VSCCA.org - ŠAutoPhotos 2003, Ed Hyman

Vintage Sports Car Club of America, Inc.

February, 2003
To: All Members
From: Bob Klingenburg-Activities Chairman-5 Wilcox Drive, Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046 Tel: (973) 334-7342,
e-mail: bobklingenburg@hotmail.com

Close to a month has passed since my last letter, and it seems like I've spent a considerable part of that time shoveling snow, or brushing it from the cars. I'm told that this winter has not been a particularly severe one historically, and that we have just been lulled into a false sense of warmth by unusually mild winters over the past several years. If that's true, I like being lulled.

As much as I like to ski, I dislike the jolt back to cold reality for such an extended period of time. It seems, the older I get, the more I like warm weather. Visions of South Beach begin to dance in my head. But, (and here's the relevant part, I haven't just been wasting your time with irrelevant talk of weather), then I realize that living in those places would actually exile me to a place in which there is no VSCCA, or anything like it.

There are plenty of other clubs or businesses around the country that offer vintage car experiences of one sort or another, but none like our club. In many of these other venues you can purchase their racing services as a customer, and race in THEIR event, and you may get a snazzy trophy worth a fraction of the cost of your entry fee if you modify your car sufficiently in excess of all the other people who modified their car a lot to get the same trophy. But you can't belong to a business.

The VSCCA, on the other hand, is a unique gem amongst this sea of other interesting venues. It offers the opportunity to belong to a club comprised of friends. It offers many different possibilities beyond just paying to race. We can tour TOGETHER (if our cars aren't overly modified), rallye TOGETHER (ditto), have tech sessions TOGETHER, climb hills TOGETHER, drive our cars in a competitive but friendly way on the track TOGETHER, have dinner TOGETHER, chat TOGETHER in the paddock, and simply just get TOGETHER to talk about OUR club and our friendships.

The VSCCA does not simply offer the opportunity to pay some organization for the right to race AGAINST EACH OTHER. You may not even have to forego the snazzy trophy part, as there are a few to be had in the VSCCA. The only thing is, our material tokens of recognition are given not for modifying your car sufficiently in excess of anyone else's that you can successfully compete AGAINST THEM and make them feel bad for loosing to you, but rather for a variety of behaviors that exemplify the vintage spirit in one way or another. Is this a great club, or what? Why would anyone want to change any of that?
Other clubs started out where we are, but for one reason or another, it got away from them. This is why so many of our friends are willing to give so freely of their time and effort to our club. Who would work for free for a business or a track? It's not just about the racing. It's not just about any one aspect of our club. It's not (risking heresy here, and a stern reprimand from my superiors and colleagues, but what the hay), it's not even just about the cars, although the part about they are the stars really confirms that it's not about the ego of individual success in competition. Rather, it's about the countless ingredients that weave together to form the friendships, and the club that is ours. Not someone else's club, OUR club. It's a treasure to be closely guarded in my humble opinion. We risk changing it at our peril. I guess if it becomes just another vintage racing group, I can finally move to South Beach.

