18th Annual Vintage Celebration - Vintage Racing Cars

Planning for the 2008 event is in full swing!

This year's event is on track to be the biggest and most participated event in the history of the Vintage Celebration / Vic Yerardi Memorial.

2008 Entry Forms are now available at this site for your immediate download.

See you at Loudon!

UPDATE 5/05/2008

If you have been to the Vintage Celebration before then you know we have DOOR PRIZES! One of many things that makes this event stand out, and this year is no different!

THE FOLLOWING DOOR PRIZES HAVE BEEN DONATED (TO DATE) WITH MORE ON THE WAY...

Bondurant High Performance Driving School, "1-Day Z06 Corvette Experience" Driving School (valued at $1,650), 3 very nice high quality shirts.
Chip Ganassi Racing - 2 used Juan Pablo Montoya Team Shirts $100 value each
K&N Engineering - Several Gift Certificates.
Firestone - 4 new Firestone Passenger or Light Truck Tires.
Restoration Supply Company - (to be determined)
Meguiars - 30 bottles of their spray wax!
Snyder Video - 3DVDs, Sprint & Champ Car Classics, Eastern Midget Classics, Open Cockpit Classics.
Joe Gibbs Racing Oil - a case of BR Break-In oil as well as a case of 15W-50 Hot Rod Oil
Eastern Museum of Motor Racing - (to be determiend)
Coker Tire - 2, $100.00gift certificates.
Bob Hilbert Sportswear - 3 really great female shirts, 7 real great mens shirts.
Coastal 181 - A few really great books.
Area Auto Racing News - Two 20 week Subscriptions. One must go to someone not already receiving AARN.
ACI Advanced Chargers - Super Charger Plus!
QA1 - 50% Off Certificate
Hilborn Injection - 3 really nice hats.
Lincoln Electric - 2 really nice hats
Hemmings Motor News - Really nice model car.

The 18th Annual Vintage Celebration to be held at he "Magic Mile" at New Hampshire Motor Speedway located in Loudon Hew Hampshire From the 13th thru the 15th of May will this year Honor

Mr. Frank Kurtis who would have been 100 years old in January.

Frank started building Midgets in the mid 1930's. 1941 saw the first Indy car to carry the Kurtis nameplate. The midget was an instant success when it first appeared at the Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. The Kurtis midget as we know it now was designed and available as a complete car or a Kit. In 1946 Frank built the powerful Novi Indy car. Over 500 Kurtis Kraft Midgets were built. Kurtis's first Indy win came in 1950 with Johnny Parsons doing the driving. In 1951, 52 and 53 Kurtis cars finished 1, 2, 3.

In 1952, 24 of the 33 Indy starters were Kurtis built cars. Kurtis also built the Kurtis sports cars, 1/4 midgets and the famous 500 series road racing cars. This year at the Vintage Celebration we will have Arlen Kurtis Franks son who still runs the Kurtis Kraft Company as our Grand Marshall.

We hope everyone that has a Kurtis car of any kind will stop be to celebrate the occasion.

CLICK HERE FOR 2007 EVENT WRITE UP

CLICK HERE FOR 2007 AWARD/PRIZE WINNERS

CLICK HERE FOR 600+ PRO PHOTOS, 2007 EVENT

Professional event photographer Brian Swinn took over 600 great photos! These photos have been divided up into the following categories: Awards, Open Wheel On Track, Stocks / Modifieds On Track & Misc. Garage Photos.

If you see a photograph that is of interest to you Brian Swinn would be happy to supply you with a copy of that photo for a small fee. (We request a small fee to help offset Brian’s cost of attending our event and providing us with these great photos). If you see a photo that you would like a copy of please email Brian: a) description of the car, b) number of the car, c) your complete contact information and he will then respond promptly. Brian’s email address is: mtswinn@cs.com. Thank you.

Prices (all-inclusive, including shipping) are:

4 x 6: $3.00
5 x 7: $8.00
8 x 10: $15.00
10 x 15: $25.00
16 X 20: $40.00

Please send a check in advance made out to:

Brian W. Swinn
159 Sugar Hill Road
Rexford, NY 12148

Prices for larger sizes on request. Special cropping (probably only rarely necessary) is $2.00 per photos and can apply as a single charge to all copies and sizes made from the same negative at the same time.

Vintage Celebration ("Vic Yerardi Memorial") is the largest on track Vintage oval race car event in the US.

Eligible Vintage cars include: Midget, Sprints, Champ cars, Indy cars and Stock cars

The event was the brainchild of Bob Bahre, the track owner, and the late Vic Yerardi, a huge supporter of the Vintage Car movement.

The event name was changed after Vic Yerardi, (photo 1), (photo 2), (photo 3), passed away in 1991. It is now known as the "Vic Yerardi Memorial".

Cars travel from as far away as California and Florida to participate in the event.

The 2008 event has been extended by 1 full day. The event will start the morning of May 13th to 5 pm on the 15th.

Car count has been averaging 175. We are committed to increasing that count to over 200 for 2008. So please get the word out, tell all you friends and neighbors about this very special one of a kind event. If you have any questions, comments or concerns names, emails address and phone numbers can be found in the "Contact Info" section of this web site.

This is definitely the largest gathering of Vintage Open Wheel Race Cars in the country.

Curious what an Offy sounds like at speed?
Curious what 5-10 Offys at speed sound like?
Curious what a Champ car sounds like at speed?

Come out and experience with us what has been one of the best kept secrets. Expect to be impressed by the facility, by the people and by the CARS!

Click HERE for a RECAP of the 2006 event, with relevant photos included.

Each year a Grand Marshall is named for the celebration. In past years, notables like Roger Ward, A.J. Watson, Buster Werke, Ron Bouchard & Ken Squier were honored. This honoree for 2007 will be announced soon.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Click HERE to visit the new MERCHANDISE section of this web site. There you will find some very interesting and informative publications. You may even run into an author or two at this years Vintage Celebration.

Click HERE to check out our ever growing Online Photo Gallery of on track events & static shows, 1700+ photos.