LEXINGTON — The green flag will fly over Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course beginning today.
The racing season speeds into action with the Mechanics Bank Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio. It is the first of five race weekends at the venerable 2.4-mile, 15-turn permanent road course on Steam Corners Road.
“(It’s a) wonderful start to our race season,” Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course president Craig Rust said in a statement. “It has a bit of everything and gets everyone into racing mode each year.”
The Sportscar Vintage Racing Association will be visiting Mid-Ohio for the 32nd consecutive year.
“Fans have been enjoying top-notch vintage racing at Mid-Ohio since 1981,” SVRA spokesman Jon McKnight said. “The track has a special status on our annual race calendar and draws some of the very best crowds.
“It is a great experience and is entertainment with a capital ‘E.’ ”
The iconic Mini Cooper has been selected as the weekend’s featured marque and the highlight of the weekend will be the Can-Am MINI Challenge at 11:10 a.m. Sunday, celebrating the 55th anniversary of the Mini. Other must-see races include the Vintage/Classic Enduro at 5:20 p.m. Saturday and the Historic GT/GTP Enduro at 9:25 a.m. Sunday.
Cars from 11 SVRA racing groups — including Ferrari, Mustang, Trans-Am and Aston Martin — will be in action this weekend. Group practice begins at 8 a.m. today, followed by group qualifying in the afternoon. Qualifying continues again Saturday morning before racing starts at 10:40 a.m.
The Mechanics Bank Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio weekend is the start to what track officials hope will be another successful season of racing.
Indian Motorcycle will take center stage when the BikeBandit.com AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days roll into Mid-Ohio on July 11-13.
“Few of motorcycling’s great brands have as much history as Indian Motorcycle, which began in 1901 and helped define the pre-WWII motorcycling era with iconic models like the Indian Scout and Cheif,” American Motorcyclist Association president and chief executive officer Rob Dingman said in a release. “With the modern revival of the Indian Motorcycle name .. we’re excited to celebrate the brand’s iconic motorcycling history, as well as its future.”
BikeBandit.com AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days will be followed by the popular Buckeye Superbike Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire on July 19 to 20.
The season’s two biggest weekends will be in August. The Verizon IndyCar Series visits Mid-Ohio for the 30th time on Aug. 1 to 3 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Two weeks later, the NASCAR Nationwide series returns to Mid-Ohio for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 on Aug. 15 to 16.
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
