Kas,
I have never seen the complete entry list from the early SCCA races in
Steamboat but it never ceases to amaze me the folks who were there. I
understand that Roy Winkleman was there driving a Triumph Herald if
memory serves. Have seen very few photos from that event. Some of
Steamboat probably have changed very little, but it has grown.
The racing came to a stop in Steamboat after the 1998 event. The resort
was sold to someone who didn't like the idea, so he killed the "golden
goose" that brought serious revenue to the community. It would have been
forced out anyway in a few years as Steamboat Village has been growing
very rapidly. The race would inconvenience to many people who didn't have
an interest in the goings on.
Danny Collins is still active with SCCA, operates a driving school, and
runs with RMVR once in a while. A few years back he was reunited with an
old Ferrari of his in freshly restored condition, your right, very cool
car.
RMVR has a couple of Bocars that regularly compete. One is owned by Don
Johnson who worked with Carnes while they building the cars in Lakewood.
A third Bocar joined us one year and they got a nice photo of all three
at start/finish.
When you ran there, the course was setup incorporating a section of
U.S.40. Governor Johnson was in Steamboat that weekend and was
inconvenienced by the race as he was attempting to leave town. That
resulted in his banning racing on state roads. He must have been liked
overall, the east bound bore of the tunnel under the continental divide
on Interstate-70 was named in his honor. The west bound bore is named for
Eisenhower. Strangely enough, the Concours part of the event was
conducted around the courthouse and involved closing off several blocks
of U.S.40.
There were several communities that ran street races back in the early
days of SCCA including Aspen and Salida. There is no chance that you
could ever race in the streets of Aspen anymore and the racetrack they
built there is now in the hands of a private club, The Aspen Sports Car
Club and they do not allow others to play with their toy. Salida is still
a possibility for the future though.
Wish you could have come and played with us in Steamboat before it all
came to an end.
Bill
Tue, 22 May 2001 22:53:30 -0700 "R. Kastner" <kaskas@earthlink.net>
writes:
> Interesting that they are running races in Steamboat. I ran a race
> through
> the streets there with six blocks of Main Street being the front
> straight
> in 1955 with my first M.G. Special. My pit area assigned was the
> dime store
> on main street, "Hesteds." ( I've still got a neat photo of that pit
> area.)
> It was half pavement and half dirt streets with a single lane bridge
> involved too. I was brought up to the race committee later that day
> for
> passing on that bridge. "My boy, you just can't do that sort of
> thing". It
> was also my first Triumph race. I ran the distributers TR-2 that
> did not
> have a driver qualified for the main event. Lots of Jags and a
> couple
> Tr-2's, MG.s and Dan Collins in his little Ferrari ( very cool car)
> another
> car was a Jagalac ( Jag with a Cadillac engine) coupe with Bob Carns
> up.
> Later he did the Bo-Car. I. W. Stevenson brought his OSCA cars
> from good
> old California. I had so much money I only had to share my motel
> with three
> other guys.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "William G Rosenbach" <wgrosenbach@juno.com>
> To: <wdayton@attglobal.net>
> Cc: <fot@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2001 6:41 PM
> Subject: Re: Feeling Nostalgic
>
>
> > G'day Wes,
> >
> > Here in Colorado, Rocky Mountain Vintage Racing (RMVR) got started
> in
> > 1981 and had its first race in 1982. RMVR got an offer from the
> City of
> > Steamboat Springs to conduct a Vintage Race through the streets of
> > Steamboat Village, the ski resort just outside of town for the
> 1984
> > season. There was already a motorcycle race being held there. The
> > motorcycle event was an actual points paying race for our local
> > motorcycle sanctioning body, the MRA. They also included a vintage
> group
> > in this event that attracted some really nice machines.
> >
> > The races were never combined so the bikes and cars never ran
> together.
> > The course was essentially the same but was set up with different
> > barriers and the bikes got a lot more straw bails to catch the
> riders
> > instead of concrete to stop the mass of an automobile. Paddock
> space,
> > pushed to the limit for the cars and scheduling also were
> deterrents to
> > attempting to combine these events. The typical RMVR Steamboat
> weekend
> > had 8 race groups and getting them all out on track at least 3
> times a
> > day really eats up the clock. Adding a full set of motorcycles
> would have
> > made for an impossible weekend.
