VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL
THE HARRINGTON REPORT
By Bob Harrington

Sometimes you just get lucky! Virginia is supposed to be HOT and humid in July. It was humid all right, but the temperatures ranged from comfortable to bearable. The Weather Channel was forecasting showers and thundershowers all weekend but for the most part we dodged them, with the only rain falling Saturday night, resulting in a wet track Sunday morning and a shower during lunch, extending into the start of the Rolex Historic Enduro. While VIR remains a treat to visit and has quickly become the benchmark for measuring other tracks, they are by no means resting on their laurels. The restoration of the original Plantation House was completed last fall and is now in use as a spectacular Club House. Three rally courses, as well as ATV and SUV courses are almost complete and construction is well under way for an 8000 square foot showroom/museum to showcase collector cars, race cars and automotive art. Overnight resort lodging and storage garages are in the plans for next year, with even more ambitious long term plans in the works, indeed, one of the treats about going to VIR is checking on the changes and improvements since last time.

The Lotus Challenge race, the first race of the weekend saw a wide variety of cars entered, from Paul Reisman’s Lotus powered Brabham through to Tony Anderson’s Lotus 11 with a spread of over forty years between the oldest and newest entries. David Rosenblum’s ’99 Caterham mounted a surprisingly strong challenge to Reisman’s Brabham but gradually dropped back settling for second, with Brian Thomas’ ’69 Lotus 51, secure in third, but just not able to mount a challenge for second. In the second of Saturday’s races, the always hotly contested Klub Sport Porsche Race, John Harrold, ’72 914/6 took the lead from the start, with Peter Kitchak, ’69 911, Jim McCormick, ’69 911S, Catesby Jones, ’70 914/6 and Terry Wolters, ’70 914 all in a tight group at the front of the pack. By the end of lap 2, Harrold still had the lead, McCormick was up to second and Kitchak was now third. Next time around, McCormick had the lead, Kitchak was second, Wolters was now third, and Harrold was back to fifth. A lap later, Kitchak had taken over the lead with McCormick desperately trying to get it back. Two laps later, Wolters was out and Harrold had moved back into third, right on McCormick’s tailpipes. The order at the top was unchanged on lap seven, the penultimate lap, but Harrold managed a last lap pass to claim second with only two seconds covering the top three cars at the checker. With the day’s racing completed, it was time for one of the best parties I’ve seen in a while - lots of great Southern BBQ, salads and to top it off, ice cream sundaes, I mean when can you remember getting ice cream at a race party, yum! At the party John Cloud was presented with the Worker’s Choice award, a Checkered Flag signed by all the workers, a very popular choice.

Sunday morning, the overnight rain had stopped, but the track was still wet and very greasy when the cars took to the track for the Rolex Vintage Enduro. At the start it was the ’70 Porsche 914/6 co-driven by Catesby Jones and B. Refenning, with Jim McCormick’s ’69 911S second and breaking up the Porsche parade, David Hinton’s ’52 Jaguar XK120 in third. The first change at the top came on lap five, when McCormick took over the lead, Jones/Refenning were second and making it all Porsches on the leader board, the Terry Wolters/B. Bryan ’70 914 in third. Hinton had been forced to pit in what was to be a number of stops to correct a problem with his brake lights which alternately refused to work, and then wouldn’t go off. The action at the front continued and two laps later, the Jones/ Refenning team was back in the lead, the Wolters/Bryan Porsche was second with McCormick back to third. The next change at the top came on lap 14 when the Jones/ Refenning car failed to come around, moving McCormick back into second and Josh Refenning/Tim Vargo’s ’66 Porsche 911 into third. They only held the position for a lap though, as on the next go-round Peter Kitchak had moved up and taken over third in his ’69 Porsche 911. Kitchak held the position for three laps and then he disappeared from the lap chart, moving Joe Sullivan’s ’70 Porsche 914/6 into the final podium position. As the clock ran down, the battle for the lead continued, and with four laps left, McCormick retook the lead, holding it to the end. After an hour of racing the margin of victory was only .411, it doesn’t get much closer or more exciting than that!

When the cars took to the track for the second of the day’s Enduros, the Rolex Classic GT Enduro, the sky was still heavy and threatening and the track was still very slick. John Cloud, ’67 Camaro, wasted no time charging into the lead, with Eric Bretzel, ’72 Porsche 911 and Lee Brahin, ’64 Elva Mk 7S in hot pursuit. Perennial Enduro top runner John Bourassa, teamed up with L. Stewart in Bourassa’s ’73 Porsche 911RS were forced to make an early pit stop which, as it turned out, would deny them any chance of a podium finish. Gary Jordan, ’69 Camaro had been chasing Brahin hard for third and finally got by on lap six, but then a car went into the tire wall after taking evasive action to avoid a spinning competitor, bringing out an extended full course yellow while crews extricated the car and repaired the tire wall. Everyone headed for the pits to make their mandatory stop and when the green was finally shown, it was still Cloud at the front, followed by Bretzel and then Ash Tisdale’s ’73 Porsche RSR. While the Bourassa/Stewart car was running with the leaders and making for exciting racing, having to pit under the green had put them a lap down. Bretzel continued to push for the lead, but three laps from the end he pushed a little too hard, had a bit of an "off" and rejoined back in eighth place. This moved Tisdale into second and the Ken McKinnon/J. Nizborski, ’74 Porsche IROC up to third, with that being the order at the flag.

After a break for "quiet" time and lunch it was time for the last of the Enduros, the Rolex Historic Enduro. It had rained on and off for most of the break and when the cars took the pace lap it was pouring. When the cars went by for the first race lap, it resembled a boat race more than a car race with the spray from the leaders obscuring the rest of the field. Peter Kitchak, ’73 Porsche RSR took the lead from the start, followed by Jake Vargo, ’92 Porsche 911 and then Brad Blum, ’70 Porsche 914/6. Kitchak, went wide in NASCAR turn on the third lap, dropping two wheels onto the wet grass, giving Vargo the opportunity to get by and take the lead. Vargo then proceeded to draw away, and with the exception of when he made his pit stop, holding the lead until the end. Blum and Alan Kendall, also in a ’70 Porsche 914/6, swapped third back and forth but at the end Blum had the position, with the finishing order being Vargo, Kitchak and Blum.

With the Enduros completed it was time for the first of the sprint races, the Gary Jones Motorsports All American Muscle Car Challenge. As in the Classic GT Enduro, John Cloud, ’67 Camaro, wasted no time taking the lead, with Gary Jordan, ’69 Camaro, and Frank Grimaldi, ’68 Camaro Z28 giving chase. Cloud was gradually drawing away, but on lap four he pulled off with clutch problems, allowing Jordan and Grimaldi to move up a notch. Gary Jones, ’65 Mustang took over third, breaking the GM stranglehold on the podium positions, and that was the order at the finish. Group 8. the first of the WorldCom Dash races was dominated by Porsches with eight of the top ten cars bearing the Porsche logo. From flag to flag the order at the top was Jim McCormick, ’69 Porsche 911, Joe Sullivan, ’70 Porsche 914/6 and Jim Thomasson, but the racing was closer than the results or lap charts indicate. Sullivan was on McCormick’s bumper the whole way with the difference at the end only .306. The Group 7/Historic GT Dash had some "good ol southern" Stock Cars blasting around VIR’s twists and turns along with the Porsches, Corvettes and 240Z’s. Aarron Dudley’s ’86 Buick took the early lead with Jack Finches ’93 Lumina second and John Cloud’s ’94 T-Bird rounding out the top three. Next time around Cloud was by Finch to claim second and the following lap, Darren Law moved his 93 Grand Prix into third. Law’s grasp on third was short though, as he retired on the following lap moving Finch back into third. Lap five saw Cloud take over the lead from Dudley, but on the next circuit, Cloud was all the way back to fourth, Dudley had the lead back, Finch was second, and Bill Smith’s ’87 Dodge Daytona held third. With only two laps to go Cloud was pouring it on, turning the fastest laps of the race, recapturing third on the penultimate lap and second on the last lap, but ran out of time to challenge for the lead. At the checker it was Dudley, Cloud and Finch.

What can I say about the Group 6 WorldCom Dash? Given the dismal weather forecast, and the rain in the morning, almost all the competitors had elected to pack up and head for home early, leaving Bob Rapp’s lovely ’85 Porsche 962 all alone on the grid. Rapp used the session as personal test session, improving his lap times every lap and establishing a personal best time. The Group 3 Dash saw another Porsche sweep of the podium positions with Ash Tisdelle’s ‘73 Porsche RSR clearly the class of the field, taking the lead from the start and disappearing over the horizon, leaving Roy Albertalli, ’74 Porsche Carrera 911 to fend of Ralph McCracken’s ’73 Porsche 911 for second place honors. Albertalli managed to hold the position, but McCracken never gave up, chasing him right to the finish. The Group 5 WorldCom Dash looked like a repeat of the start of the All American Muscle Car Challenge with John Cloud, his clutch once again operating taking the lead followed by Gary Jordan and then Frank Grimaldi. By lap two, Lee Brahin, who was throwing his ’64 Elva Mk 7S around VIR’s many twists and turns, had overtaken Grimaldi and was chasing Jordan. Just a Cloud was beginning to open up some breathing room, his oil pressure dropped to zero forcing him to park his Camaro. Once again Jordan was poised to inherit the lead, Brahin took over second and Grimaldi moved back up to third, with that being the order at the finish

In the Group 2 Dash Lee Talbot showed why he was a National Champion taking the lead from the start in his ’65 Ginetta G4 and never relinquishing it. George Balbach, ’61 Porsche 356 and John Biggs, ’58 Porsche Speedster gave chase and kept things interesting, but could not match the Ginetta’s speed through the corners finishing second and third respectively. The last race of the day, the Group 4 WorldCom Dash, had Charlie Gibson as lonely as the Maytag Repairman at the front of the pack leading from start to finish. Behind him a fierce battle waged for second between the ’71 Merlyn Mk. 20 of Lee Brahin and Barry Durham’s ’70 Lola T-200. Brahin held the position but the two battled lap after lap, going through "Left Hook" and "Snake" almost side by side until the penultimate lap when Brahin had a bit of a bobble, Durham was by and held on to take the position.

HSR’s next event is September 12-15 at Road Atlanta. With the Finale of the BOSS SuperCup Series, Historic GT Series, Porsche 935 Challenge, Rolex Enduros, WorldCom Dash Races and SVRA Group 4 cars all included in the schedule it should be an action packed weekend. See you there!