In my early racing days, I almost ran this race. I believe my first race car was a MGA Twin Cam. I bought the car out of Indiana with a blown engine. "Blown" engines were very common with Twin Cams which were notorious for "sucking valves". Without trying to resurrect the Twin Cam engine, I fitted a push rod MGA engine. Since the fancy Dunlop four wheel disk brakes were an option on common MGAs, the car qualified for SCCA F Production class. Standard for common MGAs were Girling disk brakes on the front and drum brakes on the rear. Associated with the Dunlop brakes were very heavy knockoff wheels, not the common and lighter wire wheels but disk steel.
A college friend and I pulled it from Austin to Roswell with my old rusted out 1956 Pontiac station wagon. That car also from Indiana where road salt had induced severe rust; I think I paid $200 for it. I had made some progress holding things together and limiting air circulation by applying galvanized sheet metal patches with sheet metal screws.
As the name implies, it is an 8 mile course so parts of it were quite some distance from the pit area. I rolled the car about half way through my first practice first lap. Uninjured, we loaded back on the trailer and came home.
I think it must have been 1967 since I remember the fatal accident where a fellow racer/doctor used a pen to perform a tracheotomy on the injured driver who ultimately died at the hospital. I was still at least a year from being out of college.
Needless to say, my parents, especially my mother, became quite apprehensive about my developing racing hobby.
I believe the car was totaled; I don't recall what became of it. But the "tuned" engine and transmission (close ratio gearing) ended up in my first Elva Courier.
https://hooniverse.com/forgotten-racetrack-las-ochas-millas-bottomless-lakes-state-park/
https://www.racingsportscars.com/track/Bottomless%20Lakes.html
Those college years were hectic. Go to class on Friday. Drive all night Friday night to a race weekend. 150-500 miles. Get back home in the early Monday morning hours. Make classes Monday. Work nights the rest of the week preparing for the next race. That's why it took me 6 years to get a degree.
One memorable long week end, probably the 4th of July, involved going to Ponca City Oklahoma maybe Thursday night, running a race there on Saturday, then pulling to Galveston all Saturday night. With a stop in Dallas to get some parts from a fellow racer. Then running a race in Galveston Monday after working on the car and getting in some practice on Sunday.
Here is another interesting 60s era sports car racing site:
http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/index.html#Email
Racing Sports Cars is striving to document the era; data is frequently added.
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