Elkhart Lake, WI, June 30, 2009
Family vacations, other conflicts, and mechanical problems left a
small field for the Shell Historics’ appearance at the historic Road
America track last weekend, but the racing more than made up
for the small grids.
In qualifying for the Disc Brake Group’s Saturday race Lawrence
Stroll, driving the ex-Roger Penske/Sunoco 512 M and Jim
Fuchs, in a 1979 512 BB/LM, swapped fast laps for the entire
session. Stroll ultimately turned the fastest lap and took pole
position with a lap of 2:20.920. Fuchs was second fastest, 0.6sec
back from Stoll, and shared the front row for the start.
Stroll led into Turn One at the start, but for the first few laps
Fuchs’ red BB/LM remained tied to the Sunoco-blue Ferrari in
front. Stroll was turning laps 2/10s under his pole qualifying time,
but Fuchs had dropped his time by almost a second, and was
staying with Stroll on the four mile-long track. The BB/LM had
been built for the long straights at LeMans and Daytona, and
Road America suited the car well. The battle was finally
interrupted by fuel pressure problems on Fuchs’ car, and with the
pressure off, Stroll drove to an easy win.
Fuchs’ was still a class winner, over Chuck Wegner in an ex-
NART 512 BB/LM. Jon Shirley in a 250 GTO won the 250
Berlinetta class over Nick Colonna’s 250 SWB/Comp, and Steve
Dudley was a class winner in his 308 GT/Michelotto.
Stroll had commitments which prevented him from racing on
Sunday, but Fuchs and Chuck Wegner produced an exciting race
at the front of the Disc Group race. The starting grid had been set
by Saturday’s results, so in Stroll’s absence Fuchs had pole, with
Wegner alongside. Wegner used an outside line to take the lead
into Turn One, and led the first lap, but Fuchs reclaimed the
position on the second lap, and Wegner could never catch up.
Fuchs was 12 seconds ahead at the end. Shirley and Dudley
repeated their Saturday class wins.
The Drum Brake Group races belonged to Peter Giddings – again.
Giddings won his first championship in the Shell Historic
Challenge in 2000, in the first year the grids were split into Drum
and Disc groups. He’s won the overwhelming majority of his races
in the series since, and in 2009 Road America just continued that
tradition.
Giddings qualified his Maserati 250 F, a Grand Prix car once
raced by Stirling Moss, on pole for the Saturday race, but an
observer could have been forgiven for thinking he’d been
transported back to 1957; sharing the front row with Giddings was
a second, almost identical Maserati 250 F. Jeff O’Neill qualified
this car, one of the later lightweight 250 Fs mostly raced in period
by Harry Schell. Chuck Wegner, now in his Maserati 200 SI, and
Peter Greenfield (Alfa Romeo 8C/35) shared the second row after
defending champion Jon Shirley’s Maserati 300 S was unable to
qualify, with brake problems.
Giddings led from the start, shadowed for a few laps by O’Neill,
but Giddings began to pull away, to a lead of over 30 seconds at
the checkered flag. Wegner defeated Nick Colonna, also in a
Maserati 200 SI, for a class win, and Mark Lindman, driving a
Ferrari 212 Inter Spyder beat Erick Shirley for a class win; Shirley
was driving a 500 Mondial in his first race in the Shell Historics.
Greenwood was a class winner as well, in the 1935 Alfa.
Those results set the grid for Sunday, so Giddings and O’Neill
again shared the front row, and the results were the same:
Giddings led into the first turn, and O’Neill was never able to
challenge. Wegner, Lindman, and Greenfield duplicated their
class wins from the previous day.
The Shell Historic Challenge is organized by Ferrari North
America, and sanctioned by Grand-Am. Ferrari North America,
Inc. is headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and is the
exclusive North, Central and South American importer of Ferrari
vehicles including the 599 GTB Fiorano V-12 sports coupe, F430
Berlinetta, F430 Spider convertible sports car, 430 Scuderia,
California Gran Tourer and 612 Scaglietti (luxury performance
2+2). Additional support for the series comes from Shell fuel and
lubricants, and from Panerai watches.
The series is open to authentic Ferrari and Maserati competition
cars built before 1980, and pre-war Alfa Romeos of the type raced
by the Scuderia Ferrari.
Race 1
Pos. No. Class Name Model Chassis #
1 6 DSK7 Lawrence Stroll 512 M Sunoco 1040
2 447 DSK6 Jim Fuchs 512 BB/LM 29509
3 72 DSK6 Chuck Wegner 512 BB/LM 35527
4 86 DSK5 Stephen Dudley 308 GTB/M 21883
5 10 DSK1 Jon Shirley 250 GTO 3729GT
6 3 DSK1 Nick Colonna 250 GT SWB Comp 2443GT
Race 2
Pos. No. C lass Name Model Chassis #
1 447 DSK6 Jim Fuchs 512 BB/LM 29509
2 72 DSK6 Chuck Wegner 512 BB/LM 35527
3 86 DSK5 Stephen Dudley 308 GTB/M 21883
4 10 DSK1 Jon Shirley 250 GTO 3729GT
5 3 DSK1 Nick Colonna 250 GT SWB Comp 2443GT
Race 1
Pos. No. Class Name Model Chassis #
1 31 DRM6 Peter Giddings Maserati 250F 2501
2 4 DRM6 Jeff O'Neill Maserati 250F 2527
3 23 DRM5 Chuck Wegner Maserati 200 SI 2423
4 41 DRM1 Peter Greenfield Alfa Romeo 8C/35 50013
5 26 DRM5 Nick Colonna Maserati 200 SI 2412
6 14 DRM4 Mark Lindman 212 I Cal Spyder 0147E
7 25 DRM4 Erick Shirley 500 Mondial 0468MD
Race 2
Pos. No. Class Name Model Chassis #
1 31 DRM6 Peter Giddings Maserati 250F 2501
2 4 DRM6 Jeff O'Neill Maserati 250F 2527
3 23 DRM5 Chuck Wegner Maserati 200 SI 2423
4 41 DRM1 Peter Greenfield Alfa Romeo 8C/35 50013
5 14 DRM4 Mark Lindman 212 I Cal Spyder 0147E
6 25 DRM4 Erick Shirley 500 Mondial 0468MD
The next race for the Shell Historics will be at Le Circuit at Mont-
Tremblant, Quebec, Canada, on July 24-26.
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