John Fitch has been named as the honored guest for the Vintage Sports Car Drivers Association’s 2010 Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, scheduled for Road America this September 10-12. John is the perfect guest with whom to celebrate 60 years of racing at Elkhart Lake, for he won the 1951 and 1952 events in a Cunningham.
John’s extensive international racing credentials include victory in the 1951 Grand Prix of Argentina with an Allard, the same year he also became SCCA’s first road race National Champion, driving a Jaguar XK120, a Cunningham C2, and a Ferrari 195S. He won La Carrera Panamericana twice; first in a Chrysler and again in 1952 for Mercedes, and claimed the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1953, sharing the victorious Cunningham C4R with Phil Walters. He also won the Grand Touring class of the 1955 Mille Miglia for Mercedes-Benz, to list but a few of his driving accomplishments.
After serving as a pilot in World War II—being captured near the end of the war and spending the remainder of it in a POW camp—he returned home to be contacted by a group that wanted to build a race track to promote tourism in Connecticut. Thus was he greatly involved in the design and construction of Lime Rock Park. Later, through his company Race Safety, he devised the water-filled barrels that protect primary impact points along highway guardrails nationwide.
John will be 93 by the time of the Elkhart event, which means not only does he have incredible stories to tell, but he is one of them himself. For further information about the Elkhart Lake Vintage Festival, go to www.raceelvf.org or www.vscda.org
