SVRA at COTA: Shadow of a champion

One of the most camera-clicked treasures of the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association National Championships at the Circuit of The Americas is easily the 1974 UOP Shadow Can-Am car of restoration madman Jim Bartel (LEFT). The black beauty, once driven by former Can-Am champion and Formula 1 driver George Follmer (his signature is on the chassis), was wrecked 10 days before the '74 season started and was repaired to serve as a test car.

For Bartel, it is a gem – and the gem goes fast. Son-in-law Craig Bennett put a whooping on the field in the Group 10 SVRA national championship last year and is gunning to do the same even though it has been reclassified into Group 11 for stiffer competition. The 2014 Group 11 field includes such machines as prototypes from Grand-Am and ALMS from as recent as 2008. It will be tough sledding but driver Bennett is confident.

The 46-year-old's résumé sounds familiar to fans of top-tier IndyCar and sports car professionals. Bennett comes from a racing family as father Bud raced short track late-model stock cars in the American Speed Association and started his son in go-karts at an early age. In 1986 he won SCCA GT-1 rookie-of-the-Year honors for his performance in the class. If Bennett is to win his second Bell Helmet SVRA National Champ award, though, he will need to get past the likes of Travis Engen and his 2005 Audi LMP1 rocketship.

As for Bartel, he loves the process of restoring cars. He also loves Shadow racers. Among his projects are two additional Shadows including an ex-Jackie Oliver Formula 5000 machine. Look for those in the paddock as a threesome by 2016.

More from COTA's National Championship weekend...

• SVRA National Championships underway at COTA

• A historic racing family affair at COTA