Lynch Assesses Holy Week

By Michael T. Lynch

Insider’s insights into this year’s Monterey Week of Cars.

Wednesday, August 11th

For many, the McCall Motorworks Revival on Wednesday at the Monterey Municipal Airport is the beginning of Holy Week. Occurring as twilight sets in, it combines the very best of aviation and sporting vehicles, with support from local restaurants and wineries, ensuring the full lifestyle experience. Most private jet manufacturers show their wares among the iconic cars on display, and there a luxury good presentations everywhere. Every personality you will see during the week is there, and some of the aviation set fly in for this event only, departing afterward.

By Wednesday however, there has already been a weekend of vintage racing –the Pre-Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca; a concours; Automobilia Monterey, a memorabilia show in a local hotel ballroom; numerous private parties and much more. The enormity of the nine-day festival of the finest in automotive engineering and design cannot be appreciated without being there. Tout Monde of the world’s automotive personalities, from designers, drivers, journalists, industry executives, collectors and just plain enthusiasts descend on the Monterey Peninsula from the far corners of the world. If you have the slightest interest in cars, you have to do it once in your life. To take on the outrageous expense of doing it right may make once enough for some, but no one has ever said it’s not worth it.

Thursday, August 12th

The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. This event, a tour for Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance entrants and some guests, was organized over a decade ago, and was a pioneering effort to counter the influence of the so-called trailer queens — cars that traveled from show to show in transporters, rarely, if ever, being driven on the street by their owners. To encourage entries, the Pebble Beach organizers let it be known that if two cars were tied in class, and one had participated in the tour, the latter would be given preference for the class award. Pebble Beach’s lead would see other major concours also institute similar events. Pebble also pioneered in marking cars down that the judges deemed over restored. The 170 cars that took part in the Tour this year are a testament to the vision of the Pebble Beach organizers.

Patrick Ottis’ Alfa 8C2300 Figoni and Falaschi Cabriolet is seen during the Carmel lunch stop at this year’s Tour. Ottis owns a vintage Ferrari restoration and service shop. He, like so many San Francisco Bay Area restorers, trained with the Master, Stephen Griswold, who opened the first restoration shop dedicated to vintage racing cars in the 1970s only a few blocks from Ottis’ present shop in Berkeley. Ottis has entered the car in the preservation class in the past and this was its debut as a new restoration. Note that the contrasting paint highlights on the bonnet and flanks of the Alfa are in relief from the rest of the coachwork, in the French style of the day.

The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. Hugh Taylor drove this time-warp Alfa Tipo B on the Tour. Pebble Beach was celebrating 100 years of Alfa history, and few Alfas had a more varied career than this one. Raced in European Grands Prix by Count Villepadierna, it came to America in the 1930s for Frank Griswold, father of the aforementioned Stephen. Frank entered the car in the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 for Louis Tomei (15th) and 1940 for Al Miller (DNF). Griswold drove it to victory himself at the last major American road race before World War II, an Automobile Racing Club of America event held on the grounds of the 1940 New York World’s Fair at Flushing Meadow.

After the war the Alfa went to legendary Los Angeles collector and entrant, Tommy Lee, who entered it at Indianapolis as the Don Lee Special. Hal Cole was a DNF in 1946 and Ken Fowler was 15th in 1947. America Ferrari importer, Luigi Chinetti, took his rookie test at Indianapolis in this car. It was presented in unrestored condition. Note the Mobil flying horse on the leading edge of the bonnet.

Friday, August 13th.

The Quail – A Motorsports Gathering. Because of its limited attendance, the Quail has been the hottest ticket during Holy Week for quite a few years. The spectator parking lot often has cars that rival those on the show field. Placed among the Bentleys, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, this Ferrari 412-based stretch limousine had many scratching their heads. It was the answer to a question no one asked.

One of the great traditions of The Quail is the Reunion to Quail Run. Race cars from the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion are escorted from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, over Laureles Grade, a wonderful mountain road, by California Highway Patrol Motorcycle Officers. Their destination is Quail Lodge, where the crews then join the Quail attendees for lunch. This year, Bugatti race cars were joined by Bugattis that were in town for a huge International Bugatti Rally that went up the coast to Santa Cruz and then found their way South where they stopped at the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard and ended the tour at Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage. The Bugattis are parked at random among the concours cars on the show field.

Saturday, August 14th

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Steve Earle founded the Monterey Historic Automobile Races in 1974 and built it into America’s premier vintage race over 36 years. When he could not reach a contractual agreement with Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula began the Rolex Reunion this year. SCRAMP is a non-profit that operates the track for the Monterey County Parks Department and distributes profits to local charities.

