In 2004 a couple of vintage racers got together and said, "What if we started our own club" They started calling around to other racing friends and asking the same question along with "and if you did start up in a new club what would you want from it?"
Well, it seems that it boiled down to three things, Safety, Safety, & Safety. It seemed that everyone felt that if you got that part right, car safety, driver safety and a safe attitude, everything else would just follow. And it appears that they were correct.
Coming out of the gate in 2004 with one event in hand, the New Hampshire Vintage Festival, they quickly added the PVGP BeaveRun Historics and kept right on from there.
Now recognized as a premier vintage racing group they have a schedule that spans a nice locale and a full year. Ranging from the northern tracks of Watkins Glen & NHIS to Summit Point and BeaveRun. Developing a coalition of like minded clubs their members can race at places like Mosport and VIR with all the advantages of club members.
Safety, Safety, Safety has been the mantra and with a enviable event record behind them it works. Boasting a in-house driver's school that rivals the best pro schools around, to a cadre of some of the best technical people in the business. Sharp minds and a very active driver's committee helps all of the drivers to have a safe and enjoyable race. Active member support gives our paddocks and race venues a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Add a few off season events to keep us all in touch and you have one of the finest vintage racing clubs you could join.
Thanks, Bob, Tivvy, Ralph, Mark, Brad, Chris, Bill, Kim, and all the others that have taken this club from an idea to a reality
Board of Directors
Rev 6.0 12/2012
Officers:
Bill Hollingsworth - President bill@vrgonline.org
Bill Hollingsworth was born and reared in Southern California. His uncle, John Stanley Mullin was a founder and first president of the California Sports Car Club. He started going to Cal Club races with him at the age of 13 when Mullin was racing a DB Panhard. Prior to that he had raced a MGTC and a Porsche Roadster, the first one in the US, which he bought in Germany prior to their being imported. After Mullin retired from racing, due to divorce, Bill attended the Cal Club races with his childhood friend, Chris Cord, whose stepfather owned the Siata and Ferraris raced by Ernie McAfee. After college when in the US Army Bill began racing an inboard hydroplane (with the great mentoring of Bud Meyer) and continued racing his and Dick Messer’s inboard hydro into the early seventies when he married for the first time. He retired to the ultimatum, “Me or the boat.” He resumed his interest in racing, this time in vintage auto racing in the early nineties, with the acknowledgement of his second wife, in 1993. It started by building a MGTC as homage to his uncle (and with great mentoring from Joe Stimola), continued with a Lotus 23, and continues with a Formula Ford.
Mack McCormack - Vice-President mack@vrgonline.org
Mack's interest in things automotive began at age 16 when he restored a 1956 Austin-Healey 100/4. During college he sold the Healey and got hooked on Minis, an addiction that persists to the present. Mack first got into racing in the 80's with EMRA, but then the demands of a career put motor racing on the back burner. In 1998 Mack joined SCCA and have been extremely active in Flagging & Communications. Mack has just stepped down as the Flag Chief for the New England Region, but is currently the Divisional Administrator for F&C for the Northeast Division of the SCCA. During the last ten years, in addition to SCCA Regional , National and Runoffs events, Mack has participated as a Marshal in numerous pro events including IMSA, CART, Grand Am and Formula 1. Since his retirement a few years ago, he has restored a 1966 Mini Cooper to vintage specs and has returned to vintage racing with VRG, SVRA, and VSCDA. While restoring his car, he also participated as a tech inspector for SVRA. Mack believes that VRG has a bright future in the vintage motor racing scene in the “greater northeast”. He aspires to the VRG vintage racing philosophy and believes that his previous experience is an asset to VRG as a member of the Board of Directors.
Mark Palmer - Secretary mark@vrgonline.org
VRG Director and Secretary from 2004 to 2007 and President from 2007 to 2010. Past event Chairman of BeaverRun, Turkey Bowl and New Jersey Historics. Participated in over 120 vintage events since 1991, in my 1957 MGA roadster. Do all my own car prep and maintenance. Driving Instructor for 6 years. Former President and Editor, MG Vintage Racers. Professional career in mechanical engineering, management, and sales. Married to Janet Westlund, who enjoys attending many of our races.
