The Ford Pinto Turns 40

This year the Ford Pinto turns 40. Given the fact that ELBRacing now has three Pintos in our stable we thought it would be fitting for us to join the Stampede! The Pinto Stampede was organized by a group of enthusiasts from the Pinto Car Club of America. These Pinto fans caravaned 1000 miles from Denver to the Carlisle All-Ford Nationals in order to celebrate the Pinto 40^th anniversary as well as raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. The Pinto Stampede featured nearly 70 Pintos! This is surely one of the largest gatherings of these ponies since the assembly line.

The ELBRacing 1972 Ford Pinto owned by Jim Karamanis was on special indoor display along side the famous Racer Walsh 1971 Trans-Am race Pinto owned by Jerry 'Racer' Walsh's son Brian Walsh. Jerry was kind enough to sign the dash of Jim Karamani's Pinto, something that he will always cherish. 

On the final day of the event, the two road race Pintos, along with an SCCA road race Pinto owned by Barry Young, were asked to do a demonstration run on the Carlisle autocross course, an event run by the Cumberland Valley Corvette Club.

Some photos from the weekend event:

2011 VRG Jefferson 500

ELBRacing once again teamed up with Kingstowne Racing for the Jefferson 500 vintage races sanctioned by the Vintage Racer Group. Kingstowne Racing's Krisjan Berzins debuted his BMW 2002 vintage race car and Jim Karamanis once again campaigned his 1972 B-Sedan Ford Pinto vintage race car. Rain showers sprinkled throughout the weekend. But, the weather did not take away from then experience. Four days of racing culminated with the Classic Motorsports Small Bore Cup race. This time released race featured incredible action as cars of mixed class and capabilities took to the track together.

The Delmarva Cougar Club also made the Jefferson 500 one of their club events and came out to support the ELBRacing crew.

Pictures from the event:



Classic Motorsports Small Bore Cup Race, Jim Karamanis, ELBRacing 1972 B-Sedan Ford Pinto:



Sunday Morning Big Bore Qualifying, Jim Karamanis, ELBRacing 1972 B-Sedan Ford Pinto:

More ELBPintos!

Winter has been busy for ELBRacing. ELBRacing supported Kingstowne Racing on the shakedown of their BMW 2002 Vintage Racer during a test / PDX day @ Summit Point Raceway, March 13th. ELBRacing was also out in full force during the SCCA Double Spring Drivers School @ Summit Point Raceway, March 18th – 20th, in support of new ELBRacer Jerry Boyer.

Jerry purchased a former SCCA GT Pinto, a 1976 equipped with a 2.3 liter from Bruce Shelton of Automotive Enterprise. Bruce Shelton  has been campaigning SCCA GT Pintos for over 20 years  and was kind enough to lend assistance throughout the weekend, along with three GT Pintos that Bruce had rented for the school. Jerry is a long time friend of ELBRacing, from the Classic Cougar crowd, and is very excited to be starting his racing career.

A slide show of Jerry's Pinto as well as SCCA school photos:



Qualifying for the SCCA school race, from Jerry Boyer's ELBPinto:



School Race, from Jerry Boyer's ELBPinto:



Jerry will be converting the car to Vintage Race Specifications in preparation for a vintage racing career with the Vintage Racer Group (VRG). The VRG board recently voted to extend their rules, allowing for 2.3 liter powered Pintos to participate in vintage race competition.

ELBRacing crew chief Ralph Pagington has also taken the plunge, having purchased a former SCCA GT Pinto (a 1979) from Bruce Shelton. Ralph will be restoring his car over the next couple of years to vintage race specifications.

A slide show of Ralph's project Pinto:

Another Vintage Racer!

Over the past year we have featured many photos of Krisjan Berzins and his Kingstowne Racing 1987 BMW 325is race car. Krisjan has become so enthusiastic about vintage racing that he has purchased a vintage racer of his own, a 1976 BMW 2002. This former SCCA ITB race car will soon be undergoing a restoration in preparation for a new lease on life as a vintage racer. Krisjan plans to run the car along with the folks at ELBRacing at numerous racing events with the Vintage Racer Group (VRG).

VRG Turkey Bowl @ Summit Point Raceway

The Crew of ELBRacing again teamed up with Kingstowne Racing for the last track event of the year. The Turkey Bowl (November 26 - 28, 2010) @ Summit Point Motorsports Park was sanctioned by The Vintage Racer Group and featured something for everyone. With a variety of vintage classes and groups for late model and legends cars, there was plenty for every racer & spectator to enjoy. Darin Treakle and his SCCA ITS Acura Integra also joined the gang in the Paddock for a 3 car line-up. All three cars made it through the weekend incident free, even through sessions that featured snow flurries. A variety of photos and in-car video are included for your viewing pleasure:

More Inspiration

We've already mentioned that the Classic Cougar racing heritage was a major inspiration for ELBRacing. We started with Open Tracking a couple of classic cougars. Well, here is the car that inspired us to go Open Tracking:

This monster of a '69 Cougar was built and is Open Tracked by “Cougar Bill” Quinlisk. Bill runs a restoration shop in Colorado and custom built the upper control arms on both of the ELBRacing classic cougars.

Cougar Engine Refreshes!

Though the race car has been dormant over the last couple of months, the folks at ELBRacing have been busy. Ralph Pagington worked with KTL Restorations on the build of a 331 stroker engine for his '67 Mercury Cougar. Ralph has installed this new monster in his Cougar and the package will be seeing track time at Summit Point Raceway sometime in the Spring of 2011.

Jim Karamanis also pulled the 351C out of his '70 Cougar. The mild 351C received a set of reconditioned heads and an otherwise cosmetic rebuild.

Stay tuned for more as ELBRacing prepares the Ford Pinto vintage race car for the final racing event of the year, the Vintage Racer Group Turkey Bowl @ Summit Point Raceway.