Vol IX, No. 9 St Louis Sports Car Council February 2021

Council News & Notes Up & Coming  Okay, okay, quit grousing about 10 Feb 21—International Drive Your Triumph Day, in honor of Sir John Black’s Punxsutawney Phil and batten birthday. Info and photos of previous events at https:// down for a few more weeks of driveyourtriumphday.shutterfly.com/, along with instructions on mailing photos of winter. As this issue goes to you and your Triumph to the event organizer at [email protected]. press it’s about to get really cold (well, not North Dakota or 21 Feb 21—Annual Polar Bear Run. SLTOA’s traditional first drive of the year; Yoop cold) and there is snow meet at the Weldon Spring commuter/car pool lot (I-64 and MO 94) for a delightful on the forecast but be of good drive through St Charles and Warren Counties to Cedar Lake Cellars/Wine Country cheer. Café (11008 Schreckengast Rd, Wright City). Meet at the commuter lot at 9:30 or thereabouts, drivers meeting at 9:45 AM, cars roll at 10 AM. Monitor www.sltoa.org  While this will undoubtedly for more details and any late-breaking news. qualify as the slimmest edition of the Relay this year, take a 21 Feb 21—St Louis Region SCCA Rallycross Event No. 1, 50 Big Bend Rd, look to the right: the calendar Granite City, 7 AM-3 PM. More to follow, keep an eye on https:// has once again started filling www.roadracing.stlscca.org/region-calendar/. out. Clubs are scheduling 27 Feb 21—Jaguar Association of Greater St Louis Pandemic Safe Spelunking & drives and both the St Louis Wine Country Tour. Tour southeastern Missouri, including stops at Chaumette Region SCCA and Boeing Vineyards and Cave Vineyards. Masks must be worn at the wineries and in the Sports Car Club have released cave. Box lunches available at Chaumette, $20. Meet at 9 AM at the StL Bread their autocross schedules. The Company, Mo 21/Tesson Ferry and Kennerly Road (behind the Walgreens), $5 fee first parking lot grand prix takes per car, cars depart at 9:30 following the drivers meeting. Please RSVP to Jim place towards the end of Febru- Hendrix at [email protected] (636)227-2565 or Phil Taxman at ssjag- ary and both groups are plan- [email protected] (314)727-9179. ning a full slate of nine events. 7 Mar 21—Annual MG Club of St Louis Pinewood Derby, 1:30 PM, details to follow,  We’re still waiting on word of a monitor www.stlouismgclub.com. resumption of Cars & Coffee at the various locales, hopefully 14 Mar 21—St Louis Region SCCA SPS Performance Garage Solo Series that will come soon. Finally, the autocross test and tune session, Family Arena, St Charles. Monitor https:// Horseless Carriage Club of solo.stlscca.org/schedule/. Missouri is listing its annual Easter Concours at the Muny, 4 27 Mar 21—MG Club of St Louis Annual Terry Fanning Rally, 10 AM, details to April, but no details or confirma- follow, monitor www.stlouismgclub.com. tion of the event are available. As always, we’ll publish what 27 Mar 21—JAGSL Drive ending at the National Museum of Transportation, details we know when we know it. TBA, monitor www.jagstl.com. (Continued on page 2)

Note: Some club events restrict participation to club members only, primarily for national/ chapter insurance reasons. If interested in joining in on a drive or other event, we recom- mend you contact the club’s event coordinator in advance for details. In Print We’ll start this month’s proceedings with a double serving of Thoroughbred & Classic Cars (as the saying goes, “on newsstands now!”). The January issue showcases the 60th anniversary of the mighty Jaguar E-Type (“Cool Cat, Hot Property”). The articles in- clude a salute to the 420 sa- loon, which shared much of the mechanical layout with the E-Type; an interview with Jag- uar engineer Peter Wilson; a buyer’s guide for the 1968- 1971 Series II 2+2; and a fea- ture on the V12 E-Type and XJ12. February’s T&CC incor- porates a buyer’s guide for the Rover SD1.

