News
(august 22, 2008)
Storied Canadian racing champ swears Targa is not his comeback
ST. JOHN'S (August 21, 2008) - His name rings through three decades of Canadian motor racing history, revered by generations of fans who remember the championships, victories and epic battles that made Eppie Wietzes one of the nation's most celebrated racing heroes. So when Wietzes's name turns up on the entry list of the seventh annual Targa Newfoundland, his legion of fans can't help wonder: Is Eppie planning a comeback?
"Absolutely not," swears Wietzes, a two-time Canadian road racing champion and member of the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame who is entered in the Grand Touring competition in the 2008 edition of Canada's longest and toughest motorsport event.
Still, the tongues wag.
With experience in Formula 1, Formula 5000, Can Am, Trans Am and nearly every kind of sportscar, Wietzes's competition resumé reads like a history of road racing in North America. He retired from active competition in 1987 with the respect of his peers and the admiration of fans on two continents. Other than a guest appearance in a Can Am race in 1993, Wietzes has been happily retired.
So why is he coming to Targa Newfoundland?
"Just for the fun of it," says Wietzes, now past 70 and a partner in a successful Toyota dealership in Toronto. "It looked like fun."
Still active with the Canadian Ferrari owners' organization, Wietzes was at a summer Ferrari gathering when the group staged an auction for an entry in the GT category in Targa 2008. "There were three of us bidding on it," he recalls. "I outlasted the other two guys!"
Did he know what he was getting into?
"I had watched the event on TV and read about it, and I borrowed a copy of the video," Wietzes explains. "It looked like fun."
Although he has never been to Newfoundland, he will have a better idea of what he's facing at Targa than many first-timers. While most of his fame was earned on the race track, Wietzes includes participation in the storied Shell 4000 rallies of the 1960s on his considerable list of achievements. Teamed with his wife Barb as navigator, the Wietzes will compete in their first Targa in a 2004 Porsche 911 S Carrera.
The GT competition emphasizes precision, accuracy and teamwork (vs pure speed), and the classes are often settled by just a few seconds of difference over the course of a week.
Isn't he afraid that Targa's famous driving challenge, camaraderie and competition will lure him back into more active participation?
"No, not at all," Wietzes insists. "After 30 years, I'm not likely to get infected again!"
His fans can hope otherwise.
Owned and operated by Newfoundland International Motorsports Limited, Targa Newfoundland is one of three internationally recognized Targa motorsports events in the world. The 7thannual Targa Newfoundland will start and end in St. John's and will cover more than 2,000 kilometres of the challenging, twisty roads of the central and eastern portion of the island of Newfoundland over six days, including up to 400 kilometres of closed-road, flat-out Targa stages. Competitors have come from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Holland, the Bahamas and the U.K. for the first six editions of Targa Newfoundland and international interest continues to build with competitors registering daily from places such as Germany and the Turks & Caicos.
