Entrance Row’ Joe Nemechek went an ideal three-for-three within the annual tribute race for Felton, the late Georgia-based driving star and 2019 HSR Mitty Grand Marshal. Successful each the Saturday and Sunday HSR Group 8 Historic Inventory Automotive races in his NEMCO Motorsports 2007 No. 47 Toyota Camry, Nemechek amassed sufficient factors to maintain a private lock on the perpetual Lanier Technical School Gene Felton Trophy as the one driver to win it within the Professional class every of the three years the race has been run.
Matt Tifft completed second on observe to Nemechek in Sunday’s remaining Group 8 dash in his No. 39 2006 Dodge Charger to clinch Beginner-class Gene Felton Memorial Problem honors for the primary time.
Saturday’s spotlight Vehicles of Japan Characteristic Race was an exhibition run for the greater than 40 entered automobiles of every kind from Datsun/Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, Honda/Acura and extra. Though no trophies or factors had been awarded, Mazda Heritage Assortment drivers Jonathan Bomarito and Tom Lengthy undoubtedly stole the highlight. Transferring the mighty 1989 Mazda 767B into the ‘lead’ from the ‘pole’ initially, Bomarito was quickly joined by Lengthy, who was on the wheel of the 1991 Mazda RX-7 GTO. After Lengthy went to the entrance for a number of laps, the Mazda duo fashioned as much as take the checkered flag side-by-side in a virtually excellent photograph end. The Mazda Heritage Assortment automobiles and drivers had been on observe and on show all weekend and had been some of the widespread sights in what was this system’s first and hopefully not final look on the HSR Mitty.
The Grand Marshal of the forty sixth HSR Mitty was not too long ago retired and longtime HSR President David Hinton who gave the standard ‘Drivers, begin your engines’ command for Saturday’s Vehicles of Japan Characteristic Race. Hinton, who can also be the proprietor and principal of race and championship-winning historic and classic racing staff Heritage Motorsports, stays a well-liked fixture within the HSR paddock. He was additionally offered throughout Friday evening’s Mitty competitor social mixer on the observe with the HSR Mitty Award for the competitor that greatest typifies the adventurous spirit of the fictional daredevil daydreamer, Walter Mitty, who’s the namesake and inspiration for the 46-year-old HSR Mitty extravaganza.
Subsequent up for HSR on the 2024 schedule is the second annual HSR Basic 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, June 6 – 9, at Watkins Glen Worldwide.
