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Sports Car Racing Ends Its Long Run At Lime Rock Park

Lime Rock Park has long been an in place for major league sports car racing but with the recent merger of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the American LeMans Series, the venerable road course will be on the outside looking in, as there wasn’t room on the newly constituted United SportsCar Racing schedule for the venerable Connecticut road course.

    Crowd watches action outside of turn 3. [Joe Jennings Photo]


Situated on 354 acres in rural Connecticut, Lime Rock has been an active venue since 1957. In its lengthy history, the track has hosted 38 prototype races, including Grand-Am and the ALMS. The list of drivers that have raced and at Lime Rock represents a who’s who of racing. Those tasting victory at Lime Rock include such luminaries as Al Holbert, Hurley Haywood, Peter Gregg, Brian Redman, Chris Dyson, Geoff Brabham, Butch Leitzinger, J. J. Lehto, Didier Theys, Scott Sharp, Wayne Taylor, Max Papis and Allan McNish.

On the manufacturer side, the likes of Porsche, Jaguar, Toyota, Ferrari, Audi and other marques have excelled on the tight 1.5-mile road course.

In addition to the prototype races, another 48 GT-style races have been held at the picturesque track.

Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf drove the Muscle Milk HPD ARX-03a to victory in the ALMS’s finale on July 6 and for the Grand-Am Championship curtain closer weekend, Max Angelelli and Jordan Taylor made history with their victory.

Racing at the bucolic Lime Rock facility will continue going forward with vintage events, SCCA races, Trans-Am, driver and owner clubs and on and on. The track maintains a busy schedule throughout the year but the biggest crowds were drawn to the ALMS and Grand-Am events.

Major league racing may have ended for a while a Lime Rock, but those who have been there will long cherish the many memories they have stock-piled over the years. And to see the large gathering of fans on hand for Saturday’s race, you could sense they were thoroughly enjoying the scene.

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