24 April 2017 • Victory Lane

VARA Duel In the Desert Spring Mountain, NevadaFebruary 17-19, 2017

Victory Lane • April 2017 25www.victorylane.com

#50 Jerry Bernheimer, 1965 Bobsy SR-3; #16 Kenneth C. Knight, 1964 Triumph TR-4; #16 Kevin Ayers, 1963 Triumph Spitfire; #174 James Gratson, 1974 Porsche 914.

26 April 2017 • Victory Lane

– story by Steve Gorwitz – photos by Chris Benson

Whenever I’m in contact with the editors at Victory Lane Magazine, either Dan or Chris will give me this usually handy piece of advice: “don’t lead with the weather.” And there is a good reason for that, of course – the weather isn’t all that interesting, and saying the sun was shining doesn’t really do a whole lot to set the scene. So whenever I’m called upon to write for this magazine, I always make it a point to follow that advice.

But sometimes, you have to make exceptions to the rules And in the case of VARA’s Duel in the Desert, which took place this past February

at Spring Mountain near Las Vegas, making such an exception is warranted.

You can usually count on some outstanding weather at Spring Mountain in February, but this year was different as, much like the

rest of neighboring California, whose long and dragged out drought appeared to be coming to an end this past winter with one deluge after another, the Nevada desert was subjected to a similar fate. VARA’s drivers assembled in the desert and then it rained. Poured . Who needs tires? You’re better off attaching pontoons. Some of the drivers looked as if they were getting ready to try a new career in hydroplane racing. The

early sessions were soggy and soaked.

But race on they did, because the drivers of VARA aren’t about to let the rain get in the way of having a good time. By the end of the week, improved conditions and sanity had both won out, and the club was able to put forth a full slate of races on Saturday and Sunday.

VARA held a special race at Spring Mountain in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the FORMULA FORD. A total

of 18 Formula Fords and Club Fords took to Spring Mountain’s 3.4-mile circuit for this celebration race, with Todd Strong, 1981 Crossle 45, running strong and cruising to a comfortable

victory over the fastest of the Club Fords, the 1979 Crossle driven by Stuart Paterson. Steve

Egger, 1979 Lola T540, wound up finishing in the third spot. But Patterson returned the

photo by xxxxxx

#5 Neal Rupp, 1968 PBS Mk4 Spyder; #36 John Beck, 1969 MG Midget.

#8 Maurizio Brandhoff, 1965 Cobra FFR.

#167 John Brown, 1977 Crossle 32F.

#9 Rory Rinebold, 1964 Chevrolet Kellison.

Victory Lane • April 2017 27www.victorylane.com

favor in Sunday’s GROUP 1 race, beating Strong to the finish line by 2.3 seconds in the 7-lap contest. Coming in third overall was Kim Madrid, behind the wheel of her 1978 Ford Crossle.

The GROUP 2 race was a close one, with Phillippe Reyns, 1971 Lola T212, eking out a narrow win over Maurizio Brandhoff, driving a snazzy orange 1965 Cobra FFR. Winding up third in the group was the 1994 Toyota WSR2 car driven by Daniel Martinez.

Given the inclement weather, the groups on Sunday were still decently populated. A total of 14 cars made up the GROUP 3 grid for an 8-lap race ultimately claimed by Vincent Tjelmeland, 1980 March. The battle for the 2-3-4 spots proved to be quite competitive, with Kenton Greth, 1997 Lola Indy Light, getting to the chequered flag to claim a 2nd-place overall finish a second ahead of Allen Johnsen, 1973 Lola 320, who claimed the third sport overall while 4th-place fnishing Paul Lisec, 1985 Ralt RT/5, finished less than a second behind Johnsen.

The GROUP 4 race was a battle between the BMWs and the Datsuns, with the 1972 BMW 2002 driven by Sam Smith leading the way when the chequered flag few. Smith was running 15 seconds ahead at the time, and behind him, a close battle for the second spot

was settled with Steve Link, 1968 Dastun 510, taking the spot while Matthew Rose, 1971 BMW 2002, settled for the third spot.

The race for fourth was even closer, with David Wyckoff’s BMW 2002 nipping Rob Bellevue’s 1971 BMW 2002 at the finish.

