HSR Successful Season Opener

Experienced motorsports executive Chris Ward was named Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) President in January, taking over the top leadership position of the sanctioning body from David Hinton, who guided HSR through its most recent period of success for more than a decade.  One of Hinton’s milestone achievements was steering the sale of HSR to IMSA in early 2022 following the passing of his ownership partners George Tuma in 2018 and Jim Pace two years later.

Beginning its third year under IMSA ownership, HSR entered the season with a record entry of more than 120 cars for this month’s season opening Spring Fling at Sebring International Raceway.   The previous editions of the Spring Fling rarely broke into the three-figure car-count.  The entries were a diverse group of competitors and cars spanning the last 65 years.

“The next era is well underway, and it begins with a renewed commitment to ensure HSR remains the authentic home for vintage and historic sports car racing in North America,” Ward said.  “The competitors, cars, on-track action and off-track camaraderie at Sebring clearly indicated to me in my first race with HSR that our competitors and members as well fully embrace these core values that will remain at the foundation of everything we do at HSR.”

Founded in the early 1970s, HSR has moved with the times, accepting later and later cars onto its grids and has recently started a series for recent LMP 1 cars.