With new event sponsorship, forecast for great weather (partly cloudy and 85 F), and free ticket in
hand thanks to Jeff Butts, my two boys and I headed out the door on July 13th. For at least the
last decade we start the vintage races by meeting the rest of the gang at Skyline Burgers on
Cornell and NW Skyline in Portland. Fired up the Mustang, tickets, parking pass, camera, Joe,
Brian...off we go. A bit late departing we get to Skyline about 25 minutes late. NO one there.
Don's not there with his 911 (death in the family), no McFadden and his Lotus or E-type Jag, or
our annual visit with his wonderful 356, Russ Lindborg! "Butts factor", my oldest states. "No Jeff,
No groupies!" Jeff also could not attend due to a previous engagement.
We wait till 15 to the hour of 9:00, off we go via our usual pre-race route taking us down fun and twisty Germantown road, across the St. Johns Bridge along N. Overlook Drive to N. Denver. In our attempt to get to P.I.R. we encounter a massive traffic jam, which also appears to be going to the same place. Boy, big crowds this year!!! As we make the first right that leads to the course, this is also the same road that leads to the Exposition Center we notice hardly any of the usual vintage, muscle or foreign cars in line to get in. We find out that hundreds of cars are heading to an Antique swap meet at the Expo!!! One in one hundred cars are heading to the Track...
We wave out tickets at the entrance and head for the general parking with Mr. Butts' coral pass in hand. Parked, we head for the pits. We pass the Edelbrock high ticket paddock with the Mustang Shelby GT 350 driven by Camee Edelbrock and the Vic Edelbrock's 63 Sting Ray. These cars were as beautiful as usual. Other pits hold my favorite Chevrons, many Lotus Super 7's, gaggle of Mini's, Alfa's, Porsche's, and the obligatory Brabham's, Titan's, and McLarens. Engines running, sounds, smells of yet another great Pit area made two hours go by in a hurry. Some other notables were the Can-Am cars, oh boy that big block sound from Fred Cziska's Shadow and the distinct sounds of yesterday from the Lola's, McLarens and the lone Ferrari 312P. We also ran into Al Kinney and his son; Clear Bra of Oregon selling their goods. Al's 'Vette looking much better than the owner. All made for a terrific Paddock tour.
Let the races begin. Selecting our usual spot in the bleachers adjacent to the Festival Curves we
took in each class of Saturdays Qualifying Races. The usual late entrance brake lock and
subsequent run thru the marker cones were a highlight in almost every class. Great racing from
all 7 represented classes.
Putting on a great show were the Can-Am cars and the best racing was from Group 1: '59 and earlier under 2 liters, Robert Lucurell in his '48 Allard was sawing his way thru the corners! Group 5, the Big Bore production class also traded some paint and had a hard time slowing for the Festival Curves.
Ho-hum were the Historic Stock cars perhaps as much for the running commentary from guest and NASCAR great Ernie Ervan as they interviewed him for the full 30 minutes...
2002's version of the Historic races will again be a highlight of this year. Great organization and a wonderful field. Don't miss is in '03 if you can help it.