CLEARWATER, Fla. – Historic Sportscar Racing officials have announced the HSR race event schedule for next year that features familiar and favorite race weekend events for competitors and fans alike that will return to or be run within the time frame of their traditional race dates.
The season once again begins and ends at legendary Sebring International Raceway and in between visits such other iconic venues as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, Daytona Int’l Speedway, Watkins Glen Int’l, Road America and more.
Highlight blockbuster events include the 43rd HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 21-25, and the HSR Classics at Daytona, Oct. 27-31, and Sebring, Dec. 1-5, which close out the calendar.
The season-opening event for the third-straight year is the HSR Spring Fling at Sebring, March 31-April 2, which annually gives competitors an HSR headline event with a huge amount of track time on one of their favorite circuits.
The Spring Fling dates have been slightly adjusted, with a Wednesday through Friday format allowing competitors to be home for the Easter Weekend Holiday.
The Sebring opener is followed by the 43rd HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 21-25 – one of the oldest historic and vintage races in the U.S. – that returns on its traditional Spring date after being cancelled this year due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
The Mitty is in its fifth decade as a must-do vintage and historic major event that gets even bigger next year with competitor test days both Wednesday and Thursday. Corvette will be the featured marque, and many different examples of America’s Sports Car through the years are expected both on the track and in the spectator infield. A special Corvette Parade Lap and a Corvette Feature Race Saturday are all part of the celebration.
May’s schedule highlight is the HSR Barber Historics at Barber Motorsports Park, in Birmingham, Ala., May 20-23, which includes the addition of a new Thursday test day. This year’s Barber event was another COVID-19 cancellation, but the 2021 running offers competitors and race fans alike a chance to visit one of North America’s most pristine venues and circuits and take in the amazing Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
The HSR Ridge Runner Rally, June 14-18, returns for the third time in 2021. The non-track road rally event offers participants a journey through the Great Smoky Mountains in a one-of-a-kind tour of some of the most scenic highways and byways in the southeastern U.S. Accommodations are at the finest luxury hotels and quaint lodges with tour stops at some of the region’s top attractions and motorsports facilities.
Continuing a partnership with Masters Historic Racing, HSR will showcase its Group 5 class, and select cars from Groups 3 and 7, in a featured HSR run group at the Finger Lakes Invitational at Watkins Glen Int’l on July 9-11.
The new Masters Historic Racing event weekend at The Glen, which saw its debut delayed until 2021, will be held on one of the biggest summer weekends of the year in New York State’s Finger Lakes region. The HSR run group is part of a full weekend schedule at The Glen featuring Masters Historic Formula One USA and Masters Endurance Legends.
August is set aside for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and Monterey Pre-Reunion, which take place on back-to-back weekends at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Aug. 6-15. Having been named the motorsports sanctioning body of both the RMMR and the Monterey Pre-Reunion earlier this year, HSR will be well represented at WeatherTech Raceway on both weekends of competition.
Following a successful HSR guest appearance last month with the Vintage Sports Car Drivers Ass’n at the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, HSR has been invited back to the 36th running of the Road America event for 2021. The Sept. 17-19 ELVF weekend will once again see HSR competitors from all classes placed in existing and appropriate VSCDA run groups.
Having been run just last weekend as part of 2020’s adjusted schedule, the HSR Fall Historics at Michelin Raceway returns to it traditional date, Sept. 23-26, next year. The perfect complementary event to each April’s HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway, the Fall Classic has developed an appeal and popularity of its own, and last weekend’s running was one of the biggest editions of the race to date.
Set for its sixth running next month after debuting in 2014, the 2021 HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA, moves slightly up on the calendar to an Oct. 27-31 date next year.
The HSR Classic Daytona once again will be followed in 2021 by its HSR Classics sister event, the HSR Classic 12 Hour at Sebring, Pistons and Props, presented by the Alan Jay Automotive Network. The sixth-annual running of the HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour next year will be held on the legendary Sebring airport circuit, Dec. 1-5.