Summit Point Motorsports Park, Summit Point, WV – May 16-18, 2025

Victory Lane Magazine, June 2025: Volume 40, No. 6

Story by Terry Johnsen

The racing season is now well-underway and seems to shift into high gear once the month of May rolls around. The ‘need for speed’ is in the air. For vintage racers there’s one event that satisfies the soul like no other and that is the Vintage Racer Group (VRG) Jefferson 500 at Summit Point Motorsports Park, located in the beautiful rolling hills of West Virginia, just west of Charlestown. The Summit Point circuit first opened in 1969, and features a 10 turn, 2-mile layout, featuring a 2,900-foot main straight and a tricky corner combination of turns 5-8 known as The Carousel. It has a little bit of everything, and a lot of excitement.

As always, the Jefferson 500 schedule is jam packed with activities beginning on Tuesday, which is load-in day and a mandatory classroom session in the afternoon for students enrolled in their Licensing School. Class officially starts on Wednesday and runs through the following day when practice sessions begin in the afternoon. Thursday afternoon culminates with a detailed and informative track walk. Friday is when the real fun begins. Timed qualifying sessions for all groups take place before the noon lunchtime break, with the first sprint races in the afternoon. Saturday sees each group participate in morning sprints, with the afternoon dedicated to their feature races. Sunday begins with one last round of sprint races for each group, leaving the afternoon for two all-comers sprints. The first being for closed-wheel cars and the second dedicated to open wheel cars. By the end of this schedule each driver, each set of groups, would have experienced an incredible amount of track time. One of VRG’s cornerstone attributes.

VRG’s race groups are designated as follows: Group 1 (Wyer Cup, IMSA RS/SCCA 2.5 Reunion), Group 2 (Cunningham Cup, Big Bore), Group 3 (Marlboro Cup, Small Bore over 1.3L), Group 4 (Lola Cup, Small Bore under 1.3L & Formula Vee), Group 5 (Donohue Cup, Production & Special through ’60), Group 6 (Charlie Gibson Trophy, Sports Racers), and Group 7 (Phil Hill Cup, Formula Ford Challenge Series). There were just over 235 entries for this year’s Jefferson 500. Another year of incredible response and turn-out.

Group 1 provided some compelling races throughout the weekend. In particular, the feature race was boiling down to a last lap showdown between race winner Matt Sturgeon (#3 – 1981 Volkswagen Scirocco) and Steve Byrne (#3 – 1970 Datsun 510). These two were pitted in a close battle throughout the race with each sharing the lead for a number of laps. As the race approached its conclusion, Bryne went off track and his race was over. Sturgeon took the win, with Mike Kelley (#86 – 1986 Volkswagen Golf GTI) in second, and Stephen LeBrun (#137 – 1974 Ford Escort Mk1 RS1600) in third. Mike Kelley (#86) enjoyed an impressive weekend with a win in the Saturday morning sprint and two second place finishes.

Late Friday afternoon, the first sprint race of the weekend for Group 2 was postponed until Saturday morning due to inclement weather and reports of lightning in the area. The wait was worth it though because this turned out to be a nail-biter. Chris Zappa (#4 – 1972 Datsun 240Z/2.8L) and Clarke Ohrstrom (#72 – 1971 BMW 3.0 CSL) battled nose-to-tail throughout the race. Ohrstrom had the lead after lap 1, with Zappa passing and leading after lap 2. Ohrstrom then retook the lead and held it until lap 7, at which time Zappa once again passed him and held on for a thrilling finish. Zappa also won the Saturday feature race with Ohrstrom taking honors in the Sunday sprint.

Group 3 proved to be a three man show, with Henry Frye (#29 – 1968 Triumph TR250) and Lenny Stann (#894 – 1970 Porsche 911) battling for the lead in each of the weekend’s four sprint races. Frye won the Friday sprint, finished second in the Saturday sprint, and won the Saturday feature and Sunday sprint race. Stann won the Saturday morning sprint and finished second to Frye in the other races. Each of the races were close and competitive battles. David Gott (#80 – 1962 Triumph TR4) took third place honors in each of the races behind Frye and Stann.

Robert Andersson (#78 – 1970 Vitesse Sports Racer) won everything there was to win in Group 4. He captured each race with comfortable finishing margins and took the fastest lap honors as well. Thomas V.G. Brown (#1 – 1964 Triumph Spitfire) had a strong showing with a third-place finish in Friday’s sprint, and second place finishes in the Saturday feature and Sunday sprint. Peter Carroll (#55 – 1963 Austin Healey Sprite) made his presence felt while lurking behind the front-runners, taking three third place finishes.

The Group 5 feature race on Saturday afternoon saw an incredible finish, when Tom Upshur (#4 – 1962 Lotus 7) chased down Hervey Parke (#11 – 1965 Ginetta G4) and passed him on the last lap. This after clawing back Parke’s huge lead, lap by lap, then making his move in the end. But don’t feel too bad for Hervey Parke, for he won the Friday and Sunday sprint races, along with finishing third in the Saturday morning sprint. Not too bad. 

