Virginia International Raceway - May 4-5, 1958
By DICK SLAY, Washington Star Staff Writer
DANVILLE , Va., May 5 - After three national races run by the Sports Car Club of America it has become obvious that followers of this breed of speed must look behind the main event leader to find excitement.
Walter Hansgen of Westfield, N.J., unmistakably is a "grade one'' driver but he also is a member of the Briggs Cunningham racing team and is tabbed as the team leader, which is tantamount to being a Bill Hartack for a premium racing stable: He gets the best rides and he, wins with monotonous regularity.
It happened again yesterday at Virginia International Raceway as Hansgen drove a Lister-Jaguar to victory in the one hour feature event, beating teammate Ed Crawford in another Lister-Jag by 20 seconds. Lance Reventlow, son of Barbara Hutton, brought a Scarab with a bored out Chevrolet engine all the way from Beverly Hills, Calif., to offer competition but finished another minute behind Crawford. It was Hansgen's third straight triumph and put him far in front of the Class C modified standings with 3,000 points.
The semi-windup covering a scheduled 45 minutes provided the excitement yesterday, Lonie Rix of Charlottesville blew a clutch at the start and jammed the field of 49 starters. Johnny Cuevas in a Porsche smacked him and five cars hit Cuevas. Among the disabled were Fred Moore of Arlington and Dick Thompson of Washington in Austin-Healeys. Moore's LeMans model was done but Thompson limped through one lap in the Mille Miglia before retiring with multiple injuries to the engine.
Frank Baptista of Hyattsville crossed the finish line No. 1 without power, his Elva having conked out on the last lap which was five minutes overtime because of confusion in the length of the race. Baptista pushed the Elva to the top of the last hill and coasted over.
In the feature, Fred Windridge of Arlington came home ninth in the 1957 Corvette immediately behind Jim Robinson of Alexandria in his D-Jaguar. Charlie Wallace of Bethesda urged the Cunningham. Jag 150-S into 12th place overall with a blown clutch.
First race-30 minutes, classes F, G, H, and K. production and H modified-
| 1 | E. M. Pupulidy | Freeport N. Y. | Porsche Carrera |
| 2 | Mike Cappiello | Arlington Va. | Porsche Carrera |
| 3 | R.J. Ferguson | Ft Worth Tex. | Osca |
Second race-30 minutes, classes D and E production and G modifed-
| 1 | Frank Baptista | Hyattsville Md. | Elva |
| 2 | M. R. J. Wyllie | Allison Park Pa. | Lotus |
| 3 | Ed Welch | Winston-Salem N. C. | AC Bristol |
Third race - 30 minutes. classes B and C Production and B, C, D, E and F modified-
| 1 | Ed Crawford | Chicago Ill. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 2 | Walt Hansgen | Westfield N. J. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 3 | Don Sesslar | Lancaster Ohio | Porsche RS |
Fourth race-50 minutes, classes D, E, F, G, H and F production and and
G and H modified national championship-
Overall -
| 1 | Frank Baptista | Hyattsville | Elva |
| 2 | Ross Wees | Sheffield | Pa. AC Bristol |
| 3 | Ed Welch | Winston-Salem N. C. | AC Bristol |
Class DP-
| 1 | Reed Rollo | Washington | Austin-Healey |
| 2 | Bob Hathaway | Poughkeepsie N. Y. | A-H |
| 3 | John Holmes | Elkins Park Pa. | A-H |
Class FP-
| 1 | E.M. Pupulidy | Freeport N. Y. | Porsche Carrera |
| 2 | Dick Nash | Washington DC | Porsche |
| 3 | Mike Cappiello | Arlington VA | Porsche Carrera |
Class GP -
| 1 | Tony Briggs | Charlottesville Va. | Alfa-Romeo |
| 2 | Bill Hughes | Lake Charles La. | Alfa Romeo |
| 3 | Bob Grossman | West Nyack N. Y. | Alfa Romeo |
Class HP-
| 1 | Howard Hanna | Broomall Pa. | Panhard (only finisher) |
Class KP -
| 1 | William Harding | Richmond | Berkeley (only finisher) |
Class GM -
| 1 | Frank Baptista | Hyattsville | Elva |
| 2 | Chuck Kurtz | Clearfield Pa. | Elva |
| 3 | M. R. J. Wyllie | Allison Park Pa. | Lotus |
Class HM -
| 1 | R. J. Ferguson | Fort Worth Tx. | Osca |
| 2 | Wiley Reid | Charlotte N. C. | DB Panhard |
| 3 | John Norwood | New York NY | Bandini |
Fifth Race-1 hour, classes B and C production and B, C, D, E and F modified
national championship -
Overall -
| 1 | Walt Hansgen | Westfield N.J. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 2 | Ed Crawford | Chicago Ill. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 3 | Lance Reventlow | Beverly Hills Calif. | Scarab |
| 8 | Jim Robinson | Alexandria Va. | Jaguar D-type |
| 9 | Fred Windridge | Arlington Va. | Corvette |
| 12 | Charlie Wallace | Bethesda Md. | Jaguar XK-150S |
Class CP -
| 1 | George Arents | Coconut Grove Fla. | Ferrari GT: |
| 2 | Charlie Wallace. | Bethesda Md. | Jaguar XK-150-S |
| 3 | George Reed | Midlothian Illinois | Ferrari GT |
Class BM -
| 1 | Lance Reventlow | Beverly Hills Calif. | Scarab |
Class CM -
| 1 | Walt Hansgen | Westfield N.J. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 2 | Ed Crawford | Chicago Ill. | Lister-Jaguar |
| 3 | Duncan Black | Parkton Md., | Ferrari |
Class EM---
| 1 | Gaston Andrey | Newton Mass. | Ferrari 1.9 Testa Rossa |
| 2 | Charlie Kolb | West Hyattsville Md. | Ferrari Mondial |
Class FM -
| 1 | Don Sesslar | Lancaster O. | Porsche RS |
| 2 | Bob Holbert | Warrington Pa. | Porsche RS |
| 3 | Roy Schachter | Miami Fla. | Porsche RS |
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