2012 MITTY TRIUMPH CELEBRATION A RECORD-BREAKING EVENT

BRASELTON, Ga.--The Speedfest at the Classic Motorsports Mitty, the oldest and largest historic car event on the East Coast, Road Atlanta, was held this past weekend at Road Atlanta from April 27-29 2012. Sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing and presented by Classic Motorsports magazine, the 36th Mitty brought together cars from the 1950s to current models.

This year's Mitty drew its largest crowd in recent memory, with more than 10,000 fans in attendance for the three-day gathering. The event also saw one of the biggest racing fields in its history with more than 350 race cars in attendance.

Triumph was this year's featured marque, and former Triumph Team Manager Kas Kastner of California served as grand marshal. In addition to being the successful leader of Triumph and British Leyland racing in the United States, Kastner also managed the Nissan GTP car program.

More than 50 Triumph-powered cars competed in this year's featured race, the all-Triumph Kastner Cup, which this year was won by Randy Williams with his TR3. "This is the biggest Kastner Cup that there has ever been," Kastner remarked. "I never imagined I would see so many great Triumph racing cars on the track again." Strong praise indeed.

The 2012 Mitty was also host the very first Gorsline Cup award, an award presented to the driver that best embodies the spirit of the Gorsline Company. John Gorsline was on hand to present the cup to inaugural winner of the Gorsline cup was George Robinson IV. Our congratulations go out to George for winning the award.

The Speedfest at the Classic Motorsports Mitty included races for IMSA Camel GT, SCCA Trans-Am, Cam, Formula 1, CART and NASCAR Winston Cup cars. Races for other vintage sports cars from the past six decades as well as the modern-day Porsche Cayman series were also on the schedule. There was even a Le Mans-start race. Two-wheeled machines took their turn on track, with a vintage and historic motorcycle racing field of more than 40 bikes--double the size of last year's.

Among the cars featured were Triumphs of every model and year imaginable, ranging from early TR3 race cars to the Peter Brock-designed TR250K campaigned by Kastner. Other famous cars were the 1979 SCCA Championship-winning Triumph Spitfire and the Group 44 Inc. Triumph GT6+ owned by Tim Suddard, publisher of Classic Motorsports.

Attendees enjoyed several non-racing activities, too. As part of a Vintage Triumph Register regional event, almost 100 Triumphs formed a weekend-long car show on the Mitty infield; Hermann Schaller's Triumph 2000 cabriolet took home Best of Show. We want to thank the members of the Georgia Triumph Association for bringing their spring event to the Mitty and for all the great cars and hard work. More than 40 other car clubs, including those dedicated to MG, Jaguar, Mazda, Porsche, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Lotus and Fiat-Lancia, were also on display in the infield.

To keep up the momentum of last year's Mazda Mitty, Friday night featured the now-traditional Mazda Owners Key Party. All Mazda owners who showed their car keys at the door were admitted. The special Mazda guest this year was Norm Garrett, chief designer of the Mazda Miata. Norm was on hand to welcome the Mazda owners and answer any questions. He came away impressed, telling us,

"When I was at Georgia Tech in '78 and driving a TR3, we'd come to watch sports cars race at Road Atlanta before they were historic. Being at The Mitty some 34 years later and seeing all the Triumphs, MGs, Porsches and Jags running around was a blast, as it is every year. The passion of sports car love, for me and many others, has been nursed and inflamed by this famous track for decades. It is not a stretch to say that there is a part of Road Atlanta in every Miata. To see the torch being carried so well by Classic Motorsports, HSR and the Mitty team is a testament to the talents of the organizers and racers themselves."

On Saturday night, Moss Motors sponsored a Vintage Triumph Register Awards Party and Spitfire 50th birthday celebration. The bash was open to all spectators and began with a brief awards ceremony for the weekend's Vintage Triumph Register Le Mans-start race and car show with Classic Motorsports own Gary Hunter receiving an award. The live music kicked in after that, and Grand Marshal Kas Kastner, famed racing driver Bob Tullius, and the former head of PR for Triumph and British Leyland, Mike Cook, mingled with guests and signed autographs. Meanwhile, the team from eBay Motors handed out gift certificates to lucky guests, and Moss Motors co-owner Robert Goldman distributed 10 gift certificates of his own.

This year's Classic Motorsports Mitty also featured the largest vendor midway ever, selling everything from T-shirts, die-cast cars and books to racing posters and even classic sports car parts and accessories. We would like to thank this year's midway vendors: Acadiana Sports Car Challenge, Advance Auto-Wire LLC, Angie's List, Atlanta Motorsports Park, Auto Brass, BBS Wheels, Bruster's Ice Cream, DIYAutoTune, Double Vision, Drivers, Easy Transit LLC, eBay Motors, Exotic Car Transport, Fast Frankie's Lemonade, G-Force Racing Gear, Hagerty Insurance, Joe Gibbs Driven, Kaufmann Tire, Kumho Tire, Leukemia Research Foundation, Little British Car Company, People Kars, Randy Owens, Refreshment Concepts, Scott Schleh, Skip Barber Driving School, Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q, Tearoffguys, TS Imported, Vintage Motorsport and Winner's Circle.

The 2012 Mitty would not be possible without the help of our sponsors. We want to thank Mazda, Kumho Tires, eBay Motors, Skip Barber, Tire Rack, Exotic Car Transport, Moss Motors, SafeRacer, G-Force and Gorsline for their continued support of this great event.

The Mitty was founded by a group of Atlanta-area racing aficionados in 1978 who wanted a place to compete with their cars. The event has grown to become the largest vintage racing event on the East Coast.

Related Web Site Links

Photo gallery: http://classicmotorsports.net/mitty12/