On July 15–17, the VSCDA hosted their annual Brian Redman International Challenge at Wisconsin’s Road America. As in previous years, the BRIC proved to be one of the largest events in the country with over 400 racecars competing in 10 separate race groups. This year’s event turned the spotlight on several special race groups including a Can-Am race, as well as a full field of 3-liter Formula One cars from the Historic Grand Prix race group.
In the Can-Am race, an impressive total of 32 cars were entered with 26 taking the green flag on Sunday. At the front of the field, a tight battle broke out between the 1970 McLaren M8D of Greg Matthews and the McLaren M8s of Lowell Blossom and Tim Gaffney. However, at the checkered flag it was Matthews in 1st place, 2 seconds ahead of Blossom, who was in turn 1 second ahead of Gaffney.
In the Historic Grand Prix race, 20 cars took the green flag on Sunday with the 1979 Williams FW07 of Canadian Hamish Somerville taking the win over Duncan Dayton’s 1978 Lotus 79 and the 1976 McLaren M23F of Danny Baker.
In other run groups, Duncan Dayton won the category for large displacement open-wheeled cars in his 1995 Reynard Champ car, Theo Bean took the GTP group win driving his 1998 Nissan GTP, while David Jahimiak won the early sports racer group driving his 1957 Devin.
While the weekend enjoyed many highpoints, including personal appearances by American champions Mario Andretti and Phil Hill, several serious on track incidents resulted in a number of drivers being sent to the hospital, with non-life threatening injuries. Most notable of these was a massive accident before the start of the Group 6 race that resulted in the damage of 17 cars and the ultimate cancellation of the race.
