Crone recently logged several wins at WeatherTech Raceway. She’s earned multiple SCCA Majors Formula F victories driving a modern Piper FF earlier this year. She has plans to race vintage events again… even before she gets behind the wheel of such a historic race car for the first time at this weekend’s Reunion.

“She bridges the past to the present like no one else can,” Pfanner said.

Pfanner has raced many cars on many occasions. But nothing compares to his love of the Elden Mk-8. His eyes landed on an ad in Autoweek in the early 1970s and nothing has been the same ever since. Pfanner has raced the tangerine orange Elden five times in 32 years. Alan Holly has raced it seven times, winning from the pole twice, including the 20th anniversary of Formula Ford at Willow Springs International Raceway.

The history of the car is a list of careful caretakers who carried the legacy forward.

“Automotive Development originally sold my Elden Mk-8 AM72 20 when it was new to the car’s first owner, the late Charlie Wright in the fall of 1972,” Pfanner said. “He owned and raced it until 1974. It was then owned by my friend Scot Keller who today is the curator at The Le May Car Museum. The third owner was club racer Leo Pilichowski who sold it to me in 1987 and it remains in remarkably original condition without ever having been restored. This car is a true time warp with original 1970s Armstrong shocks, steel wheels and a mild 107 HP Minister uprated engine that was last rebuilt by Jay Ivey in 1998. None of this discourages Courtney because she embraces the authenticity and the challenge.

“Our Elden Mk-8 still carries the original Automotive Development decal on its engine cover that was placed there by AD co-founder Paul White more than four decades ago. His business partner was Jules Williams who won the first-ever SCCA Formula Ford National in March 1969. I’ve raced this type of car countless times and I always come back to them because they are simple and honest.”

Courtney Crone may be driving the Elden this weekend, but her father got his hands on it first. Jack Crone was a young racer working at Automotive Development when he and Pfanner first met. They have remained close friends and Jack Crone did all the prep work for the Elden, ensuring it is as race-ready as possible for his daughter. The car had not been raced since 2008.

“For me this car is a talisman to how I began in the sport,” Pfanner said. “Formula Ford has been part of my motivation since I first laid eyes on an Elden Mk-8 on a December evening in 1972 when I was only 18 years old — the same age as Courtney is now. Although, I dreamed of someday racing at Indy this was not my destiny. I sincerely believe that this is what destiny holds for Courtney.”

Courtney Crone

For someone so young, she already seems to understand how important this weekend could be in motorsports history.

“I’m so excited to be part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Formula Ford because it means something to be a little part of history,” Crone said. “I want to do well and just run a good, fun, clean race and finish well. I’m looking forward to enjoying every minute of the event.

“I’ve never run a vintage event before and I know a few people I will be racing against, but not everyone. I know the track very well and I know it’s going to be a lot of fun and something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”

Time. Only time can tell how well Crone will do at her very first vintage event — an event that honors all the time in motorsports history. If history has anything to say about it, she might just win.

The 2019 schedule of events for the only sanctioning body in the world that requires period correct race cars can be found at http://www.hmsausa.com and features some of the longest-running events in the country.