SEBRING, Fla.—The final day of Historic Sporstcar Racing’s Sebring Fall Classic was devoted to competition: from 9 a.m. until late afternoon cars were cutting and thrusting their ways around Sebring’s 3.7-mile racecourse.
The highlight of the weekend, the Sebring Four Hours, was cut to 2.5 hours due to attrition—“The fastest four hours in racing,” the track announcer wryly called it. Too many cars broke and went home, and the remaining drivers agreed to the shorter format, which included three mandatory pit stops.
Despite the slightly shorter schedule, the ultimate day of the event was better than the first two: the racing seemed more intense, the competition closer.
Take just one contest as an example:
[etssp 462]Dennis Olthoff and Jody O'Donnell finished 1–2 in Saturday’s International/American Challenge race, with the team of Lary Ligas and Jim pace in their 1961 Jaguar XKE sixth. This trio resumed their struggle in Sunday morning’s Group 5 & 5c Classic GT/Cayman race.
O‘Donnell’s ’66 Corvette unfortunately broke halfway through the race, just after passing Olthoff’s Ford GT Mk II for the lead. Then Olthoff and Larry Ligas and Jim Pace traded the lead on almost every lap: the Jag would nip inside the big Ford entering Turn Seven, while the Ford fought back through Turn Ten, or on the straights where the 7-liter Ford V8 overpowered the Jaguar’s 4.2-liter inline six.
Olthoff took the lead on the final lap and opened enough of a gap on the long straights to reach the finish line first, but it was a real battle.
This kind of racing went on all day.
