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Highlands Today

Classic Rolls Out of Town, Leaving Great Memories

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John White

Published: December 5, 2007

The last engine has shut down and most of the transports have pulled out. The Sebring Historic Fall Classic is over, and not but a memory.

This weekend's events are now cataloged in my mind as the newest of thousands of memories from Sebring Raceway. It's a special place to me, and not just because of the cars, but because of some of the colorful people you meet.

This race, like so many others, was spent enjoying time with family.
My dad, Jack, Uncle George and cousins Charlie, Gabe, and Clay Buice all spent time wandering around talking to many folks. We met some crewmen working on a Ford Focus Daytona Prototype that could have their own comedy show.

While one was under the car, the other, on top of the car, dropped a wrench hitting the former in the head causing him to strike his head on the bottom of the floorpan. The latter laughed as the former called him names that his mother never thought of.

These guys had fun going about their work and never got tired of talking with us. Perhaps the coolest thing about this team was one of the crewman's little boy, maybe five or six years old, was right there, watching his dad spin wrenches.
The owner/driver called the little man "his crew chief".

I had the opportunity to meet Gregory Aleck, the series photographer for Historic Sportscar Racing. We talked for a while about different people we had met and folks we knew.

He has some awesome pictures on www.hsrrace.com, and he told me of the races he photographed through the years, reliving each one as he spoke.

I'm reminded that some of the best conversations happen when you shut up and listen.
Then there was Mike "Man-Man" McManman.
No lie.
That's his name, and it's on his card.

He owns MMR, a company in Lavonia, Miss., that specializes in vintage race cars from repair to fabrication, powertrain, storage, transport, and racing. He had one of my favorite race cars with him: the ex-Roush Racing Whistler Mustang.

We talked at length about our era of IMSA GTO and Trans-Am Mustangs and the sportscar heyday of Roush Racing, from the early 80s to early 90s.

He had some good hardware with him. Besides the Roush car, he had Don Soenen's Trans Am Mustang, the ex-Archer Brothers Shellzone Mustang, and the ex-Penske South No. 2 Miller Lite Taurus that used to call Rusty Wallace its pilot.

It's not just the cars that make this so special: It's the people that I met that will be back in the spring that feel like friends. It's when I see my dad and uncle enjoy talking about times when they were younger than me, and my cousins and I see cars from when we were younger.

The best thing is that I get to do all of this with my best friends.

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