March 2017

• After a run of 19 years, the cost of operating the Coronado Speed Festival in San Diego has forced the cancellation of the event after its organizer, the nonprofit San Diego Fleet Week Foundation, was pushed to the brink of insolvency. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Foundation has suffered huge losses since 2014, with the Speed Festival causing its biggest deficits, and now finds itself negotiating with creditors to settle debts. Rumors have been heard of another group seeking to try to resurrect the event, but nothing firm has yet been anounced.

• Following last year’s relocation from its original location in Novi, Michigan, to the grounds of Daytona International Speedway in Florida, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) staged the official grand opening of its new DIS facility on Friday, February 17. New MSHFA inductees from the Class of 2016 included Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Richard Childress, Tom D’Eath, Hurley Haywood, Buddy Martin, Bill Seebold, Rusty Wallace and Humpy Wheeler.

• As we were closing for press came news that a new three-year management agreement for Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca had been reached by the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) that will enable SCRAMP to continue prepartions for the county-owned track’s upcoming 60th Anniversary season. For vintage racecar aficionados that means the track’s new Spring Classic (see separate item) in May and August’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion will proceed as planned. For complete information please visit www.MazdaRaceway.com