At the recent Historic Sportscar Racing’s Classic 24 at Daytona, newly minted HSR president Chris Ward needed just one word to describe how things are going for the nearly 50-year-old series.
“Busy,” Ward said. “Very busy. We have a huge field of cars—141 for the Classic 24, and 170-plus for the sprint races. It’s been a year of tremendous growth.”
The Classic 24, patterned after a vintage-car race held at Le Mans, has become of legitimate worldwide interest. Drivers came from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Germany, Australia, Dubai, Brazil and Luxembourg, and big names ranged from four-time NASCAR Cup winner Joe Nemechek, to former World Endurance champion Marcel Fassler, to IMSA Prototype driver Tristan Nunez, to Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, who was driving a 1978 Lola T298.
Ward had big shoes to fill at HSR. He replaced David Hinton, himself a racer who participated in last weekend’s event, who owned the series until IMSA came calling three years ago and bought it. That put HSR under the IMSA and NASCAR banner. “After 11 years running two companies, I have decided it is time to slow down,” Hinton said. “I look forward to helping Chris Ward all that I can to keep HSR’s solid growth going.” Hinton remains on the board of directors and has been invaluable in helping Ward make the transition from running Lamborghini’s racing program in the U.S. to running HSR.
Ward is a Brit, transplanted from England to the Detroit area 25 years ago. “I came here in August of 1999 to start a marketing agency primarily to support Bentley Motors. I settled here because the owner, the Volkswagen Group, was based in Auburn Hills,” a Detroit suburb. “In 2008, Volkswagen moved to Herndon, Virginia, but I’d put down roots in Michigan and decided to stay.”
In 1998, Volkswagen acquired Lamborghini, and Ward’s agency supported that brand, too. “And the short version of a long story is that in 2012, I got a call from the then-president of Lamborghini, and he asked me to support the U.S. introduction of Lamborghini Squadra Corse, which is the umbrella name for Lamborghini motorsports globally.”
Lamborghini was sufficiently impressed with Ward’s skills that he was offered a full-time job with the brand, heading up the company’s North American motorsports activation. From that came the one-marque Lamborghini Super Trofeo series, which is sanctioned by IMSA. Then came Lambo’s very successful GT3 program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT series, and finally, the 2024 IMSA debut of the company’s GTP car, the SC63.
Ward didn’t know what sort of reception he’d receive at HSR, since he had never worked with a vintage racing series. “I frankly wasn’t expecting the warm welcome I’ve received from the paddock. I think it’s a testament to all the great work David Hinton did, and all the people who built HSR in the past decade-plus. ‘I don’t think you’ll find a more inviting and welcoming paddock in any form of motorsports.”
That paddock consists of top-of-the-line retired Prototype cars that are only a few years old, “but it’s also, and I hate to use the expression, a ‘mom and pop’ team that comes to the paddock pulling their open trailer with their much-beloved Morgan 4, or whatever it is, competing on the same track with some greats of the sport. On a level playing field, at a wonderful speedway like this, what’s not to love?”
Of course, mom and pop and their Morgan aren’t on the track as the same time as the half-dozen Daytona Prototype international cars, which are “just a few years off the IMSA grid,” Ward said. The dozen different “run groups” each represent a different period of racing. “It’s amazing to me to think of IMSA DPi cars in the context of vintage racing, but that’s what they are.” HSR adheres to the “five year rule,” meaning that for competition, a car has to have been retired for at least five years. Newer models can run in an exhibition class until they age in.
A highlight this year was honoring pioneering racer Lyn St. James, who announced that, at age 77, she has officially retired from driving. She drove her final and farewell laps in a race car, the same 2008 Doran Racing Ford GT Mk 7 that St. James co-drove to a class victory with Brad Jaeger and Memo Gidley in the 2017 HSR Classic Daytona 24. St. James was honored at a well-attended reception recognizing her 50 years in motorsports, held at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which is located at the track.
The HSR has one more event scheduled for this year—the Classic 12 Hour at Sebring International Raceway in Florida, December 4-8. It has a “Pistons and Props” theme, combining classic race cars with classic aircraft, which, since Sebring is located on airport grounds, means the vintage planes can taxi right into the massive paddock.
The schedule for 2025 is HSR’s most ambitious ever. It begins with the “Spring Fling” March 7-9, with the HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour. Then its biggest event of the year will be the 47th annual HSR The Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 25-27. Additional events will take place at Watkins Glen in New York on June 12-14, then at Virginia International Raceway on September 5-7, back at Road Atlanta September 25-28, here at Daytona on November 5-9, and the 2025 finale will be at Sebring December 5-7.
Historic Sportscar Racing is definitely on an upward trajectory, with a promising future. “When we purchased HSR, one of the things Mr. France” (that would be Jim France, the head of both NASCAR and IMSA) and I talked about was the adage: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said John Doonan, IMSA president.
Doonan, said Ward, “couldn’t be more supportive of our efforts here, and candidly, it goes beyond John, all the way to Mr. France. He has been extremely supportive of our series, and has attended some of our events.” Last weekend HSR launched a livestream of race coverage on IMSA.com and the IMSA YouTube channel. “Being able to leverage that audience is tremendous,” said Ward.
In a nutshell, automotive diversity is HSR’s long suit. At The Mitty this year, Ward walked the campground one night, talking to fans. “I found multigenerational families sitting around the campfire. Grandpa, dad, son and grandson. I asked them what their favorite class was—the younger generation loves the LMP3 cars, grandpa, he likes group 2, the oldest cars. And I think that’s part of the allure of HSR and vintage racing. We have something here for everyone.”
Report by Steven Cole Smith
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