For immediate release
November 18, 2001
Kevin McKee piloted his 1967 Alfa Romeo GTV to his third win in the popular Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge Race series at Phoenix International . McKee overcame a weekend of transmission woes that dropped the potent Alfa back in the starting grid for Sunday's final race. Timo Passi, driving the well known 1967 Ford/Lotus Cortina of C.J. Bonura, put on an impressive effort in Saturday's qualifying race to capture the pole. At the start of Sunday's final race, Passi took a commanding lead but an early spin put his out of contention for the lead despite a memorable comeback effort. Jeff Hecox driving his 1967 BMW 2002 had been following close behind Passi and took the lead after the Cortina spun. McKee began an immediate challenge which lasted a number of laps before McKee was able to make the pass and take the lead.
With McKee's first place finish he earned enough season points to move ahead of second place Jeff Hecox to win the championship. The series had been locked in a very close points race all year with the points lead tied on more than one occasion. McKee had held a small points lead prior the PIR race but had to finish at least third to be able to win the championship. Jeff Hecox, who had placed in the top three in every race of the series, sat in second place in the points and had shown the ability to win posting a strong second place finish in Saturday's qualifying race. But in the end Hecox could not get by Mckee and finished second in the race as well as in the season points. Rounding out the top three was Steve Link, driving his historic Datsun 510 Trans-AM racer. Link's third place finish netted him a third overall in the season points as well.
As with the other races in the series, this one was marked by close racing action throughout the field. Close behind the leaders were the Alfa's of David Wall, Alan Ward and Anthony Rimicci mixing it up with the Cortina of Timo Passi for the entire race. Les Cannaday driving a rare 1971 Datsun 1200 and Jim McAdory in a Datsun 510 had their own race with each passing the other throughout the race a number of times.
The Magnaflow Vintage 2.5 Challenge series is comprised of cars that were eligible for the 1971-72 Trans-AM, under 2.5 liter class. Cars in this class are small sedans that may run no more than a 2.5 liter engine and must be prepared as they would have raced in 1971-72. VSRG does not require "period" race history to be eligible for the series however each car is inspected for period correct modifications as well as compliance to the series rules.
The
2002 race season promises more of the close racing that the Magnaflow Vintage 2.5
Challenge has become noted for. Although the Vintage Sedan Racers Group
has typically been the largest single group at the events it participated in
during 2001, the organization expects a larger turnout of cars for 2002
season.
Information on the series can be found on the VSRG web site (www.bsedan.com) or the HSR-West web site (www.hsr-westracing.com).
PIR Finishing
Order:
| Pos | Laps | Driver | Car# | Car | Note |
| 1 | 17 | Kevin Mckee |
830 |
67 Alfa Romeo GTV | |
| 2 | 17 | Jeff Hecox |
4 |
67 BMW 1600 | |
| 3 | 17 | Steve Link |
49 |
70 Datsun 510 | |
| 4 | 17 | David Wall |
18 |
67 Alfa Romeo GTV | |
| 5 | 17 | Timo Passi |
171 |
71 Ford Cortina | Pole |
| 6 | 17 | Alan Ward |
13 |
73 Alfa Romeo GTV | |
| 7 | 17 | Anthony Rimicci |
681 |
68 Alfa Romeo Gt 1300 Junior | |
| 8 | 16 | Jim Mcadory |
125 |
69 Datsun 510 | |
| 9 | 16 | Les Cannaday |
60 |
71 Datsun 1200 | |
| 10 | 0* | Bill Brecht |
35 |
67 BMW 2002 | DNS |
| 11 | 0* | Tim Brecht |
26 |
67 BMW 2002 | DNS |
| 12 | 0* | Rich Gehring |
53 |
69 BMW 2002 | DNS |
| 13 | 0* | Jeff Gerken |
25 |
67 BMW 2002 | DNS |
| 14 | 0 | Neil Hadfield |
14 |
67 Alfa Romeo GTA JUNIOR | DNS |
| 15 | 0 | Dan Haney |
77 |
66 Cooper Mini | DNS |
| 16 | 0 | Peter Nitoglia |
44 |
66 Alfa Romeo GT | DNS |
* Moved to different run group as car did not meet VSRG
2001 Points
| Pos | Points | Driver | Car |
| 1 | 46 | Kevin Mckee | 67 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 2 | 38 | Jeff Hecox | 67 BMW 1600 |
| 3 | 32 | Steve Link | 70 Datsun 510 |
| 4 | 28 | C.J. Bonura | 67 Ford/lotus Cortina |
| 5 | 20 | Alan Ward | 73 Alfa Romeo Gtv |
| 6 | 8 | David Wall | 67 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 7 | 7 | Timo Passi | 70 Ford Cortina |
| 8 | 6 | Henry Manney | 67 Alfa Romeo Gta |
| 9 | 5 | Terry Flanagan | 69 BMW 2002 |
| 10 | 4 | Don Forrester | 69 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 10 | 4 | Anthony Rimicci | 68 Alfa Romeo Gt 1300 Junior |
| 12 | 3 | Al Bourdet | 67 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 12 | 3 | Jim Froula | 68 Ford Escort Mki Twin |
| 12 | 3 | Chris Kattchee | 65 Alfa Romeo Gulia Ti |
| 12 | 3 | Mike Kinney | 65 Alfa Romeo Gta |
| 12 | 3 | Peter Nitoglia | 66 Alfa Romeo GT |
| 12 | 3 | George Willet | 69 Alfa GTV |
| 18 | 2 | Les Cannaday | 71 Datsun 1200 |
| 18 | 2 | Marissa Clay | 72 BMW 2002 |
| 18 | 2 | John Hall | 69 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 18 | 2 | Jim McAdory | 69 Datsun 510 |
| 18 | 2 | Jon Peterson | 71 Datsun 510 |
| 18 | 2 | Tim Pick | 72 BMW 2002 |
| 18 | 2 | Dirk Stoehr | 66 Alfa Romeo Giulia Gt Veloc |
| 18 | 2 | Chris Welch | 72 BMW 2002 |
| 18 | 2 | Shelly Zide | 71 Alfa Romeo Trans-AM |
| 27 | 1 | Doug Ellinger | 72 Alfa Romeo GTV 2000 |
| 27 | 1 | Neil Hadfield | 67 Alfa Romeo GTA JUNIOR |
| 27 | 1 | Dan Haney | Mini Cooper |
| 27 | 1 | Paul [wally] Held | 64 Ford Cortina GT |
| 27 | 1 | Brian Laine | 68 Datsun 510 |
| 27 | 1 | John Morton | |
| 27 | 1 | Sergio Perticucci | 67 Alfa Romeo GTV |
| 27 | 1 | Eric Roberts | 71 Volkswagen Super Beetle |
| 27 | 1 | Fred Schueddekopp | Alfa Romeo |
| 27 | 1 | Jerry Tinney | 69 Alfa Romeo GTV |