"We would like your help regarding an incident at our Inn Saturday night, October 26. Some of your men were playing on our roof and we asked them to get down. During the night our weather vane, a gold eagle, was taken from the roof. Since the loss represents $200.00 in money value, we would appreciate your checking with this group to find out if they know anything about it. I am sure if it was misplaced it was done in fun.
Needless to say, we are not interested in the names of individuals who may have been responsible for this. However, if it was any member of the Region, we trust that he will return it immediately to the Holiday Inn. If, on the other hand, it was not a member of the Region and any person does have any knowledge of its whereabouts, will you please let Watts Hill, Jr. , as RE, have this information so that he may get in touch with the parties concerned. It is important, for obvious reasons, that we give the fullest possible cooperation to the people at the Holiday Inn in Danville. Need more be said?
[Ed. Note - Formula Junior Driver John Henderson was killed in an accident during the last race]
Accompanying this letter are the official results of the Divisional Championship Races at VIR. To merely state this fact, and to thank you for having participated, would be hardly sufficient in light of all the circumstances. This cover letter is, therefore, being written in an effort to clarify and hopefully answer questions which must be in the minds of many of you.
First, a comment on the results themselves. The awarding of Northeast Divisional Championship Points will be made by Divisional officials for all point races, save the last race on Sunday which was for A-C Production, C-E Modified and Formula Junior. The question of how to handle this event was cleared through Divisional officials and this race was declared "no contest.." It was felt by all concerned that the awarding of points based on the results of an earlier sprint race or lap positions at the time of the accident would be unfair to many competitors.
As you are all aware, it was decided not to award trophies at the end of the races in light of the circumstances. Both the awarding of trophies and the mailing of race results have been delayed pending the resolution of the awarding of points for the final race. The attached results indicate those to whom trophies will be awarded. The sponsor, the Danville Civil Air Patrol, has been notified of official results and will mail trophies in the immediate future. If you do not receive your trophy by December 10, do not notify the sponsor but rather the N. C. Region at Box 61, Durham, North Carolina,, and we will take care of it for you. I hope that you will bear with us in this unavoidable delay for, as most of you know, we have taken considerable pride in the past in having final results in the mail to you within 48 hours after the conclusion of an event.
As many of you are undoubtedly aware, the N. C. Region has made a special effort to develop a system for establishing grid positions which complies with the spirit and letter of the General Competition Regulations and which, at the same time, comes closest to representing the wishes of the majority of the drivers. We would refer you specifically to the article beginning on Page 18 in the September issue of Sports Car entitled "What the Drivers Want - II". Any system is, of course, a compromise with the ideal which would be separate practice sessions, qualifying periods and races for each Class of entries. It is equally obvious that the fact of a fatal accident calls for a careful examination of all possible contributing factors ranging from course conditions through race operations to starting and gridding positions. Such a re-examination is currently under way by the officials of the Region. Future events conducted by the N. C. Region will contain more detailed supplementary regulations dealing with practice and gridding. Open-wheeled cars will not be run with closed-wheeled vehicles. While we do not feel that the mixture of cars contributed to the accident, the possibility that it could be a factor in the future, despite no difficulties in the past, is a risk which the Region will not assume.
We would point out, however, that in our opinion the basic problem which SCCA will have to deal with at the National level is that of large cars vs. small ones. For example, there is the problem of Corvette Stingray Coupes, Lotus Super 7's and Lotus 23's often running in the same race. These dangers are very little different than with a Formula Junior running with a Stingray.
The following dates have been cleared for the N. C. Region's 1964 races at VIR: April 18-19, National, July 18-19, Regional and October 3-4, Divisional. All of us in this Region are looking forward to having you back with us for any or all of these events when, we trust, we can again show you the hospitality and pleasant racing conditions which we are told has characterized N. C. Region events in the past.
Watts Hill, Jr.
Regional Executive
N. C. Region, SCCA
please send me e-mail with any additional info on this or any other VIR race