10 replies to this topic

[63Corvette]

The Austin, Texas "River City Road Races" were run in conjunction with the Austin Aqua Festival, which was soundly rejected by Austin taxpayers and (liberal) citizens as a "waste of taxpayer's money". They were very well supported by Austin residents and non-residents, and were very exciting to watch, considering that they ran around the Convention Center in downtown Austin and ran along Riverside Drive there, I started attending in 1963, working flag stations, and wound up winning the  "A production class" in my 1969 L-88 Corvette, in 1977. Many of the Southwest Division SCCA drivers ran these races over the years, including Bill Steele, in the Gene Hammond Cobra, Matt McCluggan in his H-Modified, "little Jim HALL" in his Devin bodied Chevy Special, George Eby in his Lotus Elan, Tom Moore in his 63 Corvette, and radiologist Dr. Vincent P. Collins in his Porsche and then in his Camaro. I always had a wonderful time there, and hope the people of Austin regret cancelling  these races. Comment?

Edited by 63Corvette, 15 March 2015 - 01:36.

[Rob Semmeling]

Here is a summary of the Austin road races:

 

(all dates day/month/year)

 

The races were held on a downtown street course around the Municipal Auditorium, initially on a 1.2-mile layout, and originally known as the Carrera de la Capital races:

 

11.08.1963: Austin (Carrera de la Capital Races)
16.08.1964: Austin (Carrera de la Capital Races) (1.2-mile course)
15.08.1965: Austin (Carrera de la Capital Races)

 

Racing then moved to the recently-built Austin Raceway Park, a permanent facility outside of the city, for the next two years:

 

06.08.1966: Austin Raceway Park
05.08.1967: Austin Raceway Park

 

Spectator turnout was not good, and so the races reverted back to the street circuit in 1968, which, incidentally, was the first year motorcycles were also catered for. The meetings were organised by the SCCA Texas Lone Star Region through 1969, but then taken over by the non-SCCA Green Valley Racing Association.

 

04.08.1968: Austin

03.08.1969: Austin

 

I don't have the dates for the auto races of the next few years, but the motorcycle races were always held in early- to mid-August.

21.07.1974: Austin

25.07.1976: Austin ("pre-festival" event on 0.95-mile course at Municipal Auditorium)

 

Likely no auto races held in 1975; one 1976 source mentions an "on-again, off-again nature during the last five years."

 

14.08.1977: Austin
29.07.1978: Austin
12.08.1979: Austin
20.07.1980: Austin (TBC)

 

The auto races appear to have ended in 1979 or 1980, while motorcycle racing continued seemingly  through 1983, later to be revived as a one-off at the Texas Heritage & Expo Center parking lot in 1988.

 

Additions (or corrections) to the above are very much welcome !

Edited by Rob Semmeling, 15 March 2015 - 10:35.

[RA Historian]

In interviewing Augie Pabst for a book in progress, I was told about the street event. Augie recalls winning a preliminary race on Saturday in 1963. He was driving the Mecom Team Lotus 19. He said that he was a DNF on Sunday. He recalls that Enus Wilson won the feature in a Maserati.

Tom

[Jerry Entin]

Rob:

The first races at Austin [up till 1969] were actually organized by the San Antonio-based Alamo Region. The Region was founded by Lloyd Harrington in 1958, after splitting off from the San Antonio Sports Car Association, which was more interested in the less expensive forms of competition: rallies and gymkhanas.

 

Over time the Alamo Region hosted sports car events at nearby Hondo, San Marcos and Seguin. The first Carrera de la Capital came the weekend of August 10-11, 1963, sponsored by the Austin Aqua Festival on a 1.4-mile track downtown. The event attracted 92 entries and 20,000 spectators.

 

John Mecom showed up in force, with cars for Augie Pabst [2-liter Lotus 19], Roger Penske [Lotus 24 IC], Delmo Johnson [deTomaso FJ] and John Kirby [deTomaso FS]. Pabst won Race 5 [GM and Over] over Enus Wilson in the former Penske Birdcage, now with Buick power, and Mason O'Keiff's Lotus 23. Delmo dropped out and had some unkind words for the car assigned to him.

 

In Race 6 [rear-engined FJ and Unlimited] Kirby finished second overall behind the FoMoCo Special of Jim Saunders. None of the Mecom cars finished Race 11, 30 laps for GM and Over, which went to, as Tom mentioned, Wilson's Birdcage/Buick over Richard Macon's Cooper Monaco and Chuck Prince's Elva Mk 7. Penske must have had trouble all weekend since he is not mentioned in any of the reports.

 

Only in 1969 did the Lone Star Region in Austin materialize, splitting off from the Alamo Region, which then became too small to maintain its own competition schedule.

 

All research: Willem Oosthoek

Edited by Jerry Entin, 15 March 2015 - 15:41.

