The oldest is an Eagle from 1966. It was constructed half-hour down the street in Santa Ana, one of many first race vehicles made by Dan Gurney’s All American Racers, who additionally co-founded the Lengthy Seashore Grand Prix. It’s owned by Rob Dyson and will probably be pushed by Method 1 and IndyCar legend Stefan Johansson.
The most recent is a Panoz DP01 from 2007, made in Georgia, which was pushed by Oriol Servia and likewise took half within the farewell to the Champ Automotive sequence in 2008 earlier than the championship was purchased by and merged with the IndyCar Sequence. The throaty sounds of the naturally-aspirated Ford V8 within the Eagle and the singing Cosworth V8 turbo within the Panoz will probably be a delight to listen to as they fireplace down Shoreline Drive and rattle the fences all through the 1.9-mile circuit.
Altogether, the very best a part of subsequent week’s Lengthy Seashore occasion that includes IndyCar and IMSA simply is perhaps the Historic Motor Sports activities Affiliation paddock and the fleet of 17 wonderful IndyCars from yesteryear which can be on the occasion schedule to observe and race twice for our retro amusement.
“Clearly you may’t competitively race that automobile towards vehicles which can be 20 or 30 years newer, however it is going to be actually cool to drive an iconic automobile at an iconic occasion like Lengthy Seashore,” Johansson advised RACER. “Doing one thing like that is about having fun with the occasion and the folks round it.”
The HMSA discipline additionally contains one other Southern Californian product within the 1972 Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing VPJ-1 with its wild dihedral wings and the 1985 Newman/Haas Racing March 85C that Mario Andretti drove to victory at Lengthy Seashore, which is owned and piloted by Nashville IndyCar occasion promoter Scott Borchetta.
Ex-Newman/Haas mechanic Don Hoevel, whose IndyCar restoration enterprise is all the time overflowing with initiatives, will probably be bringing a number of vehicles, together with the 2005 Lola B05/00 Sebastien Bourdais raced into victory lane at Lengthy Seashore in 2006 whereas capturing his third of 4 consecutive Champ Automotive titles. It’ll de pushed by its new proprietor, Jordan Roddy, and will probably be crewed by a lot of former Newman/Haas mechanics.
Oriol Servia within the 2007 Panoz DP01. Picture by Marshall Pruett
Bourdais, who will probably be in Lengthy Seashore to compete for Cadillac Racing in IMSA’s Saturday function, is planning to cease by and see the automobile in some unspecified time in the future in the course of the occasion. Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, will probably be pulling double responsibility because the Arrow McLaren crew’s sporting director and driver of the McLaren M16 Johnny Rutherford used to win the Indy 500 in 1974.
Dennis Firestone, the 1980 CART IndyCar Sequence Rookie of the 12 months, will probably be reunited with the 1981 AAR Eagle he raced on the Indy 500 in 1982, and Michael McKinney who, like Hoevel, is all the time buried in nice IndyCar restoration initiatives, will probably be driving the 1977 Coyote he and his crew simply completed.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s ex-Mario Andretti 1987 Lola is a late scratching from the entry checklist, however Brown will probably be in attendance and can get to look at Kanaan and the McLaren Heritage crew run the M16 with the turbocharged four-cylinder Offenhauser motor that made greater than 1000 horsepower again when it was pushed by Rutherford.
Though he gained’t get an opportunity to check the automobile earlier than Lengthy Seashore, and his first outing will probably be on an unforgiving road course, Kanaan has no plans to take it straightforward.
“Right here’s the factor: I wouldn’t do justice to the automobile if I don’t push it to the restrict,” Kanaan mentioned. “What’s the restrict? I don’t know, as a result of I’ve by no means pushed it, however one factor I like about it’s it’s old style. So there isn’t a anticipation so far as we get to have a look at the info. You simply do it like the way in which I all the time like to do it; you soar in and you work it out. So clearly, I’m not going to attempt to do something foolish.”
Johnny Rutherford in his Indy-winning 1974 McLaren M16-Offy. Picture by McLaren Racing
Friday will see the HMSA discipline enterprise out for a observe session between 10:15-10:35 am PT, and issues get busier on Saturday with an early 7:40-8am run earlier than the ten:40-11am race. The classic portion of the weekend closes shortly earlier than the 12:45pm begin for the NTT IndyCar Sequence race because the HMSA drivers full their second race from 10:45-11:05am.
“We’ve a number of periods so I can construct that up till we get to the 90 %, however truthfully, we’re going to take my time attempting to grasp how the beast works,” Kanaan mentioned. “I don’t need anyone to spoil it. I wish to determine it out myself whereas I’m driving. So I believe it’d be fairly enjoyable. I believe it’ll be fascinating to see how I can extract probably the most out of the automobile, attempting to grasp how the automobile behaves.”
Kanaan shares extra about what’s forward at Lengthy Seashore, and the way he’s settling in as Arrow McLaren’s sporting director, within the podcast beneath:
