Historic Race Cars Heat Up The Track
By BILL RETTEW JR.

SEBRING — The car races this weekend at Sebring International Raceway are a chance to step back and witness the history of sports car racing at more than 150 mph.

Several divisions of historic race cars filled the track all day Friday and will race again today and Sunday.
Historic Sports Car Racing, Ltd. (HSR) is in town as more than 100 cars and drivers are competing in the Sebring Endurance Challenge.

Spectators will be treated to Corvettes, Porsches, Mustangs, Jaguars, Audis, BMWs, Lolas and many others who will navigate the 3.7-mile circuit with 17 turns. And the Sebring LeMans type race track is an authentic venue for historic car racing.

Close observers at the 55-year-old track, and portion of a former airport, will notice the iron rings imbedded in the concrete of the raceway infield that once held down planes.

Or a glance overhead shows a pair of orange globes universally used on low wires near airports to warn pilots. The globes were never removed even though pilots have long since stopped taking off and landed from that
particular runway which is now part of the track or “Ulmann Straight” between curves 16 and 17.

James Cox Motor Sports brought eight cars to Sebring. Each independently owned car of the Cox team is a former street vehicle. All are the same 1973 Porsche 911 model. The cars are nearly identical except for the paint jobs.

Cox said he takes the former streetcars and disassembles the engine, transmission, the interior and much of the vehicle.

The Grand Missions, Mo., company then rebuilds during a seven month time period by installing new brakes, engines, vehicle suspensions and safety cages for owners, which adds more than $100,000 to the value of each car.

Cox said he likes the Porsches because they are easy to work on and are air-cooled.

His firm is charged with transporting cars to race tracks all across the country so that owners can fly in mostly on weekends to race.

The company owner showed off a Rolex watch that was a prize awarded to one of his drivers who then gave it to Cox. The watch was awarded for winning the season-long championship and given by the famous watch making sponsor.

Dan Wright, a Cox driver from Texas, owns a gulf blue colored Porsche and said he chose that year’s model to own and race since that specific year was the “peak” for Porsche and that car won the 1973 Sebring 12 hour race.

Wright said that his heroes when he was in school were the men who won at race tracks in Sebring, Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Daytona.
“It’s the challenge,” said Cox. “This car drives exactly like the old ones. It’s back to the way it used to be.

“If you can drive one of these (a ‘73 Porsche) your driving really improves.” Wright enjoys the camaraderie with the other drivers aged in their 50s and 60s on the Cox team. He won the award last year for most improved driver and finished in the top three for three races in 2006.

“The younger guys want to be the next Mario Andretti, but for the older guys this is as good as it gets.

“We understand mortality a little bit better, but we’re still very competitive.”