WINTER WONDERLAND TOUR

Sean O’Hollaren volunteered his Historic Letson’s Garage for this special meeting! OMS screened The Italian Job while football fans enjoyed the Super Bowl playing at the same time in another room. Thanks Sean for the great hospitality and Jeremy Thorpe for the photos. Lets do it again next year! Progress is being made on the Club Mini during the first tech session of the New Year in February. What a great opportunity to get an idea on how these classic cars are built.

We installed some Windows and headlights. Stay tuned for the next date to get your hands on this classic! Thanks to Ron and Kathleen Peters for hosting this!

Vintage Race Reports. Schedule. Cars for Sale, Auctions and More

January 2022: Volume 37, No. 1 $6.95 USA, $7.95 Canada

VDCA Season Finale

Velocity Invitational

WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca

Taking to the Corkscrew after dark.

Mini vs. Mustang at Velocity

David Beats Goliath, Again

photo by Cindi Racine

– story by Randy Unsbee

To be fair, the Davids greatly outnumbered the Goliaths at the first-ever Mini vs. Mustang night enduros during the Nov.11-14 Velocity Invitational at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey. Nonetheless, the Mustangs put up a heck of a fight and nearly pulled off a win.

Mini races usually consist of three or four separate classes based on preparation and performance. At Laguna, all the Minis were lumped into the same class as the Mustangs, so there were perhaps only a half dozen Minis that could realistically compete with the Mustangs and the lone Ford Falcon.

The two one-hour enduro races took place with a mandatory five-minute pit stop to change drivers and refuel. The ultimate winners both nights were Dennis Racine and Dylan Wittenauer in their #177 1966 Morris Mini Cooper S, but the result belies the titanic battles among a pack of extremely fast Minis with ground-pounding Shelby GTs and other Fords interspersed throughout. The Fords frequently led.

Accomplished vintage Mini racer Dennis is the son of Don Racine, himself a Mini racing legend and founder of MiniMania.com. Along with the organizers of the 2019 Sonoma Speed Festival at Sears Point, who were also behind this year’s Velocity Invitational at Laguna Seca, Don created the faceoff between these two marques. The clashes harken back to epic Ford and Mini races and rallies in Monte Carlo, Australia, Canada, Goodwood in England, and the SCCA Trans-Am Series of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Don and Dennis entered nine Minis and 18 drivers in the 33-car field. Altogether, 26

Minis faced seven Fords, including four GT 350s, a Mustang GT, a Mustang, and Ford Falcon.

How is it possible that tiny four-cylinder Mini Coopers could compete with V8 horsepower? As broadcaster Adam Andretti explained, “Road America is a horsepower track. You couldn’t have the Mustang vs. Mini Cooper at Road America. It wouldn’t be a contest. But here where there is a great balance of handling and horsepower you could come with a better handling car and surely

photo by Jim Rose #88 Greg Wold, 1964 Austin Cooper S; #10 James Biscoe, 1967 Austin Mini Cooper S.

photo by Jim Rose #52 Andrew Nelson, 1963 Austin Mini Cooper S.

show up the Americans with big horsepower and heavy cars. Finding the balance between the two...seems to be the magic.”

Don was approached by the Sonoma Speed Festival/Velocity Invitational organizers at a CSRG event in early 2021. I previously asked Velocity’s Ardelle Lind in December 2020 if Minis would be invited to the 2021 invitational. Frankly, I was selfishly looking for an opportunity to race with the Racines again after missing 1.5 years due to COVID precautions. Don Racine soon created the whole format that we and the fans got to enjoy.

“People who didn’t understand what Mini racing was all about are now ready to jump into these cars,” Don explained. Mini vs. Mustang “is far more fun with far more crowd appeal. It’s really a David vs. Goliath story.”

Mustang driver Matt Johnson #6 said about racing against the Minis, “It’s a blast running with them. You come onto the front straight and there’s a pack of five of them. You have to figure out which way you’re going to split them up. We’re having a lot of fun out there and there are some quick little cars. It’s making it fun running in the dark. You couldn’t ask for a better event.”

