A Guide to the Monterey Historics 2009

The Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races (or simply Monterey Historics) is an annual event held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The purpose is to provide a venue for historic race cars to compete in. This year is the 36th year of vintage racing at Monterey.

The racing portion takes place over the course of one weekend (including Friday) every mid-August. The event grew quickly after Steve Earle, a Beverly Hills businessman, first rented the track for himself and his friends to race their old Ferraris on. In those days you could drive a Ferrari 250GTO on the street and Earle and his friends did. But they needed a place to really run at race speeds and thus the event was born, in 1974.

Laguna Seca is a great track for a vintage event because it dates back to the Fifties and many of the historic racing cars that compete today were racing as new cars.

The event has had various sponsors during its long run. In 1995, the event was sponsored by Chrysler, who cleverly had you walk through a tent of Chryslers to enter some parts of the track. In 2001, the event adopted a sponsorship from Rolex. In 2006, another automaker, Toyota, replaced Chrysler as the sponsor. The Toyota sponsorship has been dropped for 2009. The track is called Mazda Raceway because of sponsorship of the track itself by Mazda.

Most of the participants are amateurs. However, the event has attracted numerous professional drivers and other celebrities. It is a little un-nerving to see a pro who has raced at LeMans there running alongside doctors and lawyers, but Earle is extremely selective on who gets to run, and his primary rule is “Touch metal, and you’re out.”

This rule has been bent on occasion by professionals but you have to understand, some of the pros from the Old School learned to be race drivers that way, and it’s a hard habit to break. Among the racers at the 2008 event were Alan Jones, Derek Bell, Eddie Cheever, John Watson, Patrick Tambay, and Alain de Cadenet, all in modern cars to display the abilities of today’s cars.

Another famous driver at the 2008 event was Mario Andretti, who did demonstration laps in 2008 in a Lotus 79 in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of his Formula One championship.

One of the really great things about going to Monterey, from my viewpoint as a historian, is being able to corral world famous drivers in the pits to ask them some question that’s always been in the back of your mind. My question for 2009 is directed to Mr. Daniel Sexton Gurney, to whit: “Mr. Gurney, is it true you drove slower at LeMans in 1967 than you could have because you didn’t want Foyt to break your car trying to match your lap times?”

Other famous faces seen in 2008 were Bobby Rahal who drove in a 1972 Lola T290 in the 1964-75 FIA Manufacturer’s Championship class. He was scheduled to drive a 1980 BMW M1 in the IMSA GT race, but did not start in that car. Rahal also competed in the Can Am class driving a Lola T310.

Every few years, Earle drops out a class of cars temporarily and fits in a class that hasn’t been seen for awhile. That gives people restoring cars an extra year to get ready. In 2008 the Trans Am cars were back. Among the drivers in 2008 was Tomy Drissi who piloted a Chevrolet Camaro as part of the Trans Am class.

Past events have seen Parnelli Jones and George Follmer running in the 2002 trace in the Trans Am class in their respective cars; Stirling Moss toodled around the track with talk show host Jay Leno in a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR back in 2005, Phil Hill ran in 2002, driving a 1953 Alfa Romeo 3000 CM, Jack Brabham raced in 2000, driving a 1960 Cooper T-53 and so forth.

So this is an event not only to see old cars but old drivers. Though it sometimes is hard to get their attention while they are meeting up with long- lost friends. once you do corner them it is great to get some fact of history cleared up once and for all by the man himself.

A further reason to go to Monterey is the demonstration of either classic race cars, like last year’s Toyota 2000GT, or current race cars. I will never forget the thrill of hearing a modern Ferrari race car lap the track at 15,000 rpm. Since I can’t afford to go to a GP race in Europe that was the next best thing.

And automakers seem to love showing off their latest cars at Monterey during the noon hour because this is the audience that fits Willy Sutton’s reason why he robbed banks: “That’s where the money is.” I first saw a Bugatti Veyron run (and spin out) at Monterey, and I am sure Porsche’s latest car will be the star of the 2009 halftime show.

A key to Monterey is the selection of the honored marque. Earle could choose to “sell” the event to a marque like Kia but he often chooses a genre such as in 2008 it was Formula Junior cars” in recognition of the fact that it was Formula Juniors where many famous racers started their driving careers. This year, 2009, the honored marque is Porsche and you can bet Porsche will bring many significant race cars, some to lap the track at half time Saturday in demonstration laps, others to be in static displays.
If you ever hankered after a 356, a 911 or anything else wearing the Porsche badge, this is the chance to see what you missed if you never stepped up to the bar.

Porsche plans for 2009 include the very first 356, Porsche No. 1 up through the all-new Panamera.

There are already 145 Porsche racers entered by their owners, or one-third of the 450-plus field, Porsche will showcase the Panamera on the world-famous race track and will also provide display vehicles on site.

The Porsche Museum in Germany hasn’t been emptied but among the cars Porsche promises will be there are:

-The 1960 Porsche Type 718 Formula 2 racing car, which gave Porsche its first Formula 2 world title and was driven in 1961 by Californian Dan Gurney, is making its North American debut.

-The 1962 Porsche Type 804 Formula 1 racer, which was the car that brought Gurney to his French Grand Prix win that year. This car has not been in North America since the 1960s.

-The 1962 Porsche Type 718 W-RS 8-cylinder Spyder, in which Gurney and Joakim Bonnier finished second at the Targa Florio in 1961, has also not been in North America for more than 40 years. In the 1960s, it was raced in the U.S. by Gurney, Bonnier and Phil Hill.

-The Porsche GT1 98LM, which helped Porsche finish 1-2 at the 1998 24-hours of Le Mans event.

Porsche-sponsored activities for the fans at Laguna will include a heritage display including former and current race cars, plus of course the brand new cars they make now for the road.

THE BOOTHS
It might seem silly for someone to say “I went to a race to see the booths” but the booths at the Monterey Historics have matured to featuring not just hats and sweatshirts with car names on them so that they now feature some of the best there is in fine art, books and photographs relating to sports cars. After all, Los Angeles has a unique store like Autobooks/Aerobooks but such stores are not common in other cities. So this is the one event where you can find that model car, book or print you just have to have.

THE HOTELS
Yeah, the bad news is that they are full. Every room on the Monterey Peninsula. But take out your California map and look at the towns 30, 40 miles away. There, they don’t know about the high prices hotels charge in Monterey. Of course it’s inconvenient, if you have to change clothes between events, but nobody ever said going to sports car Valhalla was going to be a cake walk.

THE TICKETS
Yes, it’s costly but if you skimp on the hotel and food, you can justify it, especially if you are a Porsche person. You will see every significant Porsche you ever heard of and probably one or two you have never seen (the Glockler? The Buetlers? Etc.)
Friday it’s $50 a ticket for general admission, $65 on Saturday and $50 on Sunday. Two day admission on Saturday and Sunday are $95 and 3-days $125. Like we said, it’s not cheap but if you could only go to one event a year, it’s worth it.

Earle says that “We are extremely excited to honor Porsche and its incredible racing heritage at the 36th Rolex Monterey Historics. With great cars from the early Speedsters, and Spyders, to the 917’s and the Group C cars, this event will be an auto enthusiasts dream, and we look forward to seeing these vehicles on the track.”

More at www.montereyhistoric.com/