A large grid of 28 production cars took to the circuit in the GROUP 5 race, which proved to be a triumph for the 1964 Triumph TR-4 driven by Kenneth C. Knight. A nip-and-tuck battle for second developed between the 1996 Mazda Miata of Kiem Tjong and David Isaac’s 1973 MGB, with the Mazda getting the better of it. Devereaux Langdoc, 1977 Blakely Bantam, wound up finishing fourth fractions of a second ahead of the 1965 Bobsy SR-3 of Jerry Bernheimer.

It was wild and wet at Spring Mountain, but in the end, everyone had a great time and there was some great racing along the way. VARA’s season continues with the British Extravaganza, May 6-7 at Buttonwillow.

VARA’s Duel in the Desert at Spring Mountain Motor Ranch, featured race was the Formula Ford group. Celebrating 50 years of Formula Fords.

On Saturday afternoon after a full day of racing in the rain 20 of the 28 registered formula fords were looking forward to the invitational race. It was amazing seeing all these Fords together. The group was mixed with drivers from Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and California.

The track was still wet but nothing like the conditions earlier that day. Todd Strong started on pole in a 1981 Crossle 45 with Stewart Patterson in his 1979 Crossle starting off pole. We knew it was going to be a battle with those two being that they were faster than the rest of the pack, but pretty much equal to each other in the earlier races that day. They are both members of formula Ford “The Series” and seem to battle each other most of the time.

At the drop of the green flag engines rev up as the rooster tails sprayed on

the front straight away. Everyone made it through there clean and even though visibility was not the best. The first few turns the fields were trying to get in that single file line but that was not happening soon enough. We were going 2 and 3 wide through those first few turns. Going into turn 3 Stewart Patterson spun, (due to all the gravel on the track) but did get back on track without giving up too many positions. At that point Todd Strong pretty much ran away with the lead and never looked back. Kinnon Marshall received the hard charger award since he started 15th and finished 5th overall. Even if you were not at the front of the pack, a good time was had by all. There were different battles through-out the field during the entire race. At the completion of the race VARA was gracious enough to line us all up by the start finish line and take a group photo of the fords that participated in this great event

– Kim Madrid

Celebrating 50 Years of Formula Ford

#8 Fred Trueman, 1967 Porsche 911S; #93 Richard Varner, 1964 MGB.

#35 Phillipe Reyns, 1974 Chevron B-27; #15 Kenton Greth, 1997 Lola Indy Light.

28 April 2017 • Victory Lane

CLASSIC ENDURO PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 GTC1 T. Seiler/1969/15 Lola T70 Mk

IIIb1 GTC3 T. Treffert/1974 Porsche 911

IROC2 GTC3 M. Banz/1974 Porsche 911 RSR1 V2 S. Gabel/D. Lohman /1999 BMW

E36/8 Z3 coupe1 GTC4 D. York/D. Hinton /1973 BMW

CSL

#063 David Lawrence, 1979 Royale.3 GTC3 J. Mitchell/1974 Porsche 911

RSR1 V3 G. Calfo/1965 Porsche 9114 GTC3 F. Schulte/1973 Porsche 911

IROC2 GTC1 G. Nolte/1966/14 Ford GT402 V3 R. Branom/1992 Mazda MX52 V2 J. Garcia/1999 Mazda Miata2 GTC4 J. Cooke/2008 BMW M3/GT45 GTC3 K. Blaha/1974 Porsche 911 RSRCLASSIC RS PL DRIVER/CAR 1 M. Banz/1974 Porsche 911 RSR2 T. Treffert/1974 Porsche 911 IROC3 F. Schulte/1973 Porsche 911 IROC4 K. Blaha/1974 Porsche 911 RSR5 J. Mitchell/1974 Porsche 911 RSR

#68 Steve Egger, 1979 Lola T540.GLOBAL GT PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 9X T. Herb/2016 Porsche 991.2 Cup1 GGT5 C. Berry/2009 Porsche 997.1