Race #1

The #52 Andrew Nelson/Nick Swift Mini took the early lead over the #177 Dennis Racine/Dylan Wittenauer Mini, followed by the #30 Mini of the de Silva brothers, the #5 Mustang of Taylor and Chip Fudge, and the #61 of Don Racine/Richard Patterson Mini. The top three Minis gradually pulled away from the Mustang.

After the five-minute mandatory pitstop and driver exchange the #26 Mustang of John Linfest/Chris Hines took the lead, followed by Dylan Wittenhauer in the #177, the #30 de Silva brothers, the #52 Swift Mini, then #5 Fudge Mustang, the #62 Andrew Wait/ Martin Lauber Mini, the #88 Greg Wold/Dave Morgan Mini, the #6 Matt Johnson/Ryan Turri Shelby Mustang, the John Sherer/Brian Levin #166 Mustang GT, and the #66 Levin and 16-year-old Seth Huntley Mini.

At the pit stop driver exchange, the #61A Don Racine/Richard Patterson Mini had lost its brakes and had to retire. Also discovered later was the winning #26 Mustang did not stop for the full five minutes in the pits and was penalized back to 13th.

The final podium consisted of the Racine/ Wittenhauer #177 Mini, the Harindra and Timothy de Silva #30 Mini second, and the Nelson/Swift #52 Mini third. Three of the fastest times on track were by Minis.

Race #2 Six Minis paced the field before the first of the Mustangs in the Sunday feature. Dennis Racine jumped to the lead followed by the de Silva #30, the Nelson/ Swift #52, the Wait/ Lauber #62, and Bacciocco/Adams Mustang #111. The de Silva Mini took over the lead from Dennis and then Nelson got by as well.

The #111 Bacciocco/Adams Mustang methodically picked its way through the Minis to take the lead in corner five just as the sun set behind the Monterey foothills. When everyone eventually pitted the #111 Mustang and #177 Mini stayed out, with Dennis Racine’s Mini closing to within 1.5 seconds of the lead. At the driver exchange, the Nelson/Swift team discovered a blown head gasket and had to retire after previously setting the fastest lap of the race.

When the Mustang pitted, Dennis still stayed out until a full course yellow for stalled cars on track was displayed with just 15 minutes to go. Dennis then pitted. This resulted in his #177 Mini taking the lead and holding it to the end with Dylan Wittenauer behind the wheel. Following Dennis and Dylan across the line were two Fords: the #111 1966 Mustang of Mike Baccioccos and Ken Adams, and the #6 1966 Shelby GT350 of Matt Johnson and Ryan Turri.

My fastest lap in Julie Racine’s #969 Mini was at the start of the second enduro, moving up to 13th overall from 19th and briefly chasing down a Mustang, having never previously raced at Laguna Seca. However, a few laps later my right side mirror broke and the 180 degrees Wink mirror inside came loose and was useless. I was virtually driving blind as to who was behind or alongside and could only see blindingly bright lights surrounding me while trying to listen for engine noises to avoid collisions.

At our pit stop crew chief Andy Hoffman taped up the mirrors for my faster co-driver David Cooper while Anita Weemaes timed our five-minute stop to make sure we didn’t leave too soon and receive a penalty, and Tom

photo by Cindi Racine #969 Randy Unsbee, 1960 Austin Mini Cooper S; #76 Mike Kimball, 1965 Austin Mini; #17 Graham Reid, 1962 Austin Mini.

photo by Jim Rose #22 Ron Cox, 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S. photo by Jim Rose #00 Chris Locke, 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S.

photo by Cindi Racine

The largest and oldest annual gathering of Classic Minis and New MINIS west of the Mississippi River. Be sure to register now while there are still openings and reserve your room at the fabulous The Point Casino and Hotel in Kingston, Washington, July 25-29, 2022

https://peninsulaminisociety.org/2021/10/07/mini-meet-west-2022/ https://www.thepointcasinoandhotel.com/