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Up & Coming (Continued from page 1)

28 Mar 21—Boeing Sports Car Club Autocross No. 1, Family Arena, St Charles. Show around 9-9:30, $40 for six runs. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Racer Steve at [email protected]. 28 Mar 21—St Louis Region SCCA Rallycross Event No. 2, 50 Big Bend Rd, Granite City, 7 AM-3 PM. More to follow, keep an eye on https://www.roadracing.stlscca.org/region-calendar/. 4 Apr 21—Horseless Carriage Club of Missouri Annual Forest Park Concours d’Elegance, Easter Sunday at the Muni parking lot. Details/confirmation to follow, monitor http://hccmo.com/easter-concours-delegance-2/. 11 Apr 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocross #1, Family Arena, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend mem- bership for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/. 17 Apr 21—Jaguar Association of Greater St Louis Judge’s Training Seminar. Hosted by JAGSL Chief Judge Jim Hendrix and Co-Chief Judge John Testrake; you don’t have to be a judge to attend this event, everyone is welcome. Details TBA, monitor www.jagstl.com. 23-25 Apr 21—St Louis Region SCCA Rallycross National Tour & Event No. 3, 50 Big Bend Rd, Granite City. More to follow, keep an eye on https://www.roadracing.stlscca.org/region-calendar/. 24 Apr 21—MG Club of St Louis annual Missouri Endurance Run. Details to follow, monitor www.stlouismgclub.com. 2 May 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocross #2, Family Arena, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend member- ship for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/. 10 May 21—Fling in the Spring, presented by the MG Club of St Louis. Details to follow, monitor www.stlouismgclub.com. 15 May 21—JAGSL Wine Country Drive, details TBA, monitor www.jagstl.com. 16 May 21—BSCC Autocross No. 2, Family Arena, St Charles. Show around 9-9:30, $40 for six runs. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Racer Steve at [email protected]. 30 May 21—St Louis Region SCCA Rallycross Event No. 4, 50 Big Bend Rd, Granite City, 7 AM-3 PM. More to follow, keep an eye on https://www.roadracing.stlscca.org/region-calendar/. 6 Jun 21—Annual St Louis European Auto Show, more to follow including this year’s location, monitor http:// stleuropeanautoshow.com/. 11-12 Jun—Annual Spirit of St Louis Airshow & STEM Expo, at Spirit of St Louis Airport, Chesterfield. This year’s fea- tured flight demonstration team is the US Navy Blue Angels, additional performers to be announced. Monitor www.spirit- airshow.com for additional details. 13 Jun 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocross #3, Family Arena, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend mem- bership for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/. 14 Jun 21—Annual MG Club of St Louis Picnic Meeting. Details to follow, monitor www.stlouismgclub.com. 19-20 Jun 21—SCCA Majors Racing, World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, Illinois. More to follow. 19-27 Jun 21—Hemmings Great Race. This year’s event is coming through our neck of the woods, with a lunch stop in Rol- la and 21 June overnight stop in Cape Girardeau. The participants will start in San Antonio, Texas, on 19 June, do the over- nighter at Cape on the 22nd and wind up in Greenville, South Carolina, on 27 June. Keep an eye on https:// www.greatrace.com/ as the rally develops, and https://www.visitcape.com/great-race/ for planned events in Cape. 26-27 Jun 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocrosses 4 & 5, plus Midwest Division Solo Series Event, Family Are- na, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend membership for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/. 20 Jun 21—BSCC Autocross No. 3, Family Arena, St Charles. Show around 9-9:30, $40 for six runs. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Racer Steve at [email protected]. 11 Jul 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocross #6, Family Arena, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend member- ship for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/. 25 Jul 21—BSCC Autocross No. 4, Family Arena, St Charles. Show around 9-9:30, $40 for six runs. For more information or to get on the email list, contact Racer Steve at [email protected]. 6-8 Aug 21—Vintage Racing at World Wide Technologies Raceway/Gateway, Madison, sanctioned by Heartland Vintage Racing (HVR) with the St Louis Region SCCA. There should be a number of local vintage racers competing, family and friends are welcome to come and enjoy a great race weekend. Details to follow info at www.heartlandvintageracing.com/ event-info/. 15 Aug 21—St Louis Region SCCA Autocross #7, Family Arena, St Charles. Event fee $55, plus a $15 weekend mem- bership for non-SCCA members; online pre-registration is $45. For more info, monitor https://solo.stlscca.org/.

