Italian Exotica at the Monterey Historics. Martin Eyears' Bizzarrini A3C waits in the pits behind John McCaw's Ferrari 250 LM. Credit: Michael T. Lynch

August 29, 2002

By Michael T. Lynch

The combination of car events that is referred to as the Monterey Weekend, along with the two Goodwood events, are unquestionably the greatest meetings of past and present significant automobiles. In addition to the cars, the elite of those who designed, built, raced, maintained, photographed and wrote about them as well as those who described them on TV and radio and brought them to market attend and participate in the events. The Goodwood Circuit Revival manages to more closely replicate a 1950s/60s race meeting than the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, because Laguna Seca has to accommodate modern top-line racing. However, the California coastal setting offers a mixture of world-class cuisine, the best scenery nature can provide, luxury shopping, upscale lodging and corporate entertaining that the English event simply cannot match. Nor can any concours in the world equal the venue and entry of Pebble Beach. Since mid-August in the area is redolent of automotive history, we will elaborate on the history of the weekend itself.

The high point of the weekend for many Italian car fans was Charles Nearburg's win in the 1947-55 sports car race in his Lancia D-24. Credit: David Woodhouse

Steve Earle began the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in 1974. The Vintage Sports Car Club of America had previously held vintage races in the Northeast, but they were private events for the benefit of members, with no concessions to the general public. Earle saw vintage racing as a way to encourage the preservation of historic cars and to educate the public about racing’s rich history. That year, he wrote the first of what was to become his traditional welcome letter in the front of the event program. He began, “Welcome to an experiment. Welcome to a First. Welcome to what we feel sure will be the most pleasant event of the summer.” Twenty-nine years on, Steve has succeeded beyond his or anyone else’s wildest dreams.

Phil Hill shows his style in the Auriana Brothers' Alfa 6C 3000 CM. Alfa entered a team of these in the 1953 Mille Miglia. Credit: David Woodhouse

The first Monterey Historics was a one-day event on Saturday, 10 August 1974. Tickets were $7. Steve’s stroke of genius was to tie his event to the next day’s Pebble Beach Concours, resulting in a dream weekend for vintage car aficianados. After humble beginnings in 1950 as primarily a show for dealers’ new cars, with only a sprinkling of antiques, Pebble Beach had, by the time Earle arrived on the scene, already taken it place as the world’s premier event of its type, attracting the elite of the collecting world. The Historics would soon be doing the same in vintage racing circles.

The second year’s race had an honored marque, Alfa Romeo. That tradition of highlighting one brand’s sporting past has persisted since, except in 1991 when the honoree was the greatest of all champions, Juan Manuel Fangio. For six years, the Historics were run on the Saturday before the Concours. In 1981 practice was expanded to Friday and in 1982, there was racing on Friday. The Saturday-Sunday schedule began in 1983. The race now clashed with the Concours, but hard-core racing fans go to Pebble Beach early and still make it to Laguna Seca for Sunday’s racing.

Italian Exotica at the Pebble Beach Concours. The Fiat-Zagato Panoramica may not have been the most elegant car on the lawn, but it drew its share of attention. Credit: Michael T. Lynch

By the mid-eighties, Earle had established another weekend of vintage racing at Laguna Seca, the weekend before the Historics. Some wags later named this the “Pre-Historics”. The entry has some overlap, but not all who run the PH also run the Historics. If a car dominates its class, it stands to reason that it would win every year, unless there were a barn find of a faster car. The PH allow regulars to sometimes be excluded from the big show and still race the week before, while eliminating multi-year domination by any car. It is also an opportunity for newbies to gain track experience before the big weekend and to salve the egos of some who weren’t accepted for the Historics. For those who bring their cars long distances, two weekends of track time can make the difference between attending or not.

The cars are just as exotic and the racing is just as good, when the Pre-Historics kick off each year’s Monterey extravaganza a week before the two main events. And like so much of what goes on during this period, the public is definitely not invited. In the case of the PH, the exclusion is because of insurance costs that would make the event impossibly expensive. Our next installment will take you to some parties where exclusivity determines who makes the cut.