A Rare Warbird and a Mission Foods HSR Classic Endurance Championship Record On the Line Among the Highlights Next Weekend at Sebring

The annual dual celebration of Sebring International Raceway’s rich auto racing history and patriotic military aviation legacy returns to the legendary airport road course for the ninth time December 4 – 8. The full weekend of competition also includes the season-ending HSR Sebring Historics that bring the curtain down on the full slate of HSR sprint, endurance and feature race series contested throughout the 2024 season.

Run for the first time in 2016, the Mission Foods HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour Sebring, Pistons and Props, is an on-track and on-the-runways celebration of the 12 Hours of Sebring and historic Hendricks Field, the World War II era military and civil aviation facility on which the famous sports car race has been held for more than 70 years.

The Mission Foods HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour is five full-days of historic and vintage sports car racing and a featured fly-in and display of equally spectacular military and civilian aircraft from the last century and older.

This year’s must-see airplane headed to Sebring next week is the Curtiss P-40N-1 Warhawk (pictured at top) owned and flown by Tim Savage and his son Job “Jib” Savage, who have become award-winning HSR Sebring Classic regulars in recent years. The Savage family – as voted by HSR competitors – won last year’s HSR Classic Sebring Best-Plane Award with its event debuting 1945 Grumman TBM-3R Avenger (pictured below).

Built by Curtiss in Buffalo, New York in the middle of 1943, the Warhawk’s constructor number was 399 and the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) assigned serial number 42-104827 as a P-40N-1-CU. The plane was immediately shipped overseas to aid the Allied powers in the Pacific to start an incredible global saga that didn’t see the Warhawk return to the U.S. until earlier in this century. Landing at Tadji Airfield in New Guinea in April of 1944, the left undercarriage collapsed, causing the P-40 to stand on its nose, flip over and burst into flames. The pilot escaped uninjured, but the wreck relegated the plane to components and “off charge” status. The remains, which included nearly all of the major components, were ultimately abandoned after WWII.

Remarkably, the Warhawk’s wreckage remained at Tadji for 57 years. The first step in the plane’s rediscovery and journey back to the sky began in 2001 when it was recovered, exported back to Australia and sold to Pioneer Aero in New Zealand. While at Pioneer, a restoration began that continued with another owner who – after an emotional return to flight 65 years after its crash landing – shipped the Warhawk back to North America to Vintage Wings of Canada.

Tim Savage purchased the P-40 in 2021 and had the aircraft repainted in the colors of USAAF pilot John D. Landers, the livery the Warhawk carries today, along with the period correct “Skeeter” nickname. A true flying ace war hero, Landers had only 10 flying hours in a P-40 before piloting one in combat, but he still managed to take out a pair of enemy bombers in “Skeeter” in his early missions. He followed his Pacific tour in the European Theater of Operations and ended WWII with 14.5 aerial aircraft shootdowns to his credit.

Driving the Matador Motorsports No. 02 Cadillac DPi with co-driver Eric Foss, Pierce Marshall finally broke through for his first HSR Classic Daytona 24 Hour victory with one of the most dominating wins of the race in Run Group F. With HSR Classic Run Group awards from Sebring (2022) and Watkins Glen this year already on the shelf, Marshall and Foss convincingly captured a Classic 24 win after nearly a decade of trying.

With the Daytona win, Marshall and his Matador teammates are just the second HSR competitors to win all three of the current Mission Foods HSR Classic races at Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen with the same team, car and driver lineup. They join all-time HSR Classic race winners Gray Gregory, and his co-drivers Randy Buck and Ethan Shippert, who were the first to sweep the current trio of endurance races in Gregory’s 1974 No. 26 Chevron B26.

Now, Pierce, Foss and the No. 02 Matador squad are in line to become the first to win the current trifecta of HSR Classic races with the same team, car and driver lineup in a single season. With the recent win at Daytona and a P1 in June’s Classic Watkins Glen 6 Hour in the books, Matador needs to secure the overall Run Group C victory next weekend to seal the perfect in-season win record.

Even better, Pierce and company could equal another HSR Mission Classic record for consecutive wins in the endurance series. The No. 02 team won the Classic Sebring 12 last year, and a repeat next weekend would be a fourth-straight HSR Classic Endurance win for the same, team, driver and car. David Porter was the first to pocket the four-pack of consecutive HSR Classic wins when he swept the Daytona and Sebring races in both 2019 and 2020.

Official competition gets underway Thursday, December 5, with the weekend’s featured HSR Classic Sebring 12 Hour starting at 1 p.m. EST Saturday, December 7, with each of the four Run Groups taking to the three times in succession in a rotation that races into the night with the day’s final checkered flag just before 10 p.m. EST.

Classic Sebring 12 Hour competitors return to the track Sunday, December 8, at 12 p.m. EST with each Group getting one final segment to decide this year’s winners. Overall Run Group winners will be presented with all-new and custom-made Wall Clocks from B.R.M. Chronographes. Displaying the same dial design as B.R.M.’s unique time pieces, the oversized clocks have been a big hit this year with the race winners at The Glen and Daytona.

Still in part an active airport, the featured vintage aircraft will be landing on the Sebring runways throughout the day on Friday. At 5:15 p.m. EST that day, the parade of planes will taxi along parts of the actual Sebring race course to the paddock where they will be on display alongside the historic race cars through Sunday morning at 11:10 a.m. EST.

More information on both the HSR Classic 12 and HSR Sebring Historics events, including entry lists, ticket purchases and the event schedule, can be found on the official event page by clicking here.

An International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) property, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) was formed in the mid-1970s with an event at Road Atlanta. There was one goal then and it remains true today: to celebrate the racing cars from the past. As a “time machine” of sights and sounds, HSR provides a venue for competitors and spectators alike to share in the wonderful history and excitement created by the cars that competed at race tracks around the world. HSR currently sanctions eight vintage and historic racing events at some of the world’s most renowned race tracks, including Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and more. The complete schedule and full event information can be found on HSR’s website at http://www.HSRRace.com. Look for the HSR Channel on YouTube and follow HSR on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/HSRrace/ and on Twitter X at @HSR_race and Instagram @HistoricSportscarRacing.