by Bob Harrington

Spring is here! Forget the date on the Calendar, if it is Sebring, it must be Spring. For those of us from the frozen North, frozen particularly hard this past Winter, it is a great excuse to come south, soak up some rays, and best of all, get to our first race of the Season. The Twelve Hours of Sebring is steeped in tradition, but HSR's Snap-on Sebring Endurance Challenge has now been around long enough to have traditions of its own. The strong emphasis on Endurance Racing, especially my favorite, the night Enduro, sets it apart from all other Vintage Races on the schedule. Another part of the tradition of HSR's Snap-on Sebring Endurance Challenge is the feature laden schedule, and this year's edition carried on the tradition. In addition to the two three hour Rolex Enduros and the previously mentioned Night Enduro, there was; the Al Holbert Memorial GTP reunion; rounds in; the Championship of Makes Series; the Historic GT Series; the Historic Stock Car Series; the Klub Sport Challenge; and of course, a full program of dash races.

In now what is a given on any HSR weekend, the Klub Sport race kicked off the racing activity. Always an impressive field, this weekend's was exceptional, with almost fifty cars taking the green flag. It also had the largest contingent of 356's I've seen in a long time with a dozen of the bathtubs making the grid and the maiden appearance of a '56 Porsche Denzel. From the start it was Charles Espenlaub in the Chris Lux '69 911 followed by Josh Vargo, '65 911 and then John Harrold, the first of the 914's in his '72 914/6. Leading the 356 group, in a very respectable 15th overall was the '64 model of Keith Denahan. Normally the battle for the lead is intense from flag to flag, but by the second lap, the leaders were drawing away from the pack and ever so slightly from each other. While there were some intense battles back in the pack, the order up front remained constant to the end. Denahan, in an inspired drive, with tons of opposite lock going through the turns, moved up to 11th overall and was the top 356. Capping off a full day, KLUB SPORT hosted a great "pit lane" party. Lots of food, drink, entertainment, and of course, bench racing.

Saturday's racing started early with the three hour Rolex Vintage Enduro. The Classic GT cars were combined in the Vintage and Historic Enduros, with the GT5 cars running with the Vintage cars. From the start it was two GT cars leading the way, the Wayne Jackson/Gunnar Jeanette '71 Porsche 914/6 followed by the '70 Porsche 914/6 shared by John Schneider and Elliot Forbes-Robinson. The next group were all Vintage with Roy Walzer's '63 Lotus 23B shared with Phil Harris, showing the way, the Charles Espenlaub/Dave White/Chris Lux '69 Porsche 911S second and Fritz Seidel's '69 Porsche 911 third. Just behind him, and rounding out the top three in GT was Paul Reisman's '70 Porsche 914/6 GT. The next time by the lead pack was still very tightly grouped, with Howard Cherry having moved his '67 Porsche 910 up to take over the third spot in the Vintage group. On lap three the lead car pitted moving the Schneider/ Forbes-Robinson team into the lead. The Walzer/Harris Lotus was now second overall but had Cherry's Porsche all over him. The Espenlaub/White/Lux team were now fourth overall and third in Vintage with the Reisman 914/6 GT taking over second in GT. Moving up to take over the final podium spot in the GT category was the '71 Porsche 914/6, with Josh McGraw and Catesby Jones sharing the driving duties. A lap later and it was Vintage up front, with Cherry now in command followed by the Waltzer/Harris team and then the Schneider/Forbes-Robinson car leading the GT contingent. The next change on the leader board came on lap fourteen, when Reisman retired moving the McGraw/Jones crew up to second in GT and Bill Hartong's '73 Porsche 911S up to third. Three laps later, the early leaders, Jackson and Jeanette, after a lengthy pitstop were working their way back up and had now taken back third in GT. On lap 23 the Walzer/Harris Lotus had regained the lead holding until they pitted on lap 32. On the previous lap, lap 30, the Porsche 910 of Cherry had retired so we now had the Schneider/Forbes-Robinson team again leading with Peter Kitchak's '69 Porsche 911 with driving duties shared with David Moore next, and first in Vintage, followed by Peter McLaughlin's '62 Lotus 23B, the McGraw/Jones 914/6 and back in third in Vintage after their pitstop, the Walzer/Harris Lotus. During the pitstops the Jackson/Jeanette team took back the lead, but when it all settled down it was Schneider/Forbes-Robinson up front, Walzer and Harris next, Josh Vargo/Mark Herrington were third overall, second in Vintage in a '65 Porsche 911, the Kitchak/Moore team were next and third in Vintage. Rounding out the top three in the GT category were the McGraw/Jones team and then Bill Hartong.

