HF40 BLOG by Skip Barber

The Historic Festival 40 presented by Corvette (Sept. 1-5) is revving up to be the best Historic Festival yet with a superb race car entry set for Labor Day weekend.

“Big Bore” has too many entries to run as one group, so we will split it by speed. There are three quick E Type Jags, a dozen Corvettes varying from one of five 1963 Grand Sports originally built to race at LeMans (though the program was halted by GM before they ever got there) to a 1978 “vette built for the IMSA Camel GT series, a Porsche 935 (“it has 800 h.p. but feels like a truck to drive”) and a Porsche 930 are in this group. But a small and well-driven British car, a 1973 Ford Escort RS just might shock them.

Historic Trans Am is our feature race group. These are the “real cars” in their original specification that raced from 1966-1972. Twenty are coming, mostly from California, and two Penske/Donohue Camaros are among four Series Championship winners racing. Sam Posey’s lime green Dodge Challenger, Parnelli Jones Mustang, Peter Revson’s Mercury Cougar (remember them?) run by the NASCAR pioneer Bud Moore, George Follmer’s championship-winning American Motors Javelin originally built by Penske Racing.

All six American manufacturers raced in this series (can you name them?) and the factories considered it more important than the NASCAR Cup Series.

In the 60s and early ’70s small sedan racing became popular at Lime Rock Park with the IMSA RS Challenge and the 2.5 Challenge class in the original Trans AM. Would you believe “Racer Walsh” from northern New Jersey was a Lime Rock hero in his Ford Pinto. Pinto? His son Brian, racing that same Pinto continues the family tradition and leads a reunion of these popular but sometimes overlooked cars.

We have nine race groups covering the gamut from Pre-World War II through mid 70’s Super Cars.

We are celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Corvette early. I know the official anniversary is next January, but we are going to have the best collection on display at one time of Corvette Concept Cars ever. There will be a Corvette design focused dinner Saturday night (Tickets | Lime Rock Historic Festival Dinner and Seminar | Lime Rock Park), and a great Concours on Sunday, as well as our traditional “ Gathering of the Marques” car show, featuring car clubs from all over New England and the mid-Atlantic state.

We can’t wait to see you there!

For tickets, camping and additional information, visit:

Historic Festival 40 – Lime Rock Park