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 Seaside Grand Prix. It’s owned by Rob Dyson and will probably be pushed by Components 1 and IndyCar legend Stefan Johansson.
The latest 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 collection 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 most effective a part of subsequent week’s Lengthy Seaside 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 are on the occasion schedule to apply and race twice for our retro amusement.
“Clearly you possibly can’t competitively race that automotive in opposition to vehicles which are 20 or 30 years newer, however it is going to be actually cool to drive an iconic automotive at an iconic occasion like Lengthy Seaside,” Johansson informed RACER. “Doing one thing like that is about having fun with the occasion and the individuals round it.”
The HMSA area 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 Seaside, which is owned and piloted by Nashville IndyCar occasion promoter Scott Borchetta.
Ex-Newman/Haas mechanic Don Hoevel, whose IndyCar restoration enterprise is at all times overflowing with tasks, will probably be bringing just a few vehicles, together with the 2005 Lola B05/00 Sebastien Bourdais raced into victory lane at Lengthy Seaside in 2006 whereas capturing his third of 4 consecutive Champ Automotive titles. It would de pushed by its new proprietor, Jordan Roddy, and will probably be crewed by numerous former Newman/Haas mechanics.
Oriol Servia within the 2007 Panoz DP01. Picture by Marshall Pruett
Bourdais, who will probably be in Lengthy Seaside to compete for Cadillac Racing in IMSA’s Saturday characteristic, is planning to cease by and see the automotive in some unspecified time in the future throughout the occasion. Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 winner, will probably be pulling double obligation because the Arrow McLaren group’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 Yr, will probably be reunited with the 1981 AAR Eagle he raced on the Indy 500 in 1982, and Michael McKinney who, like Hoevel, is at all times buried in nice IndyCar restoration tasks, will probably be driving the 1977 Coyote he and his group simply completed.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown’s ex-Mario Andretti 1987 Lola is a late scratching from the entry listing, however Brown will probably be in attendance and can get to look at Kanaan and the McLaren Heritage group 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 received’t get an opportunity to check the automotive earlier than Lengthy Seaside, and his first outing will probably be on an unforgiving road course, Kanaan has no plans to take it simple.
“Right here’s the factor: I wouldn’t do justice to the automotive 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-fashioned. So there is no such thing as a anticipation so far as we get to take a look at the info. You simply do it like the way in which I at all times like to do it; you leap 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 area enterprise out for a apply 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 got just a few classes so I can construct that up till we get to the 90 p.c, however actually, we’re going to take my time making an attempt to grasp how the beast works,” Kanaan mentioned. “I don’t need anyone to spoil it. I need 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 essentially the most out of the automotive, making an attempt to grasp how the automotive behaves.”
Kanaan shares extra about what’s forward at Lengthy Seaside, and the way he’s settling in as Arrow McLaren’s sporting director, within the podcast under:
