AUBURN Speedsters.com

Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, Indiana
June 2014
 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the Inaugural Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational this year. More than 500 of the finest Historical and Vintage Racing Cars competed on the newly reconfigured Road Racing Course and the Famous 2 1/2 mile Oval. A variety of Past Racing Cars were showcased; Indianapolis Cars, Trans Am, Grand Am, Formula One and NASCAR Sprint Cup. The event took place over a 3 day period, June 6th - 8th. Three days of Non-Stop Racing starting at 8:00 in the morning and running until 6:00 pm each day

The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) was responsible for this years inaugural event. SVRA is one of the largest and oldest Vintage Racing groups in the United States. They currently have over 1500 members. SVRA events are held throughout the year with Racing taking place at legendary Race Tracks like Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glenn, Circuits of America, Mid-Ohio and Now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). "Gentlemen Start your Engines"

Two very Significant Historical Cars were spotted in a Gasoline Alley Pit Garage; One of them was a 1966 Ford Mark II. The Mark II was one of Ford Motor Company's most successful racing cars ever to represent the United States in International Competition.  The Mark II's were Successfully raced at the 24 hours of Le Mans, the Daytona Continental and at the 12 Hours of Sebring.  The other car we could not help but to notice was the 1957 Corvette SS, an Experimental Magnesium Bodied Proto-Type. Who said that ALL Corvettes are Fiberglass... The Corvette SS was a Factory Backed Racing Car engineered and campaigned by Zora Duntov.

The SS is currently owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. How that came about is an interesting story in itself... The SS was originally produced as a Concept Car with the end goal of competing in the 24 hours of Le Mans. As time passed, GM "Officially" (Wink) was no longer involved with factory backed racing and they began cleaning out their garages and warehouses. Orders were issued to scrap the SS Corvette. Zora was not about to let this happen... as the story goes Zora had the Corvette shipped to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On May 29th 1967, during the drivers meeting, prior to the 51st running of the Indianapolis 500, Zora presented the SS Corvette to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a gift. To save face GM took full credit for "their Generous Donation"

Parked in Gasoline Alley were a few leftovers from the 2014 Indianapolis 500; A Nice Camaro Pace Car Convertible and three Trackside Assist Vehicles. I am not a big Fan of modern Indianapolis Racing but I have always had an interest in the Pace Car selection process. There have been many nice Replica Pace Cars produced and offered to the public over the years. The '69 Camaro and the '96 Viper GTS Top My list of Pace Cars