Heritage cars

[Ken A.]

I made a deal last week to buy a friends 91 ZR-1 that he bought new. It only has 29,000 miles on it. He is a long time autocrosser, and this was his autocross car. Obviously he didn't drive it on the streets much, except to get to the autocrosses. He ran in the stock/street tire classes most of the time. The car is lowered 1", Koni's and a 4.08 rear end. I just came up with this question this morning, what constitutes a Heritage car? I should have no problem coming up with plenty of documentation of his racing efforts. Drag race and road race cars qualify, so what about autocross cars? I'm guessing that he ran this about 75 autocrosses. If autocross cars qualify, how about my 69 which I ran in about 180 autocrosses?

Ken

[Gary C.]

American Heritage in Judging Reference

Manual, Section 11, page 39: "17. NCRS AMERICAN HERITAGE AWARD
1. To recognize unique Corvettes such as but not limited to GM Styling Cars, GM Experimental Cars and Factory or Vintage Race Cars. These cars must be a historically significant piece of Corvette heritage.

2. Created for cars that do not currently meet our judging standard because of their intended use.

3. Vintage race cars must have actual race history and must be presented in the race form the represents the most significate part of that history. Burden of proof that the vehicle is historically significant is with the owner, documentation is requred, in the form deemed acceptable for each individual case."

The Corvettes you've mentioned do not appear to qualify for the American Heritage Award based upon the NCRS requirements.

Good luck,

Gary
....

[Ken A.]

Re: American Heritage in Judging Reference

Gary
Thanks, I didn't know how it was worded. Just to stir the pot a little, in many ways, any Corvette that was raced to any degree could be considered 'historically significant' because Corvettes got their reputation not only on the 'important' race tracks, but also on the streets and local races. I know of several mid-years that have been autocrossed since the day they rolled of the showroom floor. Personally, I believe the Corvette mystique has come from what people have seen and known about personally, which usually didn't involve big time racing. I think we could make a case for these cars as being 'historically significant'. I guess we are talking about two different things here, but it seems that there should be some way of giving credit to the shade tree mechanics and back yard racers that really put Corvette in the eye of the common person.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
Ken

[Mike E.]

Re: American Heritage in Judging Reference

Ken--
I can't disagree with your thinking, but at what point do you draw the line with significant? My 1962 Honduras Maroon #43xx is significant because it sat in the driveway in a neighborhood in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the paperboy would look at it early every morning and because of that he was compelled in the early 80's to buy a new Corvette. That was very significant to him. Etc. Almost every announcer of every football game comments that "we're seeing history being made". Of course we are. But significant? How many thousands of American Heritage Awards should the NCRS give away? There are at least 80 1962's alone that were raced and entered into the results standings of SCCA--multiply that times 50 years from 56 to 06.

[Ken A.]

Re: American Heritage in Judging Reference

Mike

You make some very good points, but as you said, where do you draw the line with significant? We could have a pretty good discussion about that. How about the guy who can't afford big time racing and instead autocrosses the same car for 30 or 40 years. Is his car less significant than the guy who found sponsership and raced big time for 2 years? Personally, I don't think so. (Or atleast my ego wants to think so!)

As a Corvette autocrosser for over 25 years, I realize I see things differently than most of the NCRS community. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what NCRS does, but I'm a racer first, shower second. I guess part of my frustration comes from the new first time Corvette owners who buy a C5 or C6. You ask them why they bought it and part of that is the Corvette mystique from years past, which was created through performance and racing, but they wouldn't think of trying an autocross, 'because it might hurt the car'. Isn't driving it to the limits of the driver one of the main purposes of a Corvette? I'm getting off on a tangent here. Sorry.

Maybe NCRS could create a Heritage Jr.?!!

Ken