> >
> > The Vintage Race and Concours de Elegance at Steamboat, Labor Day
> weekend
> > was the premier event for RMVR for 15 years. Try as they might,
> they have
> > yet to find a replacement street race event to match Steamboat.
> >
> > The SCCA has vintage race possibilities but has never attempted to
> run
> > vintage events or add the groups to their regular offerings,
> considering
> > the competition. We have two active vintage racing groups
> operating in
> > this region, RMVR and Nostalgia Racing.
> >
> > One of the other venues RMVR and others run at is the Pueblo Motor
> Sports
> > Park west of Pueblo, Colorado (we are blessed with 5 tracks within
> a 4
> > hour tow of the metro area, 4 of which are still available for our
> use).
> > This facility has a drag strip that is the main straight of the
> road
> > course. The road racers who arrive on Friday afternoon for a
> weekend
> > event end up sharing the place with High School drag racers for
> their
> > Friday night series. Every once in a while, some Formula Fords
> will run
> > the drag strip just for fun and surprise the locals with the
> performance
> > of the 1600 cc engined cars. I always thought there was a
> possibility of
> > conducting an event that combined vintage drag racing with vintage
> road
> > racing, road racing during the day and drags at night. I doubt
> that will
> > ever happen.
> >
> > The most famous vintage event in the U.S. is the Monterey
> Historics run
> > at Laguna Seca in California and I think it started in 1973. That
> was
> > probably the beginning here. Bob Sutherland enjoyed the Monterey
> > Historics so much that he motivated the folks around here to get
> RMVR off
> > the ground.
> >
> > Twenty five years of racing at one facility is reason enough to
> > celebrate. Make the best of it.
> >
> > Have a great Winter,
> > Bill
> >
> >
> > On Tue, 22 May 2001 21:25:02 +1000 Wes Dayton
> <wdayton@attglobal.net>
> > writes:
> > > While all of you are in the midst of "Spring Cleaning" and
> looking
> > > forward to the coming warm season of racing, spare a thought for
> the
> > > (small but vocal) minority of FOT members who are up to our
> armpits
> > > in
> > > Autumn heading straight towards Winter. However, we are slow
> > > learners
> > > here "Down Under", so while it is almost June (think December in
> > > your
> > > terms), we have a race meeting this coming weekend at Winton - a
> > > long 10
> > > hour tow South from Sydney (which you would feel to be north -
> or in
> > > simple terms, the wrong direction at this time of year). But I
> > > don't
> > > write simply to solicit your sympathy. I'm just curious on a
> couple
> > > of
> > > fronts.
> > >
> > > 1) For the first time in my racing life, I have added to the
> list of
> > > things to pack - one tuxedo. This is simply due to the fact that
> we
> > > are
> > > going to celebrate 25 years of historic racing at this
> particular
> > > race
> > > track. I wasn't around for the first historic race in
> Australia,
> > > but
> > > it's clear that things historic racing started happening here
> around
> > > 1976. It's just made me a bit curious about when the historic
> race
> > > movement started up elsewhere.
> > >
> > > So question one is - when did the historic movement get started
> in
> > > the
> > > USA, UK etc.? I suspect there might be more than one opinion,
> but
> > > I'm
> > > just interested to know if 1976 was late in the game or ???
> > >
> > > 2) This particular meeting is unique in one respect - we share
> the
> > > day
> > > with our two-wheeled historic bretheren. I for one have enjoyed
> > > each
> > > year at Winton trying to come to grips with the historic
> motorcycle
> > > fraternity (especially those sidecar car guys, but I don't think
> > > I'll
> > > ever understand them).I've learned a little bit about Vincents,
> > > Velcettes, JAP, Montesa etc. I'm really looking forward to
> seeing
> > > them
> > > dressed in their Tuxedos!!!
> > >
> > > So question number two - anyone have any race meetings that they
> > > share
> > > with the bikes?
> >
> > ________________________________________________________________
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