Page 10 - Leisure Living Magazine August 2016

Love Their Dream Cars
Continued from page 9
back to the original. “I built a ’56 Chevy for Kel- leys Island, that was kind of cool.” What is it about cars that fascinates him. Nickel laughs, “I’ve been told it’s a sickness. It’s a disease I can’t get rid of.”
You want your dream car? “The older genera- tion is dying out and the younger generation can’t afford it. Prices are sky high to build a car.” He recommends buying a car that has already been built and is close to what the dream is. “Then you can just modify it to make it what you want. I guess that’s where I come in sometimes.” He per- sonally owns a 1923 T-Bucket which he originally built in 1973. “I’ve had that car for 43 years.”
This summer, you’ll see the T-Bucket, the Porsche and the Camaro on the roads with other vehicles owned by people who are finally able to drive their dreams. “I get a thumbs up when I go by and people turn to look,” Allen Nickles says. “That’s kinda cool.”
On The Cover -
Allen Nickles with his 1983 911SC Porsche in Facer Park, Sandusky.
Photos by Barb Clemons
With a vanity plate reading LUVMZX, Laura Wennes lets everyone know her affection for the 1988 Nissan 300ZX that she drives.
Vintage Car Reunion At Put-in-Bay
By Peter Huston
Put-in-Bay’s Rich Hahn loves to race, a love affair that started with his first car, a 1959 Tri- umph TR3A. In 1973, with the last $800 left from their wedding he and his wife Noreen bought their first Triumph, now a cherished member of their “sports car” family.
Rich, an account manager in the telecommu- nications business, was a summer island sports car enthusiast. By the early 80’s his sports car hob- by became more serious when Rich got involved in autocross racing at Put-in-Bay. Autocross Page XX
is a timed competition in which drivers nav- igate one car at a time through a defined course that emphasizes safe competition.
Put-in-Bay had a glorious past history with “wheel to wheel” sports car racing that dated back to the late 1950’s when sleek exotic European sports car racing enchanted Americans at places like Daytona and Watkins Glen.
Through autocross Rich got to know Jack
Woehrle, a race organizer, and in 2009 the idea of having a Road Race Reunion with rac- ing cars on the Put-in-Bay airport runway was hatched. “Once we started our Road Race Re- union racing program at the Airport I decided I’d race my TR4A in the Exhibition Class and had a blast. “The Goat (Soup and Whisky) Racing Team” was born.
A little serendipity led Rich to procure a race ready SCCA 1972 Triumph Spitfire in 2014. Rich thinking it was time to go to a real racing school, attended the race driving school at Mid Ohio Race Course. In 2015 he raced his Spitfire in the “Race Class” at the Put-in-Bay Road Race Reunion.
There’s a simmering love affair with exotic vintage race cars that Rich has helped promote at Put-in-Bay. It has become a major summer event for the island. August 29-31, 2016 we are hosting the 8th Annual Vintage Sports Car Road Race Re- union with exciting wheel to wheel racing.
10 |LeisureLiving August 2016
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