RGeeProductions
06-24-2014, 08:26 PM
Vintage Motorsports Festival Celebrates the Grand Re-Opening of the Historic Road Course at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
Over 220 vintage sports cars, spanning across nearly a century, will converge on Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this weekend – June 27 -29 – for the inaugural Vintage Motorsports Festival. Two of the premier vintage clubs in the Northeast, the Vintage Racer’s Group (VRG) and Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA) will co-sanction this extraordinary event. The weekend will celebrate the grand re-opening of the historic road course at Thompson that closed down in the mid-1970’s and will feature several of the cars that raced at Thompson in the middle of last century. There will also be a “Back in the Day” Car show and Fan Walk on Sunday morning that will invite spectators to partake in some of Thompson’s history.
The original Thompson road course opened in 1952 as the first purpose-built road course in the country, and incorporated Thompson’s high-banked oval built in 1940. It was also where the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), one of the oldest road racing organizations in the country, got its roots.
Through the years, the road course went through three different configurations, and attracted some of the great names in racing history. Paul Newman earned his SCCA racing license at Thompson in a Lotus Elan and won his first race there a few weeks later. Mark Donohue and Carroll Shelby could also be found racing at Thompson at the time.
The fourth configuration of the road course, which opened up June 6, 2014, is a 1.7 mile long revised version of the third configuration that closed down in 1978, and incorporates part of the 5/8 mile Oval track.
The 3-day event will feature Qualifying and Racing all day Friday and Saturday. There will be a Car Show display for fans on Sunday morning and then feature races on Sunday afternoon.
In honor of our Armed Forces, U.S. Military and veterans will receive free admission to the Vintage Motorsports Festival. For more information about the event, please visit http://www.thompsonspeedway.com/events/vintage-motorsports-festival or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
Theresa Condict
Over 220 vintage sports cars, spanning across nearly a century, will converge on Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this weekend – June 27 -29 – for the inaugural Vintage Motorsports Festival. Two of the premier vintage clubs in the Northeast, the Vintage Racer’s Group (VRG) and Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA) will co-sanction this extraordinary event. The weekend will celebrate the grand re-opening of the historic road course at Thompson that closed down in the mid-1970’s and will feature several of the cars that raced at Thompson in the middle of last century. There will also be a “Back in the Day” Car show and Fan Walk on Sunday morning that will invite spectators to partake in some of Thompson’s history.
The original Thompson road course opened in 1952 as the first purpose-built road course in the country, and incorporated Thompson’s high-banked oval built in 1940. It was also where the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), one of the oldest road racing organizations in the country, got its roots.
Through the years, the road course went through three different configurations, and attracted some of the great names in racing history. Paul Newman earned his SCCA racing license at Thompson in a Lotus Elan and won his first race there a few weeks later. Mark Donohue and Carroll Shelby could also be found racing at Thompson at the time.
The fourth configuration of the road course, which opened up June 6, 2014, is a 1.7 mile long revised version of the third configuration that closed down in 1978, and incorporates part of the 5/8 mile Oval track.
The 3-day event will feature Qualifying and Racing all day Friday and Saturday. There will be a Car Show display for fans on Sunday morning and then feature races on Sunday afternoon.
In honor of our Armed Forces, U.S. Military and veterans will receive free admission to the Vintage Motorsports Festival. For more information about the event, please visit http://www.thompsonspeedway.com/events/vintage-motorsports-festival or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.
Theresa Condict