History Sportscar Racing Series news 2010-04-01

The MITTY Returns to Road Atlanta to Celebrate its 34th Year

The oldest historic car race on the East Coast returns to Road Atlanta, April 29-May 2 with the Classic Motorsports MITTY presented by Mazda.

Legendary auto figure Peter Brock is the Grand Marshal of this year's 34th annual festivities that will feature 28 races over three days featuring a lineup of more than 250 historic cars, offering something for every racing fan.

Brock is a noted designer, builder and racer having stamped his legend by designing the World Championship Shelby Daytona Cobra and giving Datsun its first C Production National and Trans-Am 2.5 championships with his BRE stable of winning cars. He will be honored at a special dinner Thursday night at the track.

"I'm greatly honored to be the grand marshal of the Mitty," Brock said. "This is the premier event of its kind. To have the history of BRE recognized is a great tribute and truly a walk down memory lane. I'm looking forward to meeting with my old crew, the fans and seeing some old friends."

Brock has a long and storied history of excellence in the automotive industry. He began his career as a designer for General Motors where he penned the original Stingray concept. Later, Brock moved to the West Coast to work for Carroll Shelby, starting his School of High Performance Driving, which ultimately led to designing the Cobra Daytona Coupe. The still-young Brock continued his meteoric rise by creating Brock Racing Enterprises at the end of 1965. His team of BRE Datsun race cars quickly began winning trophies and championships across the country, proving to critics that these early Japanese imports could compete with the world. The BRE Datsuns won four national championships and had an unmistakable livery that is among the most recognizable in all of racing. Many fans, in fact, created BRE "tribute" cars replicating the famous livery. On Saturday Brock will judge the best "tribute" cars.

"Historic Sportscar Racing has been bringing fans fantastic racing featuring some the great names in racing for two decades," said Ken Fengler, HSR Vice President of Race Operations. "This year's Mitty promises to offer fans some of the best racing ever among a broad variety of championship-winning cars and drivers."

Lotus will be a featured marque with a 20-lap Formula 5000 race at noon Sunday, May 2. Tony Adamowicz, the 1969 F5000 champion, will be among the competitors in his Eagle Mk5. In addition, spectators will be given free track laps in the all-new Lotus Evora during the weekend.

Porsche will be in the spotlight with the Klub Sport Challenge which enters its 14th year of competition for all Porsches from the 1950s, 60s and 70s for 2.0-liter and 2.5-liter Porsche 911s, 914s, 356s and CP models. Additionally, the Cayman Interseries features 2009-2010 Caymans painted in historic racing paint schemes.

Mazda fans will enjoy the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, the only professional event of the weekend, which will be run Saturday afternoon.

In addition there will be seven other classes of racing including Vintage Production, Historic Production, Open Wheel, Historic GTP/Group C/WSC/DP, Championship of Makes, Historic Stock Cars and IMSA Historic GT.

A vintage event for motorcycles will be held for nostalgic two-wheel marquees such as Norton, Triumph, Vincent and Matchless. They will race both Saturday and Sunday.

Several non-racing activities will appeal to fans as well at the infield 2010 Speedfest. The Factory Five/Cobra Corral will be center stage of the infield vendor alley with car displays and vendor booths. More than 20 car clubs, including Jaguar, Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Cobra, Lotus and Fiat-Lancia, also will be on display in the infield. The Mazda owner's party Friday night is open to all Mazda owners who can attend by showing their car keys. The Saturday Night Party, sponsored by Moss Motors, will offer live entertainment with music by Wes Cobb.

An added bonus for fans will be the Concours d'LeMons, which puts a bitter twist on traditional Concours events by celebrating unloved and underappreciated classics, automotive oddities and cars whose owners aren't afraid of a little self-deprecation. Judges will present several awards for cars that are especially foul, such as "Most Dangerous," "Worst in Show," and the "Biggest Loser" for the car with the greatest level of value depreciation.

Among the top drivers competing in this year's MITTY will be George Robinson, Bill Adam, Butch Leitzinger and Travis Engen, all winners at the HSR season-opener in Sebring, Fla., as well as Elliott Forbes-Robinson, Jack Baldwin and Chip Robinson, to name a few.

"The variety of race cars competing includes everything from 1950s-era production models and sports cars to former IMSA and Trans-Am racers, NASCAR stock cars and current production Porsches. Many of the 250 entrants will sport vintage livery from the past that fans will readily recognize," Fengler added.

The Mitty is the second of eight races on the HSR 2010 schedule. For more information, go to www.themitty.com or www.hsrrace.com.

-source: www.hsrrace.com