There is surely something like that there. (There is an aspect to all of this that's arguably relevant to the event calendar, and I'm getting to it now).
Our activities calendar offers a wide variety of ways to get together with our friends and use our cars, including many venues that are towards the peripheral edge of the majority of our membership geographically. The calendar is arranged in this way because we want to afford each other the opportunity to not only use our cars in different ways, but in different places. So here is the next message less than subtly presented. Why are so many of us pigeonholed into participating in just one particular type of event, and sometimes at just one venue?
If you have never tried a hill, try a hill.
Likely the same friends you have made at your venue will be at the hill. If you have never done a rallye, try a time speed distance rallye. There are people there who you might actually know. And if you don't know them, you might actually find that you like them. It's possible anyway. There will be a time speed distance rallye at the southern meeting this year. Just do it. Don't think about it. Do it. Do it. Do it. I guess I'll have to pay rights to NIKE after that.
Do a tour type of rallye. No questions, or time speed distance, just fun. You may even get a memento that is worth far less than your entry fee. There is one at the end of June, called The VSCCA Berkshire Hills Rallye-Tour. It's a good one. In fact, it's a very good one. Do it. If you lost your announcement from last month, contact Event Chairman Ed Hyman at edwardh@gullwingsearch.com, or call him at (860) 355-1804. Surely there must be a car or two left in the club that is not so overly modified, or in such a highly strung state of hand grenade tune, or sealed up with bars all over the place, that two people can actually get in it easily and drive on a public road.
We need to see more of these wonderful surviving treasures out there. If you don't usually go to a tech meeting, just do it. Go to one. There will be friends there. And even if not, there will be food there.
Man does not live by racing alone.
As to geographical venue, why do some people seem to feel that track events only occur in Connecticut?
Lime Rock is admittedly one of the loveliest spots in the country, but there really are other tracks out there, some arguably just as pretty. You can only go around Big Bend so many times before you risk becoming permanently bended. Look at some of our long time Lime Rock competitors as proof. Some people evidently are not aware of this risk, and the result is that some events held outside of Connecticut have been slightly less than fully subscribed.

Why not see what VIR looks like? It is a gorgeous area. As pretty as Lime Rock, I think, and the track is stupendous. The facilities are first rate. Your friends will be there. The drive for most of us is farther than Lime Rock, but it's a truly lovely one through the mountains, so long as you go out through PA and down past Summit Point, and stay away from 95.
What about Tremblant? It is similarly gorgeous, and the surrounding area is arguably the premier destination resort of it's type in Canada. How about Summit Point? It's not really that far, and there are three track configurations there for this season.
Pittsburgh? Pittsburgh is so spectacular an event, with car shows and a whole part of the city shutting down just for us, and 100,000 people watching, and being on television, that it is difficult to comprehend that several non VSCCA cars are actually accepted each year due to under subscription on the part of our members.
The event that baffles me the most, however, is New Hampshire. If the VSCCA is supposed to be a staunchly New England based club, why are we not filling the field with VSCCA cars? What's up with that? It's a lovely area and the track is great fun. You have to get it in gear, and come to these venues.

As to our friends who have not been to a track event, or who haven't been to one in a while, please come out. All joking aside, there are undoubtedly many, many cars in the club, if not the vast majority, that are not "track prepared" at all, or possibly very minimally modified and still street driven. If you have such a car, and have not come to the track in a while, possibly because you have heard that modification and speeds are up, and courtesy is down from years ago, let me assure you that you will be accepted with open arms, and you can still feel safe in bringing your car out to one of our track events.
First, we are offering preservation class groups at all events in which there are enough street driven cars to support it. As a refresher, preservation class is for very lightly modified, or completely stock cars, of any type, that are driven conservatively. You can feel safe in this class. We are really trying to build this class, and would love to see some of the cars back that have been gone for a while, or are hiding. Even if your car is not strictly speaking a preservation class type of car, but you are a conservative, safe, considerate, careful driver, who feels more comfortable at a slower pace, or you don't want to risk a valuable car, or you just want to go a little faster than you usually do on the street in your street driven VSCCA car, you are very much welcome in this class. Be assured, you will have a safe place to run, both for yourself and your car.
There is some thought that even in the non preservation classes, there will be more of an attempt this year to slow things down just a bit, and attract people back who own all the cars listed in the membership roster, most of which are probably not very modified. Aggressive driving may be tolerated less frequently than in the past, and illegal over modification may be looked at more closely. Additionally, we will strive to attract enough VSCCA cars to all of our events, and manage the events in such a way, that you shouldn't need to worry about running wheel to wheel with overly modified non VSCCA cars, or running with overly aggressive drivers. To the extent that non VSCCA cars may need to be occasionally accepted at an event, if there are not sufficient club entries, we will do all we can to keep them in a separate group. You will not be running with 57 Chevy's, Mustangs, late model Corvettes, or 911's. There are many treasures in our members' garages. Please bring them out to the variety of events and venues that await them. It's fun and SAFE out there.

