Miata Heritage Cup Takes On California

SVRA’s group for early Spec Miatas is included at the vintage racing organization’s Auto Club Speedway stop

For the second year, the Mazda Miata Heritage Cup joined the Southern California Historic Sports Car Festival at Auto Club Speedway. Entries were up over last year’s inaugural event.

Jeremy Barnes and Josh Allan were the class of the field, pulling away and making it a race among themselves for all four races. Yes, four races – the group collectively decided to dispense with practice and qualifying, drew numbers out of a hat for starting position and used every session to put on a race, reports Todd Launchbaugh, a longtime Southern California SM competitor who rented a friend’s 1.6-liter car to run the event. “Instead of practice and qualifying, we drew numbers out of a hat,” Launchbaugh says, also noting this was his first SVRA event to race in. “We just did race, race, race, race. It was a nice event. SVRA does a good job. They’re getting people to come see the cars. They give you an event poster.”

Racers came from as far away as Phoenix to bring their early Spec Miatas and have some fun on a low-key, vintage weekend. “They’ve been RX-7 and Spec Miata guys for years – Devin Dahn, Steve Bodeman,” says Launchbaugh. “And then there was Carl Johnk … because we drew for starting positions, it was the first time he started from the pole, and he’s been racing 20 years. He had some good back-and-forth with the Phoenix guys, so I think those guys had a little bit of fun.”

Launchbaugh normally races with SCCA, and has been racing Spec Miata almost since its beginnings in Southern California. That’s one of the reasons he chose to race in the SVRA event. “I was there because I’m very thankful for everything Mazda has done for me and my racing career,” he says. “I took my school in an RX-7 and was building a 914/6, and literally stopped the project to race a Mazda. In 2001, Alan Leukhardt [III] was the first Spec Miata guy in Southern California. Andrew Hernandez and I were the third and fourth. Alan is the longest-running Spec Miata guy and I’m the second. I was there to support Mazda. I’ve always raced Mazdas, and with their contingency programs and parts programs, I’ve always appreciated that relationship.”

The next Miata Heritage Cup event with SVRA is the Spring Vintage Festival at Road America on May 17-20 – that event will be followed by the Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio in June and the Portland Vintage Racing Festival at Portland International Raceway in July. For more information, see www.svra.com.