Paul Bova - Treasurer paul@vrgonline.org
Paul has been involved in Vintage Racing since 1999. He is a member of several vintage racing organizations; VRG, VSCCA, and VSCDA. Paul serves as an instructor for VRG and has participated in the all of the driving schools at NHIS.
Paul is also involved in other aspects of the automotive hobby, serving as President of the Connecticut Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America. He enjoys restoring cars, having restored two vintage Mustangs, a 1976 Camaro and a 1967 Volkswagen Cabriolet. He does a good percentage of the work on the two cars that he is currently racing, a 1959 Turner Mark 1 and a 1957 Turner 803.
Darry, Paul's wife, does the layout and production for the VRG newsletter, Paul functions as proofreader, sounding board and occasional contributor to the newsletter.
Jim Karamanis - Director jim@vrgonline.org
Jim has been a member of VRG since 2007 and has served as Web Editor for the VRG Web Presence since 2009. Jim is the event Co-Chair along with Cal Trumbo for the Jefferson 500. He is a founder and past president of the Delmarva Cougar Club, a role which he served in for a decade. In his role as cougar club President, he chaired concours judged national shows and numerous regional events. He also served on the board of directors of the Cougar Club of America and has owned and restored numerous classic Mercury Cougars. Jim races a small production sedan (b-sedan Ford Pinto) and lives in Manassas, Virginia with his wife and two young daughters. He is the Chief of Web Services at the Library of Congress.
- Jefferson 500 Co-Event Chairman
Keith Lawrence - Director
Keith grew up just outside Pittsburgh PA and watched/volunteered at the PVGP many years before he was able to get his first race car, a 1956 Turner 803, that he imported from the UK and restored. With almost ten years of racing behind him, he has a 1964 AutoDynamics Formula Vee and a 1978 Zink Formula Ford that he campaigns with VRG. He co-chairs the PVGP PIRC Race with Ralph Steinberg. Keith lives just south of Pittsburgh with his wife, Denise, and two sons.
- PVGP Historic Races Co-Event Chairman
Tivvy Shenton - Director
Vintage racer since 1986. VRG Director and Chief Scrutineer since clubs inception. Apprenticed at Rolls Royce for 6 years. Professionally involved in race car fabrication since 1965 with Alan Mann Racing (Ford UK), Broadspeed Engineering (UK), SpecFab as owner under contract to Ford UK, Ford Germany, and BMW Munich. Founded Tivvy's Autocraft USA in 1979, building pro rally cars and restoring/race preparing vintage cars.
- Chief Scrutineer
Cal Trumbo - Director cal@vrgonline.org
Cal Trumbo has been involved in Vintage Racing since 2004. He is a member of several vintage racing organizations; VRG, VSCCA and VSCDA. Prior to joining VRG in 2004, Cal had no prior racing experience. After a neighbor said he had a good deal on a Formula Ford (could it been due to the fact it was already disassembled?), delivered it to his house to his wife's disbelief, he was hooked ever since. Cal enjoys the great camaraderie of VRG and that it is not just about racing but more about good friends and great cars. He feels strongly that volunteering is important to the health and growth of the club. Cal was the Event Chairman of the Turkey Bowl and is now the Co-Event Chairman of the Jefferson 500. Cal, his wife Val and two boys reside in the Charlotte, NC area.
- Jefferson 500 Co-Event Chairman
Ed Valpey - Director ed@vrgonline.org
Ed's experience with motorsports racing began with a VSCCA license in 1982. Since then he has competed in Formula Fords, Spec Racers, and various vintage and rally cars. Ed instructs professionally, teaching members of various government agencies and independent contractors in counter-terrorism-related driving techniques. HIs collection consists of '50 J2 Allard, a '65 Ginetta G4R, a '72 Royale Formula Ford, and two projects: a '60 Ferret sports-racer and a '68 Camaro.
- Chief Driving School Instructor
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