The next of the features on the schedule was the Al Holbert Memorial GTP Reunion. Stan Wattles, '92 Lola T92/10 took the lead from the start and never relinquished it. Jim Oppenheimer, 90 Intrepid GTP led the group trying to catch him, hotly pursued by Carlos de Quesada in a '90 Porsche 962. Oppenheimer held off de Quesada for three laps, but on lap four, de Quesada had taken over second. The next time by Oppenheimer was slowing, and then retired moving Jim Loftis' 91 Spice into third. The two lead cars were drawing away from the field, but there was still a good battle for third with the Ralph Thomas/Bob Woodman '85 Argo JM19C mounting a strong challenge. Seven laps from the finish the Thomas/Woodman team got by and held the position to the end.

The always exciting night race finished off the day's activities. Popular with competitors and spectators alike, it drew a large entry , while at the hairpin, the balconies of the Chateau Elan were crowded with spectators. Peter Kitchak, '73 Porsche 911 RSR took the lead from the start with Toby Bean, '74 Dekon Monza and Dave White, '75 Porsche 911 RSR, challenging strongly. An early full course yellow had most of the leaders heading for their mandatory pitstop, but Bean stayed out, which, as it turned out, would cost him the race. Bean held the lead until he pitted, under the green. Kitchak now took back the lead, with White second and Jim Scott, '73 Porsche IROC now third. Kitchak now had a good lead, but less than two seconds separated second through fourth. As it got darker, more and more cars were missing the braking points and using the escape roads, its very easy to get lost out there in the dark. With about five minutes left the Dave White car failed to come around, moving Scott into second, and ensuring a Porsche sweep, Josh Vargo's "Tiger" '92 Porsche 911 into third.

Sunday morning, and while it was dry, it was foggy. You could just make out the Group 2 cars taking the green flag for the start of their race from corner one. This was truly a battle of the "tubs" with 356 Porsches taking the top six position from the start. Resuming a battle that had taken place in every practice and qualifying session all weekend, Vic Skirmants, '61 356 jumped into the lead with Keith Denahan's '64 model all over him. Denahan was also being hotly pursued with George Balbach's '61 356 Roadster filling his mirrors. Skirmants and Denahan opened up a little distance on the field, but circulated as if tied together. It all came to a close though, as on lap six, Denahan came limping down pit lane, leaving Skirmants all alone up front. Balbach now inherited second with Tim Baker's '62 356 moving into third and that was the order to the checker.

The fog was starting to burn off when the cars took to the track for the Group 3 Dash. Again it was Porsche dominated with the top twelve cars in the finishing order from Stuttgart. Josh Vargo, '65 911 held the lead from flag to flag, but never by very much. Leading the chase was Peter Kitchak, '69 911 with Bill Riddell/Tommy Riggins '70 914/6 all over him. Two laps later though, Roy Walzer, who had started back in seventh in his '63 Lotus 23B, came storming by the two of them, challenging for the lead. Perhaps the challenge was a little too strong though, as on the next lap Walzer was back to tenth with with Kitchak and Riddell/Riggins back in 2nd and 3rd. The Riggins car finally got by Kitchak on lap seven, but Kitchak was still challenging. On the penultimate lap though, Kitchak failed to come around, moving Brad Blum's '70 914/6 into the third and final Podium position.

Next up was the final Enduro of the weekend, The Rolex Historic/Classic GT Enduro. From the start it was, no surprise, all Historic cars up front. The Ciaravella/Mandeville/Lewis/Klein '89 Spice GTP took the lead from the start, with the number 49 '90 Spice GTPL and the number 29 '86 Spice GTPL, both crewed by the quintet of Pritch/Nikolas/Klein/Lewis/Mandeville. The Carlos de Quesada/Catesby Jones '73 Porsche IROC RSR led the GT class followed by Eric Bretzel and Dave Farrell in Bretzel's ‘'73 Porsche 911, and the '73 Porsche 911S IROC of Ross Bleustein and Scooter Gable. On the next lap the #29 and #49 cars had swapped positions with the #49 dropping to fourth a lap later, being replaced by Dennis Spencer in a '93 Kudzu DG3. Spencer then set his sights on second place, slowly closing the gap and chasing, finally getting by six laps later. On the same lap the Bretzel/Farrell pitted, moving the '73 Porsche 911 RSR of Chris Lux and Scott Pheil into third in GT. The next changes on the leader board came with the first round of pit stops. Spencer took over the lead until he too pitted During the stops the Ralph Thomas/Bob Woodman '85 Argo JM 19C held the lead while the Joe Llauget/Jim King '93 Cutlass and the Peter Kitchak/David Moore '73 Porsche RSR both get as high as second. In the GT class, the Bleustein/Gable and the de Quesada/Jones teams were swapping positions back and forth with the de Quesada/Jones getting as high as third overall before they too headed for the pits. When all the pit stops were completed, Spencer was way out in front, the Rogers/Smith/Smith/Jackson team had driven a steady race in the '85 Jaguar XJR-7 to come from 34th to second while the comparatively small engined '73 Chevron B23 of Peter Gulick and Simon Hadfield had a secure grip on third. In the GT race it was de Quesada/Jones, Bleustein/Gable, and then Lux/Pheil giving Porsche yet another sweep in the Classic GT division.

