Screaming Rotary-Powered Racers Highlight Entry List
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Created in 1977 by a group of daydreamers who wanted to test their sports cars at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the Mitty has evolved into a crown jewel event on the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) calendar.
The 46th edition of the HSR Mitty spans today through Sunday and has attracted a bumper field of 273 entries over more than a dozen classes, including 40 celebrating this year’s featured marque – Cars of Japan.
From SCCA club racing to the top categories of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, all the major Japanese auto manufacturers have significant history in American sports car racing dating to the 1960s.
Nissan was the first to make a mark, as Datsun 1600 and 2000 roadsters were popular entry-level SCCA racers in the late 1960s. Peter Brock of Cobra fame formed Brock Racing Engineering (BRE), which fielded a series of memorable championship-winning Datsuns for driver John Morton in the early ‘70s – notably a 510 sedan and 240Z. Bob Sharp Racing was another longtime Datsun/Nissan stalwart (the make’s name change occurred in 1981), developing a series of iconic Z-cars driven by Sharp, his son Scott, and actor/racer Paul Newman.
Later in the ‘70s, a new team called Electramotive prepared a Datsun B210 for Don Devendorf in an early iteration of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Electramotive later successfully campaigned Nissan’s championship-winning prototype at the height of the first era of IMSA’s Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class. Look for several BRE/Sharp/Electramotive tribute cars at the Mitty.
Mazda Motorsports is bringing the noise – literally. The company’s Heritage Collection has entered a screaming rotary-powered 767B prototype to be driven by modern-era sports car star Jonathan Bomarito. This 767B finished ninth in the 1989 24 Hours of Le Mans; its successor, the 787B, took the overall victory in 1991. Bomarito earned six wins for Mazda in WeatherTech Championship competition between 2017 and ’21; the last came at Michelin Raceway in the 2021 Motul Petit Le Mans in the last race for Mazda’s IMSA Daytona Prototype international (DPi) program.
Another four-rotor Wankel-powered gem from Mazda Heritage will be familiar to IMSA fans – the GTO class championship-winning 1991 RX-7, which will be run by longtime Mazda racer Tom Long. More Mazdas are raced on any given weekend in America than any other brand, thanks to the wildly popular spec MX-5/Miata classes.
Honda (via its premium Acura brand) and Toyota (likewise via Lexus) continue to maintain a strong presence in the WeatherTech Championship, with current factory efforts in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) PRO, respectively. Honda’s IMSA history was sparked by an Acura-powered Spice that dominated the equivalent of today’s Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class in the late ‘80s. In the early 1990s, Toyota took over from Nissan as the dominant marque in the final years of IMSA’s original GTP formula.
Prior to that, Toyota’s partnership with Dan Gurney’s All American Racers was the class of the IMSA GTU and GTO field, predecessors of today’s production-based GTD classes. Like Nissan and Mazda, Toyota and Honda are both still strongly represented from SCCA club racing to historic sports car competition.
Himself a fan since he was a child, IMSA President John Doonan was instrumental in bringing HSR into the IMSA family. Vintage sports car demonstrations are a popular feature of the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, and HSR events like the Mitty provide a full historic sports car immersion for fans who enjoy the cars – and stars – from past eras. As an example, Jim Downing – founder of the driver safety HANS Device – will be driving the Mazda-powered Kudzu prototype he designed and raced in the 1990s.
“The HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta exemplifies exactly what HSR is all about with its outstanding on-track competition and great off-track camaraderie,” Doonan remarked. “Along with the growing HSR Classics, the Mitty – as HSR’s oldest event – and the spirit of its competitors is a prime example of what HSR is and will continue to be.
“We will continue to provide HSR racing teams and families with the best vintage and historic racing experience possible,” he added. “We are committed to vintage and historic racing and to delivering this unparalleled experience to our amazing families and teams we are honored to have race with us.”
For more information about the 46h edition of the HSR Mitty, including schedule, entry list and ticket options, visit https://www.hsrrace.com.
(Photo: HSR)