After 17 years of faithful support and sponsorship of the Lime Rock
Vintage Fall Festival, it appears that the VSCCA will no longer be
involved with the event. LRP has changed management and as often happens
in these cases the new powers that be seem to be opting for the all
mighty dollar and have engaged another sanctioning organization in an
attempt to attract a larger gate. This action was taken without any prior
notice to VSCCA offcials as far as I know.
Editorial comment:
My personal opinion is that this is a very short sighted decision on
LRP's part but not totally unexpected. A couple of years ago Chrysler
took over as the major corporate sponsor, displacing BMW who had been the
sponsor for years. Rumor had it that large sums of money were involved
and based on the number of shiny new Dodge support vehicles at the track
one could not help but wonder. Once an agreement is made like that, all
kinds of pressures can be applied, not the least of which is the need to
increase the bottom line. Last year attendance was down at the festival
and although that may have prompted the decision, it should be noted that
the weather was a major factor. Another factor may be that the VSCCA ran
this event in conjunction with the SVRA and the two organizations have
different criteria for what is 'legal' . Recently there have been
attempts to insure that cars are closer to original spec. and in the
'vintage spirit' as defined by the VSCCA. This certainly kept some cars
away and may have been seen as keeping fans away as well. I have no way
of knowing what the public thinks regards originality but I would hope
that they are decerning enough to know that a 200hp 'NASCAR' 356 Porsche
isn't what was raced years ago when 75-90hp and no flared headrests
Speedsters were pretty close to what you could buy off the showroom
floor.
I won't try to predict the eventual outcome of this situation but to me
it's a sad day and what was arguably the biggest and best vintage race
event in the country will just be another media hype. If so we all will
be the losers.
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