St Louis Car Shows and Cruises: http://clubs.hemmings.com/lakerscarclub

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Roadwork: The US Road Racing Championship

Back in 1962, the Sports Car Club of America – led by Director John Bishop – decided to initiate a professional racing series. The move was considered pretty radical by the SCCA’s leadership, what with the club’s history as an organization for amateur, non-professional “gentlemen racers.” Some feared an opening of the floodgates to participation by well-funded corporate teams and major spon- sors, to the detriment of the SCCA’s club racing events. The association made the move in response to the expanding number of professional racing events in the United States, sanctioned by other organizations such as the (USAC) and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). These races brought international stars and a large variety of race cars to the US; no surprise, many of the driving membership of the SCCA wanted to move up from club racing, into the “big leagues” as it were, and run events such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. However, the SCCA threatened sanctions – including expulsion – to any member who violated their amateur status by racing for money. In addition, the John Bishop (SCCA via SCCA head shed notified regional leadership that if they supported a professional event, their charter Hemmings) would get revoked. Bishop and his supporters saw an opportunity to make the SCCA the dominant sports car organiza- tion in the United States and worked up a plan which would have the club assume responsibility for the sanctioning of sports car races at the major tracks, thus usurping USAC and its Road Racing Championship. In December 1962, they announced the es- tablishment of the professional US Road Racing Championship (USRRC), with classes for sports cars and GTs over and under 2.0 liters. The USRRC kicked off on 3 February 1963, with a 200-mile race at Day- tona, two weeks in advance of the annual Daytona Continental event. Hap Sharp won the over 2.0L class in a Cooper T57 Monaco-Climax, whilePT Bob Holbert took second (and first in the U2 class) in a Porsche 718 RS 61. Other notables who raced included Ray Heppenstall, Charlie Kolb and Harry Heuer, the latter driving the Meister Brauser front-engine Chapar- ral 1. The field included a wide range of vehicles, including a Porsche 356 Carrera 2, Dino 196 SP, Alfa Romeo Zagato, Lotus 19-Climax, Elva MkVI, Elva MkIII Buick, Lotus 23, Corvette, Osca, Ferrari 500 TRC- (yes, a Chevy V8; in fact, both of the which competed had Chevy power), Ol’ Yaller Mk7 and a Scarab II-Chevrolet. The new SCCA pro series immediately proved a big hit, drawing not only Sharp in an earlier race, driving the Hall Cooper-Monaco a large number of cars and famous drivers to but also crowds of paying (photo source unk) spectators. Interest in the USRRC continued to grow through that first season’s eight other races at Pensacola, Laguna Seca, Watkins Glen, Kent, Continental Divide, and Mid-Ohio. Per a 2014 Veloce Today article, JM The new series exploded with a huge noise which announced in no uncertain terms the dominance of the American V8. Ferraris and Ma- seratis would no longer rule the big bore classes, primarily because they weren’t big enough; nothing would succeed like cubic inches in this brave new world where over two liters meant unlimited displacements… the seeds of the Can Am era were sown, and racing would never be the same.

GTs ran in the USRRC through 1965. While Cobras regu- larly dominated, they regularly duked it out with cars like the Cheetah, reputedly a rather evil-handling car. The cars here were driven by Budd Clusserath (46) and Ralph Saly- er (25) in the 1965 opening race at Augusta. Regrettably, both DNF’d (photo via Jerry Entin/The Roaring Season)

The USRRC quickly assumed dominance in US professional . The chief competitor, the USAC Road Racing Championship, collapsed. A number of tracks hosted the USRRC during its Second round of the USRRC: Laguna Seca, 9 June 1963. Jerry Titus is on the left six years of existence. Pensacola served as the loca- in the Genie Mk5-Corvair (yes, Corvair), with eventual winner Chuck Parsons in tion of the 1963 season’s second race, on a course a Lotus 23B-Ford pulling alongside. Titus finished the race in fifth (photo via laid out on the old runways of the Navy’s Corry Sta- Hemmings) tion. In 1964, the SCCA added Augusta International Raceway, Georgia, Greenwood Roadway, Iowa, and Meadowdale International in Illinois. The following year’s scheduled involved nine races, starting at Pensacola and continuing through Riverside, Laguna Seca, Bridgehampton, Wat- kins Glen, Kent, Continental Divide and Mid-Ohio before wrapping up at Road America. Las Vegas’ Stardust International hosted the first race of the eight race 1966 season.

