DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — It took top HSR driver Todd Treffert nearly a decade to win his first HSR Classic race, but in March’s season-opening HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour presented by Mission Foods, he finally broke through. Then he kept going.
Driving his sharp looking 901 Shop 1974 No. 41 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR “Baby” Turbo, Treffert built on the Sebring win with two more Run Group overall victories to secure a series-leading three outright wins in the year’s four HSR Classic Endurance Championship presented by Mission Foods races.
Securing the Historic GT class title, Treffert also won September’s inaugural HSR Classic Road Atlanta 10 Hour presented by Mission Foods and sealed the deal at the series-ending HSR Classic Daytona 24 Hour presented by Mission Foods in November.
“The Mission Classic Endurance series is unique in vintage racing, and I am proud to be one of the inaugural season winners,” Treffert said. “I am happy to have been able to participate in all four Mission Classic Endurance events this year. There was some stiff competition initially at Sebring with Charles Espanlaub in a Porsche and a Toj and some Chevrons. Then at Atlanta we were about to get smoked by the Jim Farley and Jan Magnussen in the Lola, and brothers Theo Bean and Patrick Bean in their Monza, but we made it through for the win.”
The only race Treffert didn’t win overall? That was a close second-place finish in June’s HSR Classic Watkins Glen 6 Hour presented by Mission Foods that still garnered first place points in the Historic GT division.
“At The Glen and up against the more modern machinery was the only race I did not win overall, but it was a lot of fun there and all season to run with such a diverse and unique field of cars and competitors,” Treffert said.
It wasn’t always as easy as it was this season for Treffert. Although he has an endless career streak of HSR race wins and series championships, finally cracking the HSR Classic win column called for an entirely different path.
Treffert, along with Brady Refenning and his 901 Shop team, built a special small displacement 911 Turbo inspired by a short run of three 2.1-liter Turbo RSRs Porsches produced in 1974. The build also continued the legacy of the first Porsche Treffert used to truly dominate in HSR in the previous decade. Treffert and his “Darth Vader” black SpeedConcepts 1974 No. 14 Porsche 911 IROC RSR won just about everything in sight before the car was nearly written off in a heavy incident in 2019’s season-ending race.
“After crashing the black 3-liter car at Sebring in 2019, we pretty much wrote off the tub, but the more Brady and I talked about it, and when I remembered I had an original injection pump that would work with a 2.1 turbo motor, we decided to try and make it work. While I want to recognize the whole 901 shop crew for all they do for me with all of my cars, Chris Prince and Brady deserve special recognition for their effort with the turbo car.”