Joey Selmants (#15 – 1987 Swift DB2) had a fantastic weekend in Group 6 competition. He was a dominant force taking wins in the Friday and Saturday sprints, and the Saturday feature race. He did not participate in the Sunday sprint. Erik Skibsrud (#8 – 1972 Chevron B21) won the Sunday sprint in his beautiful red Chevron, with Canon livery.

Group 7 split their cars into groups 7a and 7b for the Friday sprint and Saturday feature races. Group 7 was combined for the Saturday morning sprint and Sunday sprint. Group 7a was dominated by Patrick Flynn (#29 – 1981 Van Diemen RF81). The Friday afternoon sprint race was incredibly intense, with Flynn in a heated battle with Dave Handy (#59 – 1978 Crossle 32F). Those two swapped the lead multiple times beginning on lap 9 through to lap 14, when Handy, in the lead, briefly went off track and opened the door for Flynn. Handy finished fourth. Patrick Flynn also won the Saturday feature race. Group 7b was a mixed bag of results, but still exciting and very competitive. The Friday sprint was black flagged just as the green flag flew. Two cars touched wheels, with Glenn Brooks (#82 – 1981 PRS RH-02) getting airborne for a moment before coming back down on all four wheels. Multiple cars scattered because of this and had to be attended to and removed before the action was restarted. All drivers were safe and sound. Once the race resumed Taras Pawluczkowycz (#177 – 1971 Royale RP3A) was the eventual winner. Ira Nesbitt (#555 – 1981 Windshadow Club Ford) won the Saturday feature race. 

The combined Group 7 races were super competitive beginning with the Saturday morning sprint where the front six cars got a little too excited and were all penalized for jumping the start. The eventual winner taking the checkered flag was Doug Meis (#27 – 1974 Lola T340). He was closely followed in tow by Eric Langbein (#4 – 1971 March 719) and Robert Dusek III (#23 – 1970 Winkelman WDF2), finishing second and third respectively. The Sunday sprint race was hotly contested at the front by Scott Fairchild (#120 – 1978 Zink Z10) and eventual winner Jacob King (#3 – 1977 Royale RP24). Fairchild hounded King lap after lap, always testing him by pulling out to attempt a pass down the front straight. He eventually succeeded and took the lead on the penultimate lap but couldn’t hold on. This was just another example of the passion and love for racing these drivers share with each other. It was pure clean racing.

The weekend’s activities came to an end with the running of the two all-comers races. The closed wheel only (Groups 1-6) race was an absolute runaway by Gary Hagopian (#131h – 1963 Jaguar XKE Coupe). His beautiful red Jag stormed into the distance, leaving the rest of the field behind. It was a commanding win. The open wheel only (Groups 6-7) race began as a close contest between several cars, but eventually Andrew Graham (#7 – 1986 Van Diemen 1600) pulled away and won by a considerable margin.

After the last lap was run and the competitors were packing up their gear in the paddock, I was able to speak briefly with Jim Karamanis, VRG’s Jefferson 500 co-coordinator. Jim began by saying it had been a very successful week. He noted “we had great weather Wednesday for the school. Practice Thursday was great, and Friday the weather was fantastic until the very end of the day.” Due to lightning lingering in the area the final two sprints were postponed till Saturday morning. Jim added “we were able to rejigger the schedule for Saturday to front load those races, then proceeded with the regularly planned schedule.” In all, the track was active from 8:15am to 6pm. Jim said “the track was very generous in expanding their window, plus shortening the lunch break slightly, we made it happen. Everyone got their track time, no one missed a session.” While speaking with Jim at least four competitors stopped by to offer their thanks and appreciation for a great event. One asked if he could offer a suggestion, which had to do with the order that groups run and shared his reasons. Afterwards Jim noted to me that a survey is sent out after each event. They read every suggestion sent in and try to employ those where possible, adding “we focus on what our members want.” As an example, he said, “we did away with the Sunday enduros because the general population of members preferred another round of sprints.” He also said that VRG now has live stream coverage of all the races, with commentary, on their YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@VintageRacerGroup). There are multiple cameras placed all around the track. He said, “it’s been very well received.” Finally, he summed up his thoughts on the event by saying, “overall people were happy, polite, appreciative. It means a lot that people go out of their way to share their thoughts and thanks. This group feels like a family.” I couldn’t agree more.

This was definitely a weekend well-spent. The Vintage Racer Group (VRG) Jefferson 500 always delivers and has that knack to ‘satisfy the soul’ for all racing enthusiasts. If you’ve never been to one, mark your calendar for May 2026. It’s like spending a race weekend with family. 

The end. 

TJ – 2025