PALM BEACH, FL, JAN 21
The Cavallino Classic, one of the largest and most important Ferrari meets in North America, traditionally hosts the opening round of the Shell Ferrari/Maserati Historic Challenge.
This event also traditionally sees one of the largest grids in the series, and some of the most exciting racing of the season. The Shell Historic races at the 2006 Cavallino Classic certainly met that standard. Cars racing in the Shell Historic Challenge are authentic Ferrari and Maseratis built for racing, plus pre-war Alfa Romeos raced by the Scuderia Ferrari. The entry is divided into two groups, separated by drum versus disc brakes, for safety reasons.
Among the fastest cars in the Drum Brake Group are the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossas, the famed "TRs" and two of them led the field. Lawrence Stroll took the lead on the first lap over Leslie Davies, and while Davies was able to stay with Stroll she could never mount a real challenge. She did have little trouble holding off Ed Davies, her husband, in his 375 MM Pinin Farina Spyder. Those three were pulling out a substantial lead on the balance of the field when an incident cause the race to finish under the yellow flag. Stroll won his class and the Trofeo di Florida, presented to the overall winner by Cavallino magazine. Ed Davies was a class winner, as was Peter LeSaffre in a Maserati 200 SI over the two similar cars of Herb Wolfe and Tom Price.
Peter Greenfield in an Alfa Romeo 8C/35 won the pre-war class over multiple champion Peter Giddings. Some of these same drivers also competed in the Disc Brake Group, where Ed Davies had taken the pole over Stroll, each in a 512M from the 1971 season. Davies took an immediate lead at the start, as Stroll had his hands full trying to hold off Jim Fuchs and his 512 BB/LM. Fuchs' fastest lap was only 3/10s off Stroll's (and a full six seconds faster than the next BB/LM), an outstanding performance by car and driver. Further back in the field Indy Winner Bobby Rahal had the fastest among five 250 SWBs, but defending Disc Group champion Tom Price in his 250 GTO and Nick Soprano in one of the SWBs could stay with the Indy winner; they just couldn't get close enough to try a pass. Davies led every lap, and for his win was presented the second Trofeo di Florida by Cavallino magazine. Fuchs won his class, as did John Goodman in the ex-Paul Newman Budweiser Ferrari 308. Chuck Wegner and Nick Incantalupo were never more than a few seconds apart, with Wegner taking the class win in his 196 SP. Charlie Arnott won the Competition Daytona class over Mike Sheehan, and Rahal and Price were also class winners.
The Shell Historic Ferrari/Maserati Challenge is organized by Ferrari North America, and sanctioned by the Grand American Road Racing Association. Full information on the series may be found at www.ferrarichallenge.com. The next event for the Shell Historic Challenge will be at Infineon Raceway, California, on May 12-14
