Relationship with Indianapolis Motor Speedway Expands to Two Weeks of Action
The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) announced today a 15-race event schedule for 2017 that continues to enhance its national platform as the premiere vintage racing series in North America. The SVRA is growing its marquee events at legendary courses such as Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Sonoma, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Virginia International Raceway (VIR) and Circuit of the Americas (COTA). An important highlight of the schedule is an expanded relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a second weekend of racing. The SVRA will not only present its popular Father’s Day weekend Brickyard Invitational but also a new event, “The Open Wheel World Challenge,” one week earlier, June 8-11.
“We are proud to work with world-class venues strategically selected on both coasts and in the middle of the country,” said Tony Parella, SVRA president and CEO. “This national platform provides access to essential markets for our sponsors and are conveniently located for our member race teams and our growing fan base.”
The new event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is expected to showcase as many as 500 cars. SVRA officials describe it as homage to the 50th anniversary of Formula Ford racing. In addition to Formula Ford, any open wheel road racing car, including Formula One, Formula 5000, Indy cars, Indy Lights and Formula Junior will be invited. Specific race groups will be established that combine cars of similar speed and will focus on rules for Monoposto, FIA, and SCCA race cars.
In addition to traditional racing venues the SVRA is the featured motorsports competition event of the year for the Amelia Island Gran Prix in March and October’s Coronado Speed Festival. The Amelia Island race meet takes place immediately following one of the top automotive events in the world, The Amelia Island Concours d’ Elegance in north Florida. The Gran Prix is presented at the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport and delivered promising attendance in its inaugural event earlier this year in a community with an evident car and motorsports culture.
The Coronado Speed Festival off the coast of San Diego taps into the robust car culture of Southern California. Like Sebring and Fernandina Beach, the Coronado Island celebration is staged at another airport race course, the Naval Air Station North Island and fills its grandstands. It is also an excellent example of the speed festival model the SVRA has developed for its event weekends throughout the year. These festivals provide fans with an immersive environment of various arrive and drive experiences as well as other activities such as its “show and shine” car shows for local owners, the Motostalgia collector car auctions, music concerts with iconic bands and more.
Many of the SVRA weekends extend their influence beyond the racing venue to become integral to the larger community. This is never more apparent than with the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix and the Grand Prix Festival of Watkins Glen. This is essentially a local holiday as on Friday of that weekend the vintage racers of SVRA join other proud car owners to present tours of The Glen’s original 6.6-mile public roads course where America’s first major road race was held in 1948. These are features of a massive street party where hugely valuable cars aredisplayed along the main drag of Franklin Street to create a setting that looks like a car guy’s version of Mardi Gras.
A crescendo of the season, the SVRA National Championships, will be presented at COTA to close the calendar on a high for the fourth year in a row in 2017. In this invitational drivers from across the spectrum of vintage racing converge and compete for the title of national champion in their car class on America’s only Formula One world championship facility.
In addition to the vintage racers of SVRA the professional Trans Am series, International GT and Historic Trans Am all are expected to appear at select 2017 events. Those details will be announced in coming weeks.
About SVRA - The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association is the premier vintage racing organization in the United States. Founded in 1981 the SVRA has over 2,000 active members. It will sanction 16 events in 2016 at some of the finest racing venues in the United States, including: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Auto Club Speedway, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Sonoma Raceway, Portland International Raceway and Virginia International Raceway. The rapidly growing organization hosted the first U.S. Vintage Racing National Championships at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas in 2013. Further information on SVRA, a complete annual schedule, and entry lists can be found on the SVRA website. Also be sure to check our Facebook page and YouTube channel which currently boasts a library of over 200 action-packed videos of events.
SVRA 2017 SCHEDULE
February 10-12 Spring Vintage Classic, Spring Mountain, NV March 2-5 Sebring Vintage Classic, Sebring Intl Raceway, FL March 16-19 Amelia Island Vintage Gran Prix, Fernandina Beach, FL March 25-26 Willow Springs Historics, Willow Springs, CAApril 28-30 S. California Historic Sports Car Festival, Auto Club Speedway, CA May 18-21 Spring Vintage Festival, Road America, WIJune 1-4 Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, Sonoma Raceway, CA June 8-11 Open Wheel World Challenge, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, INJune 14-18 Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IN June 22-25 Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, OHJuly 27-30 Portland Vintage Racing Festival, Portland Intl Raceway, OR September 6-10 U.S. Vintage Grand Prix, Watkins Glen Intl, NYSeptember 21-24 Heacock Classic Gold Cup, Virginia Intl Raceway, VAOctober 13-15 Coronado Speed Festival, Naval Air Station, North Island, CA* November 1-5 US Vintage National Championship, Circuits of The Americas, TX
*Pending U.S. Navy approval
