The inaugural Spring Classic historic races were held on May 19-21, 2017 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in California. At the Spring Classic, run groups of vintage race cars from series popular in 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s revved back to life on the Monterey Peninsula circuit to the delight of motorsports enthusiasts.
From screaming Formula 1 machines from the 1970s to the grunt of American V8 engines in the 1966-1972 Trans-Am group, a variety of sounds from fast and fun racing eras past echoed through the hillsides. Fans took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere in the paddock to get up close and personal with the vintage race cars and historic motorcycles that weren’t thundering up and down the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course.
The Masters USA Historic Formula 1 group that quickly became a fan favorite concluded on Sunday with Dan Marvin driving his 1974 Brabham BT44 from behind to a win, edging the Wolf WR4 of four-time Motorcycle Grand Prix champion Eddie Lawson, who has aptly acquitted himself on four wheels.
Among the stars of the Historic F1 group were Chris Locke’s ex-Mario Andretti Lotus 77, the car that Mario raced in 1976. In addition to the on-track accolades, the car was also featured in action in major motion pictures Rush and Iron Man 2. The event was robbed of this wonderful Lotus when a fuel line ruptured on Saturday, resulting in a fire just past turn eleven.
The Masters Historic Formula One grid also included the Shadow DN9 of Charles Warner, his ex-Elio de Angelis/Jan Lammers car from the 1979 season, along with the earlier Shadow DN5 driven by Brazilian Dalmo De Vasconcelos, the Shadow DN3 wheeled by Harindra de Silva and the Shadow DN1 driven by Canadian Keith Frieser. Additionally, John Delane took his Tyrrell 002 that Francois Cevert won the 1971 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Cal Meeker’s Williams FW08 came from the 1983 season and Doug Mockett drove the same Penske PC4 that John Watson drove to Penske’s only F1 win at the Austrian Grand Prix.
One of the more intriguing run groups was Group F, which combined 1983-2007 World SportsCar Championship and Le Mans Prototype entries along with 1966-72 Can-Am. It is rare to see a 2006 Riley Scott being pursued by a 1970 McLaren and a 2005 Audi R8 Le Mans Prototype, but it happened at the 2017 Spring Classic Laguna Seca. The 2005 Audi R8 LMP driven by Travis Engen won every time he started on the grid, scoring Group F victories on Saturday and twice on Sunday and winning Saturday’s one-hour vintage enduro that was open to all close-wheeled race cars.
The Historic Stock Car group had spectators doing double-takes as it brought a mix of familiar cars to an unfamiliar venue. Mac Mcgarry won both events on Saturday in Historic Stock Car with a dominant performance from his Kodiak #25 1989 Chevrolet Lumina. Tom Klauer did likewise on Sunday in a 2003 Chevrolet Monte Carlo once driven by Jimmie Johnson.
Patrick Byrne wheeled his 1965 Alfa Romeo GTA Corsa to back-to-back wins in 1966-1972 Trans-Am 2.5 Liter on Saturday. Among others, Byrne slid his little Alfa through turns two and five, bringing back memories of the GTAs running Laguna Seca in the original Trans-Am series. Troy English followed up with a Trans-Am 2.5 Liter double on Sunday with his 1972 Datsun 510.
Other winners included: John Delane, 1966 Brabham BT18 (1967-1972 Formula B, Race 1); Andrew Wait, 1967 Merlyn Mk10 (1967-1972 Formula B, Race 2); Jeffrey Abramson, 1970 Chevrolet Camaro (1973-1984 SCCA Production GT Cars); Bill Ockerlund, 1968 Shelby Mustang (1966-1972 Trans-Am, Race 1); Forrest Straight, 1970 Ford Mustang (1966-1972 Trans-Am, Race 2); Dalmo de Vasconcelos, 1976 Ralt RT-1 (1973-1979 Formula Atlantic, Race 1) and Danny Baker, 1979 Ralt RT-1 (1973-1979 Formula Atlantic, Race 2).
Sports Car Digest documented the debut Spring Classic Laguna Seca 2017, with Senior Photographer Dennis Gray offering the following pictures from the classic California road course.
Spring Classic Laguna Seca 2017 – Photo Gallery (photos: Dennis Gray)
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Great set of images, Dennis!
Need info on how to buy a couple of prints
Pat
You can find image files and prints from this event at historicmotorprints.com
Ciao Dennis
Nice shots, really appreciate the captions, makes it so much more interesting.
Gorgeous on track photos!!! Really does a great job of capturing the brutal speeds these cars were capable of. Formula and Sports Cars from this era have so much more character than the current breed of racing machines.
Cars have much more character without ANY tag-on wings fore & aft. Surely these extreme wide Slick tires can do the job of preventing skids. they look hideous !. There shoiuld have been a limit on “wide” tires…..then we can see who is good at driving a car on a race track. speed is not everything. I left the UK in 1966 when cars did not look like this. To see Graham Hill driving round Woodcut corner (at Silverstone) in opposite lock, was something to behold winning the just by a nose. that is what I call racing skill.
Stephen- As Dennis mentions in the text portion of his article, check out Dennis’s page 13 gallery photo of our # 62 white “Stars and Stripes” livery 1965 Alfa GTA, where Patrick Byrne is high-speed sliding (104mph at the bridge entry) through Turn 5 with much needed opp-lock. What you don’t see is the same sliding happens in Turn 2, 3, 4 , 8b, and 10 each and every lap. And these are the same EXACT tires, engine and suspension the car ran in this class in period. We actually removed a front air-dam the car ran in the late 60s and early 70’s.
Dennis- As always, your exciting photojournalism of our beloved sport is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for sharing!
Bill
To watch Patrick ‘dirt track’ the Stars and Stripes Alfa through Laguna’s turns was a kick. Brought back early days of the Trans-Am. Great drive.
Sorry it takes so long to edit and post production the images. I am getting quicker but still between work and family it takes a bit of time.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Dennis