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Portland Historic Races 2014 – Report and Photos

Mark Sorsdahl's 1964 Sunbeam Tiger powering through Turn 12
Mark Sorsdahl\'s 1964 Sunbeam Tiger powering through Turn 12

Report and photos by Bill Wagenblatt

The Portland Historic Races 2014 were held July 11-13 at the 12-turn, 1.967 mile Portland International Raceway in Oregon.

Staged by the Historic Motor Sports Association (HMSA), the 38th annual Portland Historics included a tribute to Datsun and featured over twenty 240Z and 510 sedans. John Morton, the Sports Car Club of America’s 1970 and ’71 National Champion and the ’71 and ’72 2.5 liter Trans-Am winner in the Brock Racing Enterprise Datsun 240Z and 510, was the weekend’s Grand Marshal.

Over 25 Datsun racers joined together for a group photograph. The photo shoot included Grand Marshal, John Morton, the car owners along with friends and crew members.

The original Datsun 1500 Fairlady that first raced in the mid-60s was brought out for the weekend. Another unique racer was the factory built race wagon, chassis number WPL510-897149, developed by the Nissan’s Oppama skunkworks in October of 1970.

HMSA’s schedule included seven race groups with over 120 cars entered. This year the GASS (Great American Stockcar Series) was added to the schedule. Group 5, the 2.5 liter Trans-Am group, was a throwback to the early ’70s when the Datsun 510, BMW 2002s and Alfa Romeos fought it out for the series championship.

The Northwest Car Clubs were represented in the Collector Car Clubs and all participated in the Club Parades during the Saturday and Sunday lunch breaks.

The Pacific Northwest event saw Friday and Saturday baked by temperatures in the mid-90s. Sunday morning experienced a cooler overcast sky with lower temperatures . Unfortunately, this was accompanied by lightning strikes. The morning’s warm-up sessions were completed before the rain arrived to cool everyone down for the afternoon’s races.

Portland Historic Races 2014 – Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture and description)

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[Source: Bill Wagenblatt]