2024 Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races Honor Porsche
Put-in-Bay, OH – December 1, 2023 — Organizers of the Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races are excited to announce that Porsche has been selected to be the featured marque for the 2024 edition of this truly unique vintage sports car racing event.
Starting in 2012, the modern-day Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races harken back to the original races that were held on the narrow streets of this historic Lake Erie island community in the 1950s and early ‘60s. The event is renowned not only for the stunning South Bass Island setting, but also for its relaxed atmosphere and its “competitive but respectful” vintage race environment – much like how it was back in the 1950s.
“The significance of the Porsche brand to the history of this event can’t be overstated,” says Porsche enthusiast and island resident, Scott Sadowsky. Indeed, many Porsches were among the entries throughout the 1950s, including a Porsche Spyder driven by a then very young Carl Haas in 1957. And it was Manny Holder’s 550 Spyder that set the blistering 89.1 mph average speed, all-time lap record around the 3.1-mile street course in 1958.
For those not familiar with the Put-in-Bay event, here are a few things that make it unique:
– Vintage racing takes place at the Put-in-Bay Airport whose runway and taxiways provide a challenging and competitive 1.2-mile hay-bale lined course that rewards precise braking and nimble handling. It’s a pristinely maintained surface that offers good grip, numerous passing opportunities and varieties of racing lines. Fun to drive as well as watch!
– Race entry options are available for qualified under 3-liter vintage sports cars, sedans and open-wheel cars primarily built prior to 1973. There are also race entry options available for larger displacement cars (by application) and for appropriate cars produced as late as 1990 that meet vintage racing preparation rules.
– There is also an Exhibition class which provides track time for drivers seeking a track
experience without all the demands of a race setting.
– There are also entry options for non-racing entrants with “Heritage street cars” (street
versions of the race cars) and for “Guest street cars” (later sports cars and sporty sedans).
– Rules and requirements for all the above are available at www.pibroadrace.com
– Besides two days of racing, there is also an all-entrant’s car show, police-escorted tour-laps of the original ‘50s era road course, “spirited” pace-car led touring laps of the airport race-course for the non-racing entrants, social gatherings including a wine & cheese reception at Heineman’s Winery, a non-racers/guests luncheon, and the highly competitive and entertaining “rocker cover races” at The Goat Soup & Whiskey.
– And finally (a new twist for 2024) entrants and spectators are encouraged to get into the spirit of the event by wearing vintage-inspired attire, however they interpret that to be.
Registration will open in early January. See http://www.pibroadrace.com for answers to “FAQs,” registration materials and further details about eligibility. To join the ongoing conversation about the Put-in-Bay Sports Car Races, please join our facebook page (easy to find).
Early registration discounts expire June 1, 2024.
The “back in the day” Porsche photos courtesy of Stu Kerr; the Kevin Maehling Porsche photo provided by Put-in-Bay photographer John Rees.