DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — If the oldest driver and oldest car competing in the inaugural season of the HSR Classic Endurance Championship presented by Mission Foods doesn’t exactly sound like a championship-winning combination, look no further than HSR’s ageless wonder Travis Engen and his beautiful GMT Racing 1962 No. 1 Lotus 23B.
Engen, at 81 years young, and his speedy Lotus secured a long overdue HSR championship in the HSR Classic Endurance Championship’s Vintage Prototype/Sports Racer class. He shares the title after a season-ending points tie with the duo of Gérard Lopez and Marcel Fassler in the Iconic Racing 1969 Lola T70 MkII.
Engen has been a race-winning pillar of HSR for well over a decade, competing in the Lotus, his popular 2005 No. 2 Audi R8 LMP and the occasional single-seat, open-wheel car. His competition focus is more on specific events and tracks, usually including HSR’s blockbusters The Mitty presented by Hagerty and the Classic Sebring 12 Hour presented by Mission Foods, and other notables like the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the Historic Formula Atlantic races at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach a few years ago.
Engen entered the inaugural HSR Classic Endurance championship conversation, however, on the strength of his Vintage Prototype/Sports Racer division victory in March’s season-opening Classic Sebring 12 Hour and remained in title contention all season.
Engen would have had sole stake of the championship, but he seldom competes at Daytona International Speedway, which opened the door for Lopez and Fassler to tie the points race with their third-straight HSR Classic Daytona 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods race win last month.
The championship also made longtime HSR team GMT Racing part of the first-year HSR Classic Endurance Championship presented by Mission Foods history. Multiple HSR Classic race winners at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen over the years, GMT joins other HSR stalwarts like the 901 Shop, Matador Motorsports, Vintage Racng Co., Iconic Racing and others as the teams behind this year’s champions.