Speaking of Mustangs and later model Corvettes, if anyone happened to see the article in Grassroots Motorsports covering the Turkey Bowl at Summit Point, the lead picture of the Mustang and Corvettes was not real. Not that it never occurred, just that it didn't occur during our event. The magazine made a mistake in posting an SVRA picture. What is coming up? A lot. There is the Northern Tech, which might be a pleasant memory by the time you receive this mailing. The Southern Meeting and Rallye is right after that (announcement included), and then Lime Rock and Pocono in rapid fire (announcements included in the next mailing) at which the school is conducted.
I have received a lot of questions regarding the school. To clarify what is going on with the school: IT'S DIFFERENT THIS YEAR. There had been some sentiment expressed that students were not adequately prepared prior to mixing it up in wheel to wheel driving with our members. In response, we have done two things. First, we now strongly suggest that all students complete a professional school prior to coming to our school. In the case of someone who has no prior track experience at all, we very, very, very strongly suggest this. Please don't call to ask what strongly suggest means. It means strongly suggest. We really, really want students to do it. If someone can't or won't, will they be turned away, probably not.
Next, we have extended our school program to three days in place of the two days it had previously been. It was felt that some non track education was appropriate for the first two days of the school. The first school day, Friday at Lime Rock on April 12th, will be orientation, including a variety of things from a tech demonstration, to chalkboard talks, to attitude discussions, a video, skid pad session, and more. Students will probably be able to get their own cars pre-teched, so they can find out if there are any problems prior to going to Pocono the following week. The second school day, Saturday at Lime Rock on April 13th, will probably be mainly rotational corner working assignments, designed to ground students in safety, allow them to observe VSCCA track etiquette, and the proper line, etc. During the lunch hour, we will conduct student sessions on the track at reduced speeds. Then students will have a week to digest all of this, internalize it, and settle down. They will potentially also have a week to correct any problems with their car, before appearing at Pocono on the following Saturday. At Pocono, they will have a great deal of relaxed track time to demonstrate all they have learned prior to possibly being released into our general sessions before the end of the day. I've had a lot of questions along the lines of whether people with prior racing experience need all three days of the school. Not to be flip, but someone wiser than I once told me that a former SCCA national champion probably needs our school more than people without any track experience, prior to running with us. So I think the answer is yes, all three days. If you disagree, you should take up the matter with Don Nattrass, who is the Chief Instructor, and runs the school. I believe he is open to considering these requests on April 21st. There is something new on the calendar this month.
The Second Annual Hershey Vintage Hillclimb, being held in Hershey Pennsylvania on Saturday April 26th and Sunday, April 27th, sponsored by the Susquehanna Valley Vintage Sports Car Club (www.svvscc.org), is being supported by the VSCCA. While this event is not being run by the VSCCA, several of our members participated in the first annual recreation of this historic hillclimb last year, and had glowing reports. We have been in contact with the organizers who indicate that our members are welcome. Therefore we have put it on our schedule as a recommended event. The event conflicted with Pocono last year, but this year they moved the date just for us. So let's support them as best we can.
A complete regulations and registration package can be obtained at (www.svvscc.org), or by calling Chief Registrars Dick and Marsha Guthoehrlein at (717) 761-0165. General information can be obtained from Public Relations Chairman Stan Carpenter at svvscc@usa.net, or by calling him at (717) 502-1023.
Should you have any questions about the event or car eligibility that you cannot resolve through their website or by contacting them, Sandy Sadtler, who was one of the participants from our club last year, and ran the event in it's earlier days, has agreed to be our liaison to the event.
We're going to have a lot of fun this year, not competing against each other, whether on or off the track, but rather enjoying each other's friendship and wonderful old cars in a variety of venues, TOGETHER.

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