gbvette62

I usually spend my time in the C1/C2 and the C3 section, but I thought that there might be some interest in these pictures over here too.

Last week, The Sporstcar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA), hosted the first ever vintage sports car race, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There were over 700 cars entered, in 11 different race groups. Roughly 45 of them were pre-1996 Corvettes. The races were run on the Speedway's 2.44 mile F1 road course, though all of the race groups did get to run a half hour exhibition "race" on the oval too.

The feature event was Sunday's 45 minute Pro/Am race, where amateur racers were teamed up with 26 former Indy Car drivers. The cars used were all pre-1972 small block Corvettes (old SCCA BP), Camaros and Mustangs (SCCA AS & T/A), that normally compete in SVRA Group 6. The drivers competing included Al Unser Jr., Dick Simon, Lynn St. James, ***** T Ribbs, Bob Lazier and his sons Buddy & Jaques, Mark Dismore, Robby Unser, Scott Goodyear, and others.

I was there to crew on a Jim Glass' 65 Corvette, and Bill Bogner's 66. Jim participated in the Pro/Am, where he was teamed up with former Indy car, IMSA, SCCA driver and Trans-Am champion, Pete Halmser. The Pro/Am included a required 5 minute pit stop, for a driver change and fueling. In spite of Halmser, turning the 3rd fastest time in practice, we had to start 22nd, as the starting order was decided by a drawing. At the end of the 45 minute race, we'd managed to move up to 5th, which we were all very happy about. The Pro/Am was won by the Al Unser Jr/Pete Klutt team, which also started on the pole. I must say, that I was really impressed with Pete Halmser. Not only is he very fast, but he's also a class act and a really nice guy.

Below are the majority of 53-67 Corvettes, that participated in the SVRA Brickyard Invitational, as the event was called. The red #11 Corvette is Jim Glass and the dark blue #4, is Bill Bogner, these are the two cars I was there with.

gbvette62

Here are additional pictures from the SVRA Brickyard Invitational.

The following are the bulk of the 68-82 Corvettes, that ran at Indy, along with some random shots from the weekend.

gbvette62

Here are the 84-96 Corvettes, that were competing at Indy. There were also 2 Grand Sport replicas, and a few late 90's to early 2000's, tube frame Trans-Am/GT-1 Corvettes racing. Unfortunately, I was always busy with our cars, when they were on track.

At the end, I added a couple other pictures from our weekend.













This is Pete Halmser and Jim Glass, with Jim's 65 Corvette in the paddock. The second picture is of Pete in the car on Friday, when we were fitting him to our belts, seat, etc.





Passing through "Gasoline Alley" on Sunday, prior to the Pro/Am race.



Jim's 65 Corvette with the Speedway's Pagoda in the background.



Finally, a picture of Jim returning to Gasoline Alley, from pit road, beside the Speedway's pit road scoring tower.

ghoastrider1

great pics, thanks. Wish I had known..the track is about 8 miles from my house with the dragstrip being about 3 miles away. Would have loved to have watched the racing and checked out the cars.

1bdvet

Thanks for sharing.

hcbph

That looks like it was a blast! Thanks for sharing.

lkl2005

Great pictures, my dad raced in the SCCA from about 1965 to 75.
He ran smaller ,less powerful cars in D S/R.
But I remember those beautiful A Production class Corvettes.

Scottys78

Wow, that's awesome!

Thanks for sharing the great picture

1993C4LT1

don hall

Nice!..TY

astepup

Thanks for taking the time to post these in the C4 section Very nice pics indeed...showing classic corvettes doing what they were built to do...RACE!

astepup said that

Vette Daddy

I was there most of the week helping to prep the Snakeskinner ZR-1's with Tim Sublette and Doug Rippie. It was a great week!

bill3749

It was a great day. I hope IMS keeps doing this.

Vette Daddy

SVRA has a five year deal with IMS. I was told this by an SVRA official.

vert vette virgin

Very cool!!!