Fifty years after Jocko Maggiacomo Jr.’s Trans Am championship, the cars and characters that defined an era reunite during Historic Festival 44.
LAKEVILLE, CONN. (5 September 2026) – Some race cars retire to museums. Others never really retire at all. Saturday at Lime Rock Park’s Historic Festival 44 proved it, as 287 vintage race cars across nine groups and a special exhibition from Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), one of the first sports car racing organizations formed ahead of the SCCA by the Collier brothers, took to the 1.53-mile circuit for the first full day of racing.
Under blue skies, against the green backdrop of the Berkshire foothills, Spectator Hill filled while the paddocks were bursting with race cars and three special collector displays celebrating Alfa Romeo, Formula Junior and the Automobile Racing Club of America. Another 40 significant automobiles lined the Coca-Cola Midway, including the No. 11 McLaren M23 that James Hunt made his run to the 1976 Formula One World Championship, while car corrals added even more variety throughout The Park.
Twenty Historic Trans Am cars thundered to life for Saturday’s feature race, but the history gathered around the grid extended well beyond the cars themselves. Champions, race winners, former broadcasters and familiar names from decades of Trans Am competition all had a role in bringing the series’ past back to life at Lime Rock.
Four-time Trans Am champion Tommy Kendall was reunited with his 1995 All Sport liveried Ford Mustang for the first time since he drove it to his second of his four titles. Trans Am champion and 17-time winner Dorsey Schroeder served as Head Steward for the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA), while longtime Trans Am and NBC television commentator Mike Joy traded the broadcast booth for the driver's seat of a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.
At the center of the reunion was Jocko Maggiacomo Jr., celebrating the 50th anniversary of his 1976 SCCA Trans Am championship and Trans Am win at Lime Rock Park. The Poughkeepsie, New York, native waved the green flag over a field that included two cars with deeply personal connections to his career before climbing the Skip Barber Tower to join The Voice of Lime Rock Park Greg Rickes, who has called every Trans Am race at Lime Rock Park since the series’ inaugural visit in 1967, to talk about his career milestone.
The first was the Penske-built AMC Javelin Maggiacomo drove to the 1976 SCCA TA1 championship, including victories at Pocono and Road America. Then carrying No. 63 and Jocko’s Speed Shop colors, the car is now owned and raced by Bill Ockerlund as No. 6 in the Sunoco livery made famous by Mark Donohue and Roger Penske during their 1971 Trans Am championship season. The other was where Maggiacomo’s story began. Car No. 15, a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, launched a 24-year-old Maggiacomo into professional racing more than half a century ago. Now driven by Jim Glass, the Camaro took the checkered flag Saturday, bringing Maggiacomo’s Trans Am story at Lime Rock Park full circle.
Saturday’s race ceremonies also brought together automotive and American history. Members of the Connecticut Line and Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, dressed in period attire, delivered a three-volley musket salute as part of America 250 celebrations. Historic Festival 44 Honored Guest Donald Osborne, a trained operatic baritone who previously performed with the Metropolitan Opera, sang the national anthem before Honored Collector and Revs Institute Founder Miles Collier gave the command to start engines. Connecticut dignitaries Senator Richard Blumenthal and State Representative Maria Horn greeted the crowd.
Tomorrow, Historic Festival 44 trades racing for one of the most distinctive automotive shows in the country with Sunday in The Park presented by HUB, featuring the Lime Rock Concours and Gathering of the Marques. Nearly 1,000 vehicles are expected to fill Lime Rock, with the Gathering of the Marques surrounding the 1.53-mile circuit while the Lime Rock Concours brings 24 curated classes featuring 190 rare and vintage cars to Sam Posey Straight. Gates open Sunday at 7 a.m., with Sunday in The Park beginning at 10:30 a.m. Then on Labor Day, the engines fire again for the final day of Historic Festival 44 racing.
