Just Like The Old Days

The Vintage Sports Car Driver’s Assoc. (VSCDA) Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival took place last weekend. While the crowd was smaller than usual, this event once again drew some very cool cars and some great prewar machinery like Dennis Holloway’s 1926 Bugatti Type 37A Grand Prix racer and the rare 1935 BMW 319/1 roadster brought to the track by Jody Anderson. Jody is actually the owner of the National Impala Assoc. His dad bought the BMW in 1955. It’s in pretty much the same shape as it was then, although it has had some frame work and been repainted twice. Drivers and guests began showing up on Thursday. On Friday, practice sessions were conducted for all racing classes, Groups 1 through 9. There was an Enduro race for six of the groups at 4 pm, followed by a display of 12 American stock car racing vehicles. The turnout for this theme exhibit included 10 cars and two Craftsman Series trucks. For most people, the highlight was a ’56 Mercury stock car that belongs to 85-year-old Russ Truelove. Russ bought the car new and used to drive it to the races. All groups continued racing on Saturday and Sunday and the Sunday schedule included feature races, Formula Vee competition and a parade lap by Truelove. A special attraction was the 18th annual Road Course Re-enactment Tour on Saturday afternoon, followed by a lakeside car show at the Osthoff Resort. The show featured a wide range of cars from Ron DeWoskin's 1947 Cadillac fastback to Colin Comer's gorgeous, white Cad-Allard. Jaguars and Corvettes turned out in good numbers and the "hard luck" award went to the owner of a metallic blue MG TF roadster that developed major valve train problems between the track and the downtown car show. Believe it or not, the car owner towed the car home to southern Wisconsin on the end of a rope! That was just like the old days -- and so was the entire weekend. Take it from me, this is an event to pencil in for next fall.