Cup1 GGT1A C. Falcone/K. Wheeler /2010

Ford Mustang T/A1 10X D. Roberts/2016 Porsche Cayman

GT4/CS1 GGT6 R. Wittenberg/2009 Porsche

Cayman-S2 9X V. Gomez/2017 Porsche 991.2 Cup3 9X P. Lasco/2016 Chevy Camaro TA21 GGT4 J. Cooke/2008 BMW M3/GT4GROUP 2/3/5 PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 VPT T. Seiler/1969/15 Lola T70 Mk IIIb1 HP3 T. Treffert/1974 Porsche 911

IROC2 HP3 J. Mitchell/1974 Porsche 911 RSR2 VPT G. Nolte/1966/14 Ford GT403 HP3 F. Schulte/1973 Porsche 911 IROC1 HP4 D. Hinton/1973 BMW CSL1 SSB S. Gabel/1999 BMW E36/8 Z3

coupe1 HP5 S. Piantieri/1965 Ford Mustang

2+21 MSR3 T. Entsminger/1995 Toyota

WSR

1 3X J. McAleese/2006 Mazda MX52 SSB J. Garcia/1999 Mazda Miata2 MSR3 D. McAllister/1995 Toyota

WSR1 5X J. Pace/1973 Porsche 911 RSGROUP 6/7/11 PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 LMP2 L. Huang/2009 Oreca FLM091 MSR1 J. Mucha/2006 Swift JMS-016P1 DP2 S. White/L.P. Dumoulin /2008

Riley DP2 MSR1 J. Cortes/2012 Caterham

SP300R

#98 Marc Petein, 1966 Shelby GT 350.1 MSR2 M. McDonald/2004 Stohr WF11 6X J.C. Perez /2016 Ligier JS P31 HASR J. Harrold/1979 Chevron B23/36GROUP 9/10 PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 9X V. Gomez/2017 Porsche 991.22 9X T. Herb/2016 Porsche 991.2 Cup1 GT1A C. Falcone/2010 Ford Mustang

T/A1 GT3B C. Berry/2009 Porsche 997.1

Cup1 GT3C R. Wittenberg/2009 Porsche

Cayman-S1 10X T. Giovanis/G. Cosmo /2016

Porsche Cayman GT4/CS

#111 David Wyckoff, BMW 2002.H/P/GT ENDURO PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 P3 S. White/L.P. Dumoulin /2008

Riley DP1 GTMX V. Gomez/2017 Porsche 991.21 P2 L. Huang/2009 Oreca FLM091 H3 J. Harrold/1979 Chevron B23/362 GTMX T. Giovanis/G. Cosmo /2016

Porsche Cayman GT4/CS1 P6 J. Cortes/2012 Caterham SP300R1 GTM2 G. Nolte/2008 Ford GT Mk71 HGT1 C. Falcone/K. Wheeler /2010

Ford Mustang T/A1 PX J.C. Perez /2016 Ligier JS P31 GTM5 C. Berry/2009 Porsche 997.1INTL/AMERICAN CHALLENGE PL CL DRIVER/CAR 1 INT M. Banz/1974 Porsche 911 RSR2 INT F. Schulte/1973 Porsche 911 IROC3 INT G. Calfo/1965 Porsche 9114 INT K. Blaha/1974 Porsche 911 RSR5 INT J. Mitchell/1974 BMW 20026 INT S. Gabel/1999 BMW E36/8 Z31 AMR S. Piantieri/1965 Ford Mustang

2+27 INT D. York/D. Hinton /1973 BMW

CSL8 INT T. Coryn/1965 MGB9 INT J. Garcia/1993 Mazda Miata10 INT T. Treffert/1974 Porsche 911 IROC

• Load in Thu., Apr. 27• Two separate on-track sessions both Fri., Apr. 28

and Sat., Apr. 29 with one session before the start of the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

• All Vintage Indy Cars, Champ Cars, Sprint Cars and Super Modifieds welcome

• BBQ Banquet on Friday Night with plaque presentations• Methanol Fuel and Nitrogen available at the track• Trailers can be dropped on Wed., Apr. 26

Apr. 28-29, 2017In conjunction with Verizon IndyCars and USAC Silver Crown Series

guest of honor: Tom Sneva

UPCOMING: Vintage Indy Car CelebrationAug. 18-20, 2017, Pocono Raceway info: Gary Mondschein, 570.656.5962, theclassicracingtimes.com

MRRA

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF MOTOR RACING HISTORY