SOUTHLAKE, Texas – Sportscar Vintage Racing Ass’n officials announced Thursday that Ron Hornaday, Al Unser, Jr., Bobby Labonte and Geoff Brabham have filed entries for the Vintage Race of Champions Charity Pro-Am at Road Atlanta.
The VROC Series has expanded this year to four weekends, with Circuit of the Americas joining Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Virginia Int’l Raceway as host tracks.
In addition, Johnny Bench – a member of Major League Baseball’s Hall-of-Fame – will serve as grand marshal for the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta Grand Prix weekend, March 26-29.
“All of us at SVRA are honored to have a sports icon like Johnny Bench join us for our SpeedTour Road Atlanta Grand Prix weekend,” said SVRA President and CEO and majority owner of the Trans Am Company, Tony Parella. “As for the hall-of-fame athletes, it’s amazing to walk among so many. Virtually all our professional drivers are members of a hall of fame somewhere.”
Bench, who played catcher for the Cincinnati Reds from 1967 to 1983, was selected as an All-Star player 14 times. He was also named National League Most Valuable Player twice.
During his time with the Reds, the team won six division titles, four National League pennants, and two World Series championships.
Hornaday is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. His 51 race wins are second to Kyle Busch in NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series history, a championship he won four times.
From Palmdale, Calif., Hornaday also won four NASCAR Xfinity Series races and is a two-time titlist in the now-defunct NASCAR Southwest Series.
Unser, a two-time Indy car champion (1990 and 1994) and the winner of 34 Indy car races including the 1992 and ’94 Indianapolis 500s, is a member of both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall-of-Fame and the Motorsports Hall-of-Fame of America.
Labonte, the first driver to win both the NASCAR Cup Series championship and the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year. He is also a member of the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Geoff Brabham, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans overall in 1993, is a member of both the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America and the Australian Hall of Fame. He won that country’s much-revered Bathurst 1000 in 1997.
The Road Atlanta Charity Pro-Am will support Hope For The Warriors, a national nonprofit organization that provides assistance to combat-wounded service members, their families, and families of those killed in action. The organization focuses on those involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom and their families.
The VROC Charity Pro-Am cars are primarily 1963 to 1972 vintage Corvettes, Camaros, and Mustangs of SVRA “Group 6” A and B Production. The professionals will be paired with amateur drivers.
Amateurs will start the race and be required to drive a maximum of seven laps. In addition to the Pro-Am, the Speed Tour Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta weekend is a festival of other activities, including professional Trans Am by Pirelli series races on Saturday and Sunday.
The weekend also presents the Hagerty Insurance “cars & caffeine” car corral, and more than 300 vintage racers ranging over 100 years of automotive history racing in SVRA Groups 1 through 12.