The naysayers immediately went on full alert and rumors circulated about the future of the event. One of the most prolific was that the new management would “ruin” the event by no longer having races for pre-war cars. Like all the other rumors, this proved to be untrue and there were two pre-war races as always. A bonus was that one featured 30 Bugattis. The other pre-war race featured significant cars such as an Alfa P3 and a 6C 1750, a Chrysler CD8 Le Mans, a Lagonda V-12 and a BMW 328. The highlight was a stirring duel between and ERA A Type and B Type that ended with Paddins Dowling winning by less than a second from Mark Hamilton Peters. 

There were more entries and more races this year, and for the first time drum-brake NASCARs appeared. But the emphasis remains on historic road racing cars from the turn of the 20th Century into the 1980s. This group is from the 1964-1969 FIA Championship race. Steven Read’s Ferrari 312PB leads Joe DiLoreto’s Alfa 33TT12 down the Corkscrew. Both managed to finish ahead of David Ritter’s Lola T70 B and Bob Killas’ Chevron B16.

The Monterey Rolex Motorsports Reunion honored Dan Gurney – The Cars He Built, The Cars He Drove. The highlight of the week was a champagne reception held by Evi and Dan Gurney on Saturday afternoon at the track. A once-in-a-lifetime group of Gurney family members, former drivers, mechanics, pit crews and friends dating to Dan’s high school years attended from all over the world. Dan is a true American hero and everyone present could attest to that. From Indy winners like Bobby Unser, USAC and AMA Champion Joe Leonard, to David Loring who won a National SCCA Formula Ford Championship in an Eagle, no one wanted to miss this tribute.

Dan built a reputation for blinding speed on the track and ethical business off. He is not just respected by his own generation. Above, present day drivers Patrick Dempsey and Dario Franchitti join Dan at his reception. Another younger admirer present was Wayne Rainey, three time motorcycle World Champion.

Sunday, August 15th

Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Road races were held in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Concours from 1950-1956. The event was run on public roads through the area. In the last year, Ernie McAfee had a fatal crash in his Ferrari while running 3rd. That day ended the innocence of West Coast road racing and also caused the end of racing through the Del Monte forest. This makeshift memorial to Ernie was seen this year at the spot of the crash. It includes the Ferrari logo and the MotoRacing tabloid story of his death. In 2008, World Champion Phil Hill attended The Quail -A Motorsports Gathering. On the way back to his hotel, he had his wife, Alma drive him to this spot. They paused and Phil was alone with his thoughts. After a time, Phil simply said, “Ok, let’s go.” That night Phil entered the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula with his final illness. He would spend his last days there, surrounded by family and friends.

This Ferrari 375 MM was sold new to Bill Spear, who used it to duel Jim Kimberly’s similar car for the SCCA C Modified National Championship in 1954. In later life it won the first vintage race during the U.S. Grand Prix weekend at Watkins Glen. Ferrari hunter Mark Ketcham recently unearthed it after decades of storage in New England. It had been cleaned, but was presented as found by new owner, Andreas Mohringer.

Pebble Beach continues to expand its horizons. One of the special classes this year highlighted the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Other special commemorations honored Pierce Arrow, Alfa Romeo’s Centennial, the 50th Anniversary of the Ferrari 250 GT Short Wheelbase, Ghia Styling and Jaguar’s 75th Anniversary, which included a class of a dozen XKSSs. The hot rod class focused on cars that ran the dry lakes.

The Maserati 8CTF lined up here next to the 1950 Cummins Diesel, is one of the great cars in Indianapolis 500 history. It won the event in 1939 and 1940 and was leading in 1941 when a wheel broke. Those entries saw Wilbur Shaw at the wheel. In 1946 and 1947, now driven by Ted Horn, the car finished third. It later raced in Sports Car Club of America events before being purchased by Tony Hulman for the Hall of Fame Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Pebble Beach didn’t become the greatest car show in the world by getting complacent. Here is an example. For the 50th Anniversary of Ferrari’s 250 GT SWB, they assembled eight of the finest examples from around the world. The class was won by J.M. Barone and V. Wong’s SWB. The car with race number 14 is Bruce Meyer’s 1961 Le Mans GT Class-winning SWB that finished 3rd overall at that year’s 24 Hours. It also took part in Phil Hill’s graveside service, where Derek Hill and Dan Gurney took turns taking it to high RPMs.

We will have more of Lynch’s picks from the festival’s events next week.