Group 4 was first up for the afternoon's schedule of Dash races. The Peter Gulick/Simon Hadfield '78 Chevron jumped into the lead with Howard Katz' '73 March F2 732 giving chase. In third, but not able to match the pace of the leaders, was Robert Machinist's 77 Chevron B-39. The Gulick/Simon car led for six laps, but disappeared from the lap chart on lap seven. Katz now was alone way in front, Machinist had a lock on second with Thomas Fraelich's 79 March S-Vee rounding out the top three. The Group 5 Dash had some of the best racing of the afternoon. John Cloud, '67 Camaro, out dragged the '73 Porsche IROC RSR to take the lead with Craig Ross' '70 Boss 302 Mustang right on the Porsches exhaust pipes. Cloud held off the Porsche for two laps, but on lap three the Porsche was out in front. In third, Ross was also battling a Porsche, the '74 911 RS IROC of Ash Tisdale. He held his position a lap longer than Cloud but on lap four Tisdale was by. It was far from over though, with both American cars regaining their positions on lap eight. De Quesada took the lead back on the next and penultimate lap, holding it to the checker, while Ross held third to the end.

In the Group 6 race the '90 Spice C1 of William Eichengrun and Walt Bohren was clearly the class of the field leaving the rest of the field to battle for second. Steve Papalas led the rest in his '85 Argo JM-19 GTPL with the Pritch/Nikolas/Klein/Lewis/Mandeville '86 Spice GTPL trying to chase him down. The chase only lasted a lap before they retired moving Dennis Frick's '85 Royale RP40 into third. Second and third were now secure in their positions with that being the order at the checker. Next up were the Historic Stock Cars, always exciting and always a crowd pleaser. Dale Phelon, '94 Thunderbird, took the early lead, pursued by John Cloud, also in a '94 Thunderbird and Maurice Hull in a '88 Cutlass. They snaked through the corners, roared and slipstreamed down the straights, but there were not position changes until lap six, when Donald Soenen finally got his '98 Taurus by Hull to claim third. Hull tried to get the position back, but just couldn't make it stick.

The Championship of Makes Feature, was next on the agenda. Joe Nastasi's lovely '72 Alfa Romeo T33 led this one from flag to flag. Hamish Somerville, '72 Chevron B23 mounted a strong challenge but couldn't quite match the Alfa's pace. David Mackiewich, '76 Chevron B36 was in the hunt at the start but a strong charge from Robert Johnson's '90 Shelby Can-Am moved Johnson into third. Johnson posted the races fastest lap trying to close on the leaders, but it was too late. The IMSA Historic GT's were the final race of the weekend. Again we had a flag to flag winner, with Toby Bean's immaculately prepared '89 Nissan GTO leading the field. Ford man Donald Soenen was next, having switched from his Taurus Stock Car to the '92 Mustang Trans-Am with Guy Ratcliff's '94 Camaro GT1 in third. Soenen looked to have second all sewn up, but Ratcliff had two cars behind him trying to take the position. He held on until half distance, when Jeff Borghesi in his '84 Capri found a way by. Once by Borghesi managed to keep the position, but third through fifth were only about two seconds apart at the flag.

With the Snap-On Sebring Endurance behind us the season is now in full swing. The next event on the HSR schedule is new, a Spring version of the Savannah Historic Races, March 25-28. Featuring an Index of Performance Race, Historic GT Series, Championship of Makes, Klub Sport Porsche Challenge, Rolex Endurance Series and of course Dash Races it should be a great fun weekend. Spring in Savannah, with the Azalea's and Wisteria in full bloom is lovely. Don't miss it!