PREVIEW: SVRA showdowns at COTA

The annual Texas showdown know as the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) national championships at Circuit of The Americas finds the vintage racers joined this weekend for the fifth time this season by the Trans Am series. Trans Am, too, has a showdown going with the season-long battle for the premiere series Trigon Trophy championship tightening up to just an 11-point difference between leader Amy Ruman and second-place Paul Fix.

The entry list boasts 417 cars so fans should make sure their phones are fully charged to capture all the eye candy. Instagram moments will abound as the drivers tackle COTA's 3.4 miles of undulations and elevation changes with 20 turns.

The SVRA will present all 11 of its run groups and a quick scan of the entries shows many of its big guns will be firing. Among them are Indianapolis 500 veteran and 2005 Indy Lights Champion Wade Cunningham, former American Le Mans Series and Patrick Dempsey Racing driver Ryan Lewis, 1982 Le Mans 24 Hour GTO Class winner Doc Bundy (TOP) in the "Grabber Blue" Lotus 23B of Regogo Racing (ABOVE RIGHT, Randy Harbaugh photo) ) and defending Group 11 national champion Travis Engen in his attention-riveting 2005 Le Mans LMP1 Audi R8.

Cunningham (LEFT)is going for his third straight Bell Helmet trophy – the award for an SVRA national championship – with his Jay Creech Motorsports prepared 1972 Titan Formula Ford. His stiffest competition for the Group 2 prize may come from his teammates Ryan Lewis in a 1970 Caldwell FF and Alan Lewis (no relation) in a second 1972 Titan. Alan is the team's car owner. As a successful businessman he holds several patents in race car seat safety design.

Other Group 2 drivers to watch include 2014 SVRA Driver-of-the-Year Marc Giroux (1969 Brabham BT29) and Bruce Hamilton (1970 Brabham BT36). Hamilton won an amazing four races at the September Virginia International Raceway meet, two with his Brabham. Engen is also in the mix in Group 2, driving a 1970 Chevron B17b, one of four cars he has entered to drive in Groups 2, 5, 9 and 11.

Hometown favorite in Group 3 is Dave Foreman, aka "the Food Dude," with his immaculately restored ex-Dwight Mitchell orange and yellow 1971 Porsche 914. An entrepreneur, Foreman founded the corn and potato chip alternative snack food, "Beanitos," which has fueled his ascension among the ranks of vintage racers. Only in the game for three years Foreman looms as a serious contender for his first Bell Helmet trophy.

Bundy, a contract driver for the powerful Dallas-based Regogo Racing Team of Lotus enthusiast Paul Rego, has to be the favorite in Group 5. If he succeeds, it will be his third Bell Helmet national championship (ABOVE), having taken home two of the trophies in 2013. One of the guys in his way will be Engen in another Lotus 23B of 1962 vintage.

The popular Group 6 event features the winners of the Brickyard Invitational Indy Legends Pro-Am over the past two years, Peter Klutt (2014) and Jim Caudle (2015) both in 1969 Corvettes. Other Indy Legends Pro-Am veterans entered include Steve Cole and Garrett Waddell in their 1963 Corvettes as well as Curt Vogt and his 1970 Mustang Boss 302. Vogt and Max Papis teamed for a podium finish at the Brickyard.

Engen will make another go for a Bell Helmet in Group 9 with his 2001 Lola T97/20. Bruce Hamilton will be armed with his 2008 Dallara Infinity, the same car he picked off a rainy enduro win with at VIR. He also scored a podium runner-up spot behind Engen when he and Lyn St. James partnered in the Brickyard Invitational enduro.

Group 11 will be hugely interesting. This is the event in which Engen will show off the power of his Le Mans Audi R8 LMP 1. Lauren Fix, royalty in the automotive world and a TV celebrity known as the "Car Coach," is entered in the same 2000 Jaguar XKR (LEFT, photo courtesy of Lauren Fix) husband and Trans Am championship contender Paul drove to the SVRA Group 11 national championship in 2013. Another driver to watch is 22-year-old Theo Bean in his Courage ORECA LMP1. Bean picked up a Bell Helmet for a national championship-winning drive last year.

As is becoming the norm for SVRA race weekends, visitors to COTA can expect to find a festival atmosphere. Series sponsor Jaguar will again provide a hospitality center home base for its customers and show off its F-Type Jaguars by allowing anyone over 21 and with a valid license to drive one on their autocross course. The fast-growing collector car auction house Motostalgia will present two full days of bidding competition on Friday and Saturday, with 150 rare automobiles crossing the block. Car clubs and other private owners will display classic and exotic cars in what the SVRA is billing as a "Texas size" car show Saturday afternoon. That evening the Marshall Tucker Band will perform in the paddock, followed by a trademark SVRA fireworks show

At COTA, SVRA officials look forward to the crescendo of their biggest season in event and sponsorship growth in the organization's history.