It's been announced that as a part of Springfield, Massachusetts' 375th anniversary celebration there will be a three-day vintage car road race in downtown Springfield in July that celebrates the city's history. The basics: Place: Downtown Springfield, Massachusetts Dates: July 22-24, 2011 What can race: Pre-1960 cars Race Sponsors: Vintage Sports Car Club of America in collaboration with the city Event Chairs: Chip Brown 297 Silvermine Ave Norwalk CT 06850 chip21c@hotmail.com 203 840-0825 and Mike Virr 1222 Bronson Rd Fairfield CT 06824 virrmj@prodigy.net You'll be able to watch it FOR FREE! Link to an article in the local paper announcing the event: Springfield revved up for road race From that article: and There's more to the article, but those who are interested can click on the link to read it. I'm honestly not sure whether or not somebody with a period correct hot rod or "special" of the proper vintage would be allowed to compete (or at least exhibit their cars) as a part of the event. The way I'm reading the web sites you may need to be a member of the Vintage Sports Car Club of America to participate in the race itself, and that looks to be a bit more involved than simply filling out an application and sending in a membership fee. Either way, however, I think this ought to be a total hoot with plenty of vintage racing cars and all the proper sounds, smells and excitement emitted by old cars ripping around a course through city streets at what would ordinarily be regarded as thoroughly inappropriate speeds. And I can't think that they'd be able to object to having some old hot rods parked nearby while the race proceeds.
I just found info on what the sponsoring organization allows to run in their races. Here's the link: Eligible Post-War Cars
Looks like there is going to be a 1.6 mile course laid out on Springfield's downtown city streets. This is going to be very, very cool!
There's a City Council Meeting on Monday, April 25 at 4:30 pm to support the change in the state law needed to be able to have the Springfield Vintage Grand Prix on city streets. I should be there to support the cause, and I would love to see some HAMBers there, too. The meeting should be in Springfield City Hall which is in downtown Springfield, MA. The local paper has an article on the meeting. I've also started to use Twitter to post news and announcements about the race. You can follow news about the race on Twitter using the links below: http://twitter.com/#!/svgp11 http://twitter.com/#!/karanakos I'm using the hashtag #svgp whenever I post something, and I am hoping that others who use Twitter to post info about the race will begin to use it, too.
Unless somebody's heard differently since then, the SVGP has been postponed a year: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2011/05/25/first-springfield-vintage-grand-prix-postponed/ dan
Yep, looks like its Cancled... http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/springfield_vintage_car_race_c.html
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