Michael Satterfield
California’s Mini Mania owner/founder Don Racine is launching an all-out assault on the prestigious Can-Am Mini Challenge this September with a fleet of vintage Classic Minis featuring race and championship-winning cars spanning some five decades of competition.
The Can-Am Mini Challenge is the featured Marque in California’s 14th Annual Charity Challenge Vintage Car Road Races at Sonoma Raceway Sept. 29 – Oct. 1, sanctioned by the Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG).
Mini Mania’s Don Racine,72, is currently assembling a team of up to four American and three European veterans to contest class wins in the legendary Mini Coopers. Racine has over 40 years of racing experience and won dozens of Mini Cooper races at such legendary circuits as Sonoma, Indianapolis, Coronado, and Laguna Seca along with many more victories in other cars and categories.
“We’ll soon be announcing an international team of winning Mini race drivers to pilot as many as seven cars at the Sonoma Can-Am Mini Challenge, and we expect fierce competition from numerous experienced and race-winning competitors,” Racine explained. “We plan to put on a good show for the charity event and British car enthusiasts everywhere.”
Racine and his son, Dennis recently finished in the top two positions at Sonoma Raceway during the SVRA vintage races in early June with their championship-winning Mini Coopers originally raced in the 1970s. https://www.facebook.com/sportscarvintageracing/videos/854022278086907/
Up to two dozen Mini race cars are expected for the 2017 Can-Am Mini Challenge which can trace its roots to the original Can-Am Mini Challenge Vintage Races organized by Mini Mania in 2001 at Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA.
These British designed cars popularized front wheel drive and other innovations and were in worldwide production from 1959 to 2000, launching the careers of many professional race drivers worldwide. Sales totaled over 5 million cars.
Mini Mania continues today as a leading supplier of restoration and performance parts for both the original Classic Mini and now the new generation of BMW MINI Coopers. The Internet-based business is based out of Nevada City, California.