[63Corvette]

 

Rob:

The first races at Austin [up till 1969] were actually organized by the San Antonio-based Alamo Region. The Region was founded by Lloyd Harrington in 1958, after splitting off from the San Antonio Sports Car Association, which was more interested in the less expensive forms of competition: rallies and gymkhanas.

 

Over time the Alamo Region hosted sports car events at nearby Hondo, San Marcos and Seguin. The first Carrera de la Capital came the weekend of August 10-11, 1963, sponsored by the Austin Aqua Festival on a 1.4-mile track downtown. The event attracted 92 entries and 20,000 spectators.

 

John Mecom showed up in force, with cars for Augie Pabst [2-liter Lotus 19], Roger Penske [Lotus 24 IC], Delmo Johnson [deTomaso FJ] and John Kirby [deTomaso FS]. Pabst won Race 5 [GM and Over] over Enus Wilson in the former Penske Birdcage, now with Buick power, and Mason O'Keiff's Lotus 23. Delmo dropped out and had some unkind words for the car assigned to him.

 

In Race 6 [rear-engined FJ and Unlimited] Kirby finished second overall behind the FoMoCo Special of Jim Saunders. None of the Mecom cars finished Race 11, 30 laps for GM and Over, which went to, as Tom mentioned, Wilson's Birdcage/Buick over Richard Macon's Cooper Monaco and Chuck Prince's Elva Mk 7. Penske must have had trouble all weekend since he is not mentioned in any of the reports.

 

Only in 1969 did the Lone Star Region in Austin materialize, splitting off from the Alamo Region, which then became too small to maintain its own competition schedule.

 

All research: Willem Oosthoek

 

Excellent records. And WHO would have EVER dreamed that Austin Texas would one day wind up being the (only) home of the United States Grand Prix at CoTA?????????????

[Jerry Entin]

John Mecom's De Tomaso Indy type car

 

Delmo Johnson also remembered that John Mecom brought a fifth car to Austin in 1963, a deTomaso originally built for Indianapolis.

 

"The car was a Indy car with a big Ford engine. It ran out of everything in practice."

 

 

photo: Willem Oosthoek collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 24 March 2015 - 01:32.

[group7]

Jerry, I don't want to divert this thread, but the photo of the mecom De Tomaso built for indy, brought to mind a car I have not been able to identify. I apologize if it has been covered on this site before. photo is at Green Valley, february 1966. Formula type car, eight cylinder, looks to be in Mecom colors, and has a team sticker on the trailer. it is the 30th photo down in this link. what is it ?

 

http://www.cliffreut...a1966season.htm

 

 

thanks, Mike (group7) in Canada

[Jerry Entin]

Another view of the Mecom DeTomaso

Mike: The picture on Cliff's site and this car look to be the same car.

 

 

photo: Willem Oosthoek collection

Edited by Jerry Entin, 24 March 2015 - 01:31.

[BRNDLL]

Guys,

 

I know this thread is old but we are reviving the River City Road Races name with our vintage racing group and holding races on CIrcuit Of The America's in February. I will post more as I finish up some of the marketing about the event. The group I race with is Corinthian Vintage Auto Racing. Here is our website:   https://corinthianvi...eautoracing.com

You can likely find the 2022 calendar on there under the Race drop down. 

 

We are currently about to wrap our (CVAR) season with a combined event with SVRA at COTA the first weekend of November. I will be racing with the Formula Vee group... I think Group 1b currently. 

 

Anyway, found this thread doing a web search and had to chuckle... I have been an Autosport forum member since 1999 or 2000 back when Bira ran things and it was called AtlasF1. Never considered that my vintage racing interests had a forum on here.  ;]

 

-Brandall Binion

Edited by BRNDLL, 01 February 2022 - 04:15.

[Rupertlt1]

See: https://forums.autos...-2#entry9608077

 

Good luck with your revival event. What Formula Vee do you have?

 

RGDS RLT

Edited by Rupertlt1, 27 October 2021 - 07:18.

[BRNDLL]

See: https://forums.autos...-2#entry9608077

 

Good luck with your revival event. What Formula Vee do you have?

 

RGDS RLT

 

Hey Rupert, sorry for the slow reply... my work seems to have blocked this forum on Autosport, and I am not sure why. I always seem to forget to surf when I am at home. ;]

 

So I have an Autodynamics Caldwell D13. We follow the 1972 General Competition Rules for SCCA so we call it "Vintage" racing here in the States. There is still modern FV racing but its a lot lower turnout. For instance, our River City Road Races will be bounding around COTA in two weeks with a 30+ car field! The SCCA race there at the same place the weekend before (this weekend) will likely only have about 10 FV entries. Vintage racing is much more popular around here for Formula Vee's.

 

I just finished the graphics for a T shirt and posters... (although not Vee specific because our club has a lot of classes of cars). 

 

Take care. I will try to pay more attention to this forum.  -bb

 

 

My car...

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

 

Latest poster design...

https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing

Edited by BRNDLL, 01 February 2022 - 04:12.