Text and photos by Richard Bartholomew –
The last weekend in April 2019 saw the return of the SVRA to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. The SVRA is the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, one of the oldest and largest vintage racing groups in the USA.
They have been doing it a long time and they know what they are doing. The quality of their product is illustrated by their stated three core values: Safe, Fair and Fun.
Safe as in the cars are vintage but upgraded in the safety department with large roll bars and new era head restraints. As well as all the other safety inspections and driver qualifications. Evidently there are actual legitimate racing licenses and not just the Malibu Grand Prix type license that this author had decades ago. Also I noticed more safety crew around the track than usual.
Fair as in the engine and other mechanicals are kept to the types used in the era so you race against cars of the same type and capabilities. If you are going to spend all the time and effort and money racing at this level in your favorite vintage car it seems only right that you would want an accurate evaluation of the car as it was in the day as well as a fair race from the drivers of your cars nemesis from back in the day.
Fun as in the sights, sounds, smells and colors and tastes of a construction of steel surrounding a paved track consisting of part road and part banked oval racing surface (roval) that has vehicles driving at speed, braking, turning and being tested by operators that test themselves too and are dressed like some sort of daredevil or astronaut! Can you tell I like seeing fast cars driven fast?
Pick a make of car you like and look on the web for a festival at a local race course. It pays to check often or get on a mailing list with a club if you are really into the car scene of a specific make or if you like cars in general look under racing and your local track should come up.
Be safe and have fair fun!
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR: Richard Bartholomew is an artist and photographer based in Southern California. He is open to interesting consignments and can be reached at zeroagenow@aol.com
More photos are in the slide show below.
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