A full field of classic GT cars and competitors moved the 46th Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Mitty off to a fast start Friday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta with a Porsche, Corvette and Datsun 240Z all driven to victory in the first of two Sasco Sports International/American Challenge sprint races on this weekend’s packed schedule of events.
The overall and Porsche-class winner was regular HSR victory lane visitor Todd Treffer,t who topped the 40-plus car field with another victory in his 901 Shop 1972 No. 14 Porsche 911 IROC.
Treffert was joined on the overall podium in third by American division winner Alan Sevadjian, who stepped into the 1968 No. 37 Duntov Motor Company Corvette roadster regularly driven by his teammate and fellow HSR race winner Clair Schwendeman.
Steve Cullman put in a competitive drive to third overall and second in the American class in his 1970 No. 74 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Trans Am car prepared by Olthoff Racing.
This year’s featured marque at the 46th HSR Mitty is “The Cars of Japan” and a pair of quick 240Z competitors began the weekend’s celebration with podium finishes in Friday’s Sasco Sports race.
Chris Zappa finished a solid sixth overall and won the International class race in the 1972 No. 44 Datsun 240Z and was joined in victory lane by fellow “Z” car competitor Scott Kissinger, who finished third in his 1971 No. 202 Datsun 240Z.
Rob Albino, another familiar face in Sasco Sports Challenge victory lane, broke up the all 240Z podium in the International division in his Hudson Historics 2000 No. 99 BMW Z3 with a second-place finish.
Friday’s other podium players included Robert Spence, who was fifth overall and second in the Porsche class in his 1972 No. 63 Porsche 911 S/T. Craig Watkins completed the Porsche podium in third in his 1968 No. 46 Porsche 911 while Jonathan DeGaynor was third in American and overall in the unique 1960 No. 111 Devin Special.
Saturdays are the biggest day of each year’s Mitty and this year’s is no exception with several feature races and the first rounds of the weekend’s WeatherTech sprint race doubleheaders.
In addition to the Cars of Japan Feature Race, another can’t-miss Saturday sprint is the Third Annual “Gene Felton Memorial Challenge” for HSR Group 8 Historic Stock Cars. Honoring the late driving star Gene Felton — the 2019 HSR Mitty Grand Marshal — the Memorial Challenge features a pair of races for HSR Historic Stock Cars starting on Saturday with the winner determined by total points from both events.