The SCCA "Run-Offs" concept was approved, I believe, in 1963 and the club
decided
on two experimental events, one at Riverside in 1964 and one at Daytona in 1965,
to see what the response would be, what problems were, etc. Once those two
events
were successful, the "real" Run-Offs began, the first of which was at Riverside
in 1966. Back to Daytona in '67, Riverside in 68 and Daytona in 1969, after
which
the event found a home at Road Atlanta for however many years. I attended all of
these, working for Triumph or British Leyland, from 1964 through 1982. The place
was always crawling with Triumphs from GP to CP. And a couple of time in
Modified
classes for Kas's TR4-A and Macao Spitfire with the 6 in it.
The TSOA Newsletter is a good source of information as to how many TRs were
entered and who won what back to around 1960. NO, I am not volunteering to put a
whole list together. National Speed Sport News also covered sports car events
and
might have records going back. And Autoweek which was established to cover
sports
cars. For many years, Trumph and British Leyland had a little ad on the front
page of Autoweek, listing the previous week's wnners and where they raced.
Tom Burnside and many others, like Jesse Alexander, shot sports cars from the
big
team point of view. You'll see Jaguar, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, etc., but
darned few popular sports cars like TRs and MGs.
Check it out today- as big an event as it is, and as important as it is to many
of their readers, the car publications scarcely cover the SCCA Run-Offs.
Mike Cook
N197TR4@cs.com wrote:
> I have the Tom Burnside book. It is kind of coffee table book.
>
> BTW, I had a 10 Year Road America Anniversary issue book/program at Mid-Ohio,
> in June, that I passed around. I can not find it. It was a very nice piece
> and I hate to lose it. Anybody end up with it and wonder where it came from?
>
> It showed the TR4 as having the EP Production lap record at 2:59 in 1964.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe Alexander
>
> <<
> The SCCA website records of winners for the "runoffs" starts on their
> website in 1964. I know there were "National" races in 1963. Was that the
> first year? Was there the equivalent of the ARRC runoffs before that time or
> in 1963?
>
> Does anyone have a table that shows when certain race classes were
> established by the SCCA and when Triumphs became involved in those classes?
> Does SCCA have a reference with this information in it?
>
> I just purchased a copy of Tom Burnsides book American Racing Road
> racing
> in 1950s and 1960s. I was very disappointed to find virtualy nothing on
> Triumphs. I had the opportunity at Pebble Beach historics to meet Burnsides.
> I asked him about the availability of other photographs. I was surprised to
> learn that he did not know about either Kas's team or the Group 44 Team.
>
> I also had the opportunity to purchase some old issues (pre 1973) of
> Sports Cars (SCCA Magazine). I only have about three or four, but in certain
> classes it was clearly Triumph had the largest number of qualifiers for the
> ARRC and many top five finishers. Having not been active in racing at that
> time, I was very surprised.
>
> Would be nice if the writers and photographers among us could
> collaborate
> on a works about Triumph Racing in the US so uninformed people like me could
> learn more about Triumphs. We need to help future generations appreciate
> these cars.
>
> PS: Among the 1971 Qualifiers for the ARRC was Erwin "Ernie" Lorincz. He
> raced in the very same GP Spitfire that won Watkins Glen in 1963. He
> finished
> fifth. It is amazing that this man raced from 1963 through 1971 with this
> Spitfire and few people seem to know much more about him other than having
> met him once.
>
> Cary
>
> >>
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