Volkswagen Celebrates 50 Years of the Formula Vee

Besides the 75th anniversary of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in a few weeks, there are many other notable anniversaries that will also be celebrated. Take for instance the automotive industry where you may remember celebrated Chevrolet’s 100th anniversary in 2011. Not to be outdone for notable anniversaries is the 50th anniversary of the Volkswagen Formula Vee motorsport series. It is hard to believe the Formula Vee is 50 years old, but considering it started in 1963, with a mantra to keep racing for everyone both accessible and affordable, by adopting chassis from VW Beetles. This created some makeshift racecars that strangely enough did not add up to 40 hp.

The Daytona International Speedway was where the Formula Vee first debuted, which spawned success that went worldwide. In 1965, some 50,000 European fans got to see the Formula Vee at its first European stop in Nuremberg only a short two years after it debuted in the US. After the Formula Vee came the Super Vee and after that came the Vee 130 and after that, the rest is history. Many notable drivers got a taste of the Formula Vee including Hurley Haywood, Markku Alen and Marco Andretti. It is fitting that the 50th anniversary will be commemorated where it all started in 1963 - the Daytona International Speedway.

One of the celebrations will include a parade, which will show off the best years of the Formula Vee. Some of the veterans of the series will be there along with more current drivers that give credit to the Formula Vee for inspiration. As was said earlier, it was the goal of the Formula Vee to make racing more accessible and affordable, and one of the ways it met this goal was by using different race cars. The Formula Vee was created with parts borrowed from old VW Beetle bodies. This was so that if the car sustained damage or was involved in a crash, it would not cost a fortune to rebuild because the parts were easy to attain and affordable.

Because of the vast amount of technology that is available today, it is easy to argue that the sponsor, VW dealership, the automaker and pit team are just as responsible for the drivers success as the skills of the driver. Formula Vee’s golden days were about races won just on the skills of the driver because the cars were strictly regulated. However, today it would be just as easy to argue that the racing world is mostly dominated not by the driver’s skills as much as by money, sponsorships and egos.

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Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.

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