It’s Official ! SAAC’s 31st annual national convention will be held on the July
4th weekend of 2006 at what has been aptly described as one of the most
beautiful and challenging road circuits in the world. Virginia International
Raceway is located near Danville, on the Virginia side of the border with North
Carolina. It’s about 80 miles southeast of Roanoke, VA, 50 miles northeast of
Greensboro, NC and 80 miles north-northwest of Raleigh, NC. Traveling a little
farther: plan on 250 miles from Washington DC, 500 miles from New York City, 800
miles from Chicago and St. Louis, 1,100 miles from Dallas, 2,400 miles from Los
Angeles and 2,600 miles from San Francisco.
VIR was completed in 1957, when sports car racing was just becoming popular with
the general public. The 1955 accident at LeMans which took 77 lives forced
localities to put an end to racing on public roads (even though they were closed
off for the event). The result was a sprouting up of purpose-built road race
circuits like Lime Rock, Laguna Seca, Road America, Watkins Glen and Virginia
International Raceway. The first feature race at the track was held in August of
1957 and it was won by Carroll Shelby, driving a Maserati 450S. Shelby was
quoted after the race as saying, “One lap at VIR is like 100 at Watkins Glen.”
If you come to SAAC-31 you’ll be able to find out for yourself.
The track is actually a complex of four courses, two of which can be run
concurrently, The full course is 3.27 miles in length, has 18 turns, several
elevation changes, a front straight that is 3000 feet long and a back straight
that measures 4000 feet. That’s the one we’ll be using most of the weekend. The
North Course is 2.25 miles in length and the South course is 1.65 miles long.
VIR continued to operate until 1974 after which it fell into disuse. It was
refurbished and reopened in 2000 by Harvey Siegel, a successful real estate
developer, vintage racer, former GT40, Cobra and GT350 owner and SAAC member.
Today the track, set on a 1,200 acre parcel of rural countryside, is the epitome
of what a race track should be. For more details on the track check their
website: www.virclub.com The areas you’ll
want to see are: Track Layout, Aerial Tour, History and Directions.
The Schedule. We don’t have one yet, because this convention is still in the
planning stages. But we can tell you it will include all of the things you’ve
come to expect in a SAAC convention: car shows, swap meet, open track, vintage
racing and a dinner and evening program. We are also working on a couple of
surprises which we cannot reveal just yet. However, they will happen and they
will make this convention more exciting, more interesting and more memorable
than any other. They will redefine what a convention is.
The Hotels. We don’t have them locked in yet, either but we’re working on it.
They are only about 15 miles away. We will list them in the next Snakebite,
along with phone numbers for reservations and an explanation of the special SAAC
rate. Call any hotel in the area now and they will not know of SAAC or of any
special rate, so if you get a room you’ll waste some money. A little patience
here will go a long way.
Registration. We’ll have registration details and forms in the next Snakebite,
along with a schedule and answers to the usual batch of convention questions
regarding early registration and tech inspection, overnight camping for RVs,
paddock parking, etc. etc.
We know we’re dragging most of you to an out-of-the-way place, but the program
we’re going to put on for you will make it worth the extra effort it took to get
there. And after it’s over, everyone who passed it up is going to look like
they’ve been sucking lemons when they hear about what went on. Trust us on that!