The Coronado Classic Speed Festival returns to Naval Air Station North Island Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 8-9, with racing scheduled from 8 am to 4 pm both days. Entering its eighth year of vintage car racing, the event arrives this year with a revamped name and a new affiliation.

Formerly the Chrysler Classic Speed Festival and managed by the Holiday Bowl, the event is now part of the umbrella organization that runs Fleet Week San Diego. Chrysler is no longer the title sponsor, but the rest of the details that make the festival worth attending remain the same.

If you are a car person, this is the place for you. More than 200 cars are scheduled to participate again this year, according to Committee Chairman and Project Manager Larry Huppert. Vintage racing cars representing all of the big names in automotive history, including Triumph, BMW, Maserati Ferrari, Austin-Healy, Aston-Martin, Porsche, Alpha Romeo, Jaguar and Lotus to name a few, will be on hand.

Racing will be conducted in eight divisions, depending on the age of the car, and is run on a 1.6-mile course on the runway at North Island. Each of the car groups races twice each day, both days of the event.

"Every car there is a certified, authentic, vintage race car," Huppert said. "It has to have credentials and pedigrees that it has raced at any number of road races or similar events. These are the actual cars. There are no kit cars included. Part of the application process, is that the owners have to fill out an 8-page form. They have to provide the complete history of the machine, including who built it, along with serial numbers and so on."

Also included is a vendor village, which will contain 50 mostly automotive-related exhibitors. This year for the first time, all of the Navy commands in the area will be invited to sell their own merchandise, with sales proceeds going directly to the individual command. As an example, a baseball cap or a t-shirt from the USS Ronald Reagan would likely be available.

Unique to the event is the accessibility of the drivers and their cars. Spectators are encouraged to walk in the pit area, see the cars first hand, and ask questions of the drivers. Some of the autos in the race are quite valuable, with several of the racing machines in excess of 75 plus years old.

Included is a Car Club Corral, which this year is expected to feature more than 100 car clubs from Southern California, with more than 1,000 individual cars. "Last year the Hudson Hornet Car Club was involved," said Huppert. "Before then I had never heard of the car. We have Miata, Corvette, and Cobra car clubs, to name a few. The attendees can wander through the corral and look at the models from all of the different years."

Coronado’s event is part of a tour that includes the Wine Country Classic, which is held annually in Sear’s Point; a similar event in Lime Rock, Conn.; and the granddaddy of them all, the Monterey Historic Races.

The point of the race isn’t necessarily who crosses the finish line first, but the car in each of the division that shows the best. Collisions during the race are frowned upon by race organizers, to the extent that the competitor causing an accident will be suspended for one year and one day, making sure they have to sit out the entirety of the next season.

For the second consecutive year, the Islander Sports Foundation will assist the promoters of the event in selling advance tickets in the community. A two-day ticket costs $30, with a significant portion of the proceeds of the ticket sales going to support athletics at Coronado High School and Coronado Middle School. Your ticket purchase can support a specific team or the organization as a whole. Please contact me at info@IslanderSportsFoundation.com for ticket information, or contact one of our CHS or CMS team representatives for tickets.

A reminder that student athletic physicals will be held Monday, August 15, 2005, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at the Bank of America Building, located at 1050 B Avenue. The costs for the physicals are $15 per child; if there are two children from the same family, the physicals cost a total of $25; if there are three of more children in the same family, the physicals are $10 each. Coronado Middle School and Coronado High School students may participate.

Doctors, who provide the physicals, turn the fees over to the CHS Athletic Department, which uses the funding to supply the CHS training room. Students must have a current athletic physical before they can begin practice in their sport.

Athletic forms that need to be completed prior to the physical can be downloaded from www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com.

Although Your Natterer is a Rotarian, you have to acknowledge when another civic group in town does well. The Kiwanis Club of Coronado and their President Mark Blumenthal has confirmed that San Diego Padres Chief Executive Officer Sandy Alderson will address the club Monday, Sept. 12 at the Coronado Municipal Golf Course.

Admission for the event is $20 and includes lunch, a beverage and the program.

Alderson has an extensive baseball background, serving most recently before joining the Padres front office as the executive vice president of baseball operations with Major League Baseball in New York. He also served as general manager of the Oakland A’s from 1983-97, as well as the team’s president from 1997-98. He was instrumental in guiding the A’s to a World Series title in 1989.

Alderson holds an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth (’69) and a degree from Harvard University’s law school (‘76).

For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Coronado and their upcoming program featuring Alderson, please contact Blumenthal at 435-6534.

Adam Bacon (CHS ’02), who earned seven athletic letters at Coronado High School during his career, died in a van crash Friday morning near Needles. Among the fatalities were Jessica Hanson, Bacon’s girl friend, soccer player, and fellow athlete at Loyola Marymount University. Other members of the Hanson family were also on the trip.

Bacon played soccer and basketball at Coronado and ran on the track and cross country teams. He graduated with a 4.1 grade point average from CHS.

Last year as a member of the LMU cross country team, Bacon was the team’s top finisher in four of the six races on their schedule. Entering his senior year at LMU, Bacon had been named team captain. He earned three varsity letters in cross country at the school.

"He was a real team leader," said CHS Head Track Coach George Green of Bacon’s career at the high school. "He worked hard and inspired everybody. It was really great having him in our program. His senior year we had a great team and he was one of the top guys on it."

Jake Ruzevick (CHS ’05) added his thoughts about his former teammate. "I would like to say that Adam was an incredible athlete and mentor. I was a freshman when he graduated from Coronado. He took me under his wing and taught me many things about running and having fun. I will always remember Adam for all he did for not only me, but for everyone around him."

If you are interested in running on the CHS cross country team this season, the team is meeting Monday-Friday at the gazebo in Spreckels Park at 5 pm. CHS boys and girls are invited, as well as potential members of the CMS cross country teams.

For more information on the cross country team, please visit www.IslanderTrack.com