Portland International Raceway played host to the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) Racing Festival the last weekend of July with more than 110 competitors taking part in six race groups, an Enduro, Mazda Heritage Series and professional Trans-Am Series.
The first of two Formula Ford feature races had its order shuffled at the front after the leaders ran afoul of an oil slick in Portland’s Festival Curves, with the final order being Tom Kreger, 1971 Titan MKE (Formula Ford), Neil Shelton, 1985 Swift DB1 (Post Club Ford) and John Greeven, 1978 Crossle 32F (Post Club Ford). Sunday’s second race repeated the top three.
Victory from the largest weekend field of 28 limited production sports cars was claimed on Saturday by John G. Miller in his 1961 Hatch Park Special (4 C-Modified) and Sunday by Bill Simer, 1962 Lotus 23 (4 F-Modified).
The next largest field of 21 cars was for the big-bore group, and featured a rousing battle between Ken Sutherland’s 1965 Shelby Cobra (6 A-Production) finishing 2nd to Dave Kunicki’s 1969 Corvette (6 A-Production) in Feature #1, before Sutherland prevailed over Curt Kallberg’s 1972 Corvette (6 A-Production) in Feature #2.
The race for production sports cars, sedans and GT cars offered 18 entrants, with Thor Johnson taking both days’ feature races in his 1974 Schnitzer BMW 2800CSL (12/GT0), followed in 2nd on Saturday by John Murray’s 1973 Datsun 260Z (12MP1) and Sunday by Paul Quackenbush in his 1963 Lotus Super 7 (8 C-Production).
Frank Marcum, 2001 Ford Taurus (10SC3), claimed both the NASCAR Cup group features, while Peter Baljet, Saleen S7R (11GTP3), won both prototype group features.
Grand Marshall Willy T. Ribbs met up with fans, current drivers and former Trans-Am competitor Greg Pickett, who won Sunday’s pro race. Norm Daniels and Matt Crandall took the Enduro in their 1968 Camaro (A Production), and Jeremy Barnes claimed both feature races in the Mazda Heritage Cup with his 1990 Miata (MCM).
