Mid-Ohio Raceway Celebrates 40 Years of Triumph

Late June saw the Mossmobile wending its way to Mid-Ohio raceway where a celebration of 40 years of Triumph sports cars took place during the United Telephone Vintage Grand Prix weekend. Over 450 competitors and their classics registered to take part in a full vintage race program, who were then joined by what seemed to be every Triumph sports car for a thousand miles around. For four glorious summer days it was Triumph heaven!

Mid-Ohio Raceway is a really superb driver’s track, just over two miles in length, the owner having said he wanted to build a race track that looked like a golf course! He certainly succeeded, it’s never really flat, with undulations and climbs, hairpin bends and loops!

Moss Motors was invited by the organizer of the Mid-Ohio Triumph Club display, Tom Householder, to sponsor the Popular Vote Concours. and we were delighted to be able to help out. Saturday morning saw a mass migration of Triumphs to the infield of the track, where the Concours was held around the Moss R.V. This was once we had got across the track between MGs, Morgans, Lotus, and Jaguars tearing around the circuit, as the R.V. was too heavy to take over the bridge to the infield, where the concours was being held! Within a few of hours, over 400 Triumphs were arrayed on display, ranging from a beautiful Triumph Renown through to the last of the line, the TR8s – a truly magnificent display!

While the judging was in progress, race practice continued, and those who could “go” circulated around those here for “show”! A special mention here to Don Elliott from Ontario, Canada who drove his lovely TR3 out here some 900 miles and was rewarded with a second place in his class!

Every Triumph in the display was allowed out onto the track for a parade lap, and drivers and passengers waved at the crowds in the stands and on the bankings, who were only too eager to wave back in a celebration of the Triumph marque! Car after car – a superb spectacle – and a tribute to the hardworking organizers of this 40th Anniversary celebration.

Visitors were also able to see a full display of vintage Triumphs and an all-Triumph race on the Sunday afternoon, in addition to having access to the paddock to witness the preparation, the frustration and the exhilaration (for the victors!) of owning and driving a vintage race car. Bob Tulius of the famous Group 44 team was on hand as guest of honor for the weekend, and gave an amusing after-dinner talk on Saturday. Following this were the Moss Concours awards, consisting of beautiful smoked glass plaques presented to the winners of the Triumph car show.

Sadly, and all too soon, our first visit to Mid-Ohio came to an end, closing a weekend we shall remember for a long time to come. Moss Motors would like to thank those who made our visit all the more memorable with their hospitality and help especially, Jeannine Zimmer and Cheryl Morrow of Mid Ohio, Tom and Susie Householder, and Sue Harsh, for organizing the Concours. Of course, we mustn’t forget the many Moss customers new and old, who came by the Mossmobile to say hello and even collect a free cut-out car! Thanks again, Ohio!

(Triumph fans stop reading here for a moment! Gary Harrison in his Moss Sponsored 1959 MGA finished 2nd in his class, beaten for first place by Mark Brandow in his 1960 MGA, which carried Moss Distributing decals! Mark also bettered the existing track record!)

1st Places In the Moss Motors Concours, Mid-Ohio

TR2 Class: Bruce Lapierre. 195-1 TR2, Hudson, OH

TR3 Class: Tom & Diana Mahoney, 1957 TR3, Galena, OH

TR4 Class: Patrick Lobdell, 1963 TR4, Hobart, IN

TR250 Class: Bev & Darrell Floyd, 1968 TR250, Akron, OH

TR6 Class: Dolly Larock, 1972 TR6, Armagh, PA

TR7 Class: Michael Goodfleisch, 1981 TR7, Cols, OH

TR8 Class: Ivan Love, 1981 TR8, Holt, MI

Spitfire Class: Lane Pursex. 1966 Spitfire, Germantown, IN

GT6 Clan: Jack Randolph. 1969 GT6+, Macedonia, OH

Triumph Classics: Robert Link, 1949 Triumph 2000 Roadster, Darien, IL

By Ken Smith