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USRRC (Continued from page 3)

In 1966, the SCCA added two new professional series, the Trans-American Sedan Championship and the Canadian-American Challenge Cup. Both quickly became popular, particularly the Can-Am for FIA Group 7 sports-racers. The rules for G7 cars? There were no rules…well, okay, an exaggeration, but several manufacturers and major sponsors shifted their efforts and financ- ing to the two new series. The USRRC continued as a parallel series through 1968 and went out with a bang, incorporating nine races, including events at Mexico City and Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. The last race, held on 18 August 1968 at Mid-Ohio, saw 1967 series winner Mark Donahue take the overall championship once again at the wheel of the Penske-Sunoco McLaren M6A. Lo- thar Motsenbacher placed second in a McLaren M6B, followed by Skip Scott in a Mk3 and Sam Posey in the Caldwell D7B. The rest of the field included John Cordts in a McLaren- Elva MkIII-Chevrolet; Ludwig Heimrath in another MkIII McLar- en-Elva; Horst Kroll in the Kelly Special-Porsche; George Drol- som, Lola T70 Mk3; Nat Adams in a Chinook-Chevrolet; Charlie Hayes, McKee Mk10-Chevrolet; Bob Nagel, McKee Mk7-Ford; Chuck Parsons, Lola T160-Chevrolet; George Eaton, McLaren- Elva Mk III-Ford; and Dr Merv Rosen in a Porsche 906. No surprise, but the majority of these drivers and cars also raced Green flag at Greenwood, Iowa, 19 July 1964: Jim Hall, Chaparral 2A in the Can-Am that year. (65), Charlie Hayes, Elva MkVII-Porsche (77), Bill Wuesthoff, Elva Thus ended the USRRC’s six-year run and the SCCA’s first MkVII-Porsche (71) and Ed Leslie, Shelby Cooper King Cobra (96). venture into professional racing. By series end in 1968, the Leslie won the race, ahead of Wuesthoff and Hall (photo via Chuck association was very heavily involved in pro racing, running the Brandt) Can Am, Trans-Am and the championship for single-seaters, powered by (you guessed it) V8s. However, the SCCA would resurrect the USRRC under a different format in 1998 as an alternative to the International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) GT series, but that’s a story for another day.

On the left, last race of the of the ‘66 season, Mid-Ohio, and there be Porsches: Mak Krohn, Porsche 906 (77), Ludwig Heimrath, McLaren- LFDMElva Mk2 (39), Gary Watson, McLaren-Elva Mk2 (19), Michael Hall, Porsche 906 (69); and Dave Heinz, McKee MkVII (97). won the race in his Penske-Sunoco Lola T70 Mk3B, as well as the championship (photo by Jerry Melton). On the right, Donohue also took the ‘68 crown, driving a McLaren M6A (photo by Jim Hayes/Racing Sports Cars)

Sources: Racing Sports Cars; “The Car,” Shelby American Collection; “USSRC 1963-1968; A Review,” Veloce To- day, 25 March 2014; “Road Racing Wars: The Fight For Control of Post-War Sports Car Racing in America,” International Motor Racing Research Center, n.d.;

In Print (Continued from page 1)

The February issue of Hemmings Classic Car provides the story of a 40-year owner of a 30th anniversary edition 1980 TR7. Triumph introduced the commemorative trim package in celebration of 30 years of the company’s postwar sports cars. Finally, the Just British web page (https://justbritish.com) has a link to the Jay Leno’s garage episode featuring the comedian’s 1954 Jaguar XK120, plus a feature on the MG ZS electric vehicle. LF

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