A Bright Future for HSR
By James Edmonds. Images by Jack Webster
With HSR now in full swing under the IMSA umbrella, following the IMSA acquisition in 2022, The HSR Sebring Classic 12 Hour Presented by Mission Foods provided a perfect venue with which to catch up with series President, John Doonan and to learn about the past, present and future of all things IMSA as well as the story behind the omnipresent vest!
First of all, John is a gentleman. Despite being the man in charge of a rather large and important organization, and in the midst of one of HSR’s marquee events, whilst trying to eat his lunch, he is still able to put all of that aside (literally) to have a chat. He even thanks me for the opportunity to spread the HSR word. I like him immediately, for there is something fitting about an educated man, sporting proper manners, a firm handshake and the ability to look you in the eye, being in charge of what is essentially an event for Gentlemen (and Ladies, let’s not forget).
We dive in and talk about the state of HSR and where it’s going. “What HSR for me personally represents, is my childhood. I grew up going to the race track – my grandfather was a big fan after being a racer himself and then my dad was a sports car driver, completely on an amateur basis. So what HSR represents is what I remember growing up with, and a lot of cars and things that we see in HSR, remind me very, very closely and dearly of my childhood and growing up at the race track. In the end I had the opportunity to come to IMSA in late 2019, not too long after Mr. France, Ed Bennett and myself talked about the need to make sure that this segment of the sport – historic, vintage sports car racing – was strong and stable. There’s no better organization than HSR, and over the years, it’s evolved and it’s changed ownership, and what we wanted to do once we brought it under the IMSA banner was to stabilize it.
“HSR reminds everybody how we got here, and for me we never should forget where we came from.”
“People like David Hinton, the late Jim Pace, the late George Tuma, Steve and Diane Simpson, they invested in getting it to where it was. When we first sat down with David Hinton, it was about, what do we do to keep this going – because you’ve got a great thing going – and then stabilize it for the future. I think that’s what has been our plan over the last couple of years. The next evolution is Chris Ward comes in as president, and then gets an opportunity within the industry that he can’t pass up and so now, here I am leading leading IMSA and HSR!”
Obviously, having the right people around you is a cornerstone of any successful venture and HSR is no different. John enthuses, “I think first of all, the HSR staff is outstanding, so being able to lead these people – they all know what they’re doing and they’re putting on great events – but as we look at what happens next, there’s a lot of IMSA history that we’re creating each and every day and it’s the next history for HSR. A lot of the cars that end their life due to homologation or based on regulations in IMSA, immediately become eligible for HSR. So I think there’s an immediate filling of the pipeline of great content (and that’s the cars), but there’s a huge history – the seventies, the eighties, the nineties – of cars that raced in IMSA, Sports Club of America, Le Mans and around the world, so we’re in the spirit of celebrating the history of the sport – no matter where – of endurance sports car racing.”
Historic racing in Europe is somewhat different. I was curious if John had any designs on emulating events like the Le Mans Classic, Silverstone Classic or Goodwood even. He ponders quickly, but fires right back. “It’s funny that you bring that up, because at the top level of sports car racing around the world now, we have convergence and really proud of that. I think it’s been an extra boost of energy for our fans, for the manufacturers and for the series around the world. Having said that, boy, what a cool opportunity it might be to do things like that.
“With the Classic Endurance Championship that we have, thanks to Mission Foods, we have these four stops on the HSR calendar that could attract those cars. In fact, towards the end of the year, you could envision people coming over from Europe and doing a couple of events in succession. Simultaneously, you have folks that are racing on the iconic tracks in North America, who may want to go try something in Europe. Maybe their car has a particular pedigree from a series or an event in Europe, so definitely something that we’re thinking about.”
John is not just a corporate guy who shows up in the chopper, waves the flag and then leaves after a few well placed hand shakes. He has been here at Sebring all week and clearly he loves it. We talk about how HSR fits into the IMSA hierarchy. “I love the history of our sport and I’m a big archivist of many things related to the history of sports car racing. For me personally it’s a huge element of what makes me who I am in this sport. At the same time right now, IMSA is in a growth moment like none other, certainly in the Weathertech Championship, Michelin Pilot and those single make series.
“The single-makes are the prized possessions of the OEM’s…the 911 Porsche, the MX5 Miata, the Ford Mustang, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, we do Ferrari Challenge as well, so those single-make series are incredibly important. What HSR does is ultimately a celebration of all of those things. What IMSA is doing today is incredibly important and incredibly special, but HSR reminds everybody how we got here, and for me we never should forget where we came from.”
“We aren’t putting people on the moon and we’re not putting rockets into space, but certainly on the race track we’re trying to keep it exciting.”
One of the things which cannot be overlooked by the organizers and the fans who do attend these wonderful events, is the low attendance. Again we mention Europe and the huge turnouts at the big events. Surely, they aren’t more into racing than us here in America?
