Mid-Ohio celebrating 50th season

It may be 50 years old, but it still looks good.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car course announced the schedule for its golden anniversary Monday.

The theme for the historic road course is “50 Years of Racing Excellence,” and it kicks off aptly enough with the Vintage Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio from June 24 to 26. Porsche will be the featured marque for the event which will bring together race cars of all sizes, shapes and kinds from over the years.

The 29th Honda Super Cycle Weekend presented by Dunlop Tire, the longest continuously running event on the schedule, will move up to July 8 to 10. Again it will be headlined by the Wiseco SuperBike 100 Doubleheader along with AMA Pro Racing’s Daytona SportBike and SuperSport classes.

Traditionally held back-to-back, this year there will be a weekend between the SuperBikes and the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. the classic bikes come to town July 22 to 24.

“For many motorcyclists, AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days is the premier event of their riding season,” AMA President and CEO Rob Dingman said. “As we’ve seen over the years, the appeal of this event goes beyond classic motorcycle collectors and strict vintage competitors. Motorcyclists of all eras are drawn to AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, brought together by their common love of all things motorcycling.”

For the fifth straight year the American Le Mans Series and the Izod IndyCar Series will conduct a weekend doubleheader. After practice and qualifying Aug. 5, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge will lead the action Aug. 6 and the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio will close it Aug. 7.

The NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires comes back to Mid-Ohio Sept. 9 to 11 as some of the country’s top amateur road racers will go for national titles in a variety of classes.

The golden anniversary wraps up Sept. 16 to 18 with the season finale for the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. the EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank that kicked off Mid-Ohio’s season in recent years will close it.

“Each year with help from our sponsors and partners, we try to put together a schedule that will provide fans a diverse, exciting spectrum of racing,” said Michelle Trueman Gajoch, President of TrueSports, Inc., the owner and operator of the track. “Celebrating our 50th season of racing, this was more important than ever, and we feel we accomplished just that with this year’s schedule.

“The events that make up the 2011 season combine for one of the best schedules we’ve had in recent memory. We’re excited to kick things off and give back to the fans all year long as they’ve supported us for five decades.”

The track plans to hold a year-long celebration with special events, parties and promotional offers. Fans visiting MidOhio.com through Dec. 23 can enter to win prizes.

Tickets for all events go on sale Monday at 8:30 a.m. at 800-MID-OHIO or on the Web site.

Mid-Ohio celebrating 50th season

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