The Evolution of a Tradition

Although the first race at Pebble Beach took place in November of 1950, a good case could be made that the ball really started rolling with a woman named Gwen Graham. She had the idea to complement the car racing with a “contest of elegance,” although in the early shows new cars were shown alongside the antiques. The first event was held in conjunction with the road races, won by Phil Hill in a Jaguar XK120. The Concours Best of Show went to a new 1950 Edwards roadster.

Graham’s husband was the official photographer for the company which developed this private community, then called The Del Monte Properties, founded in 1919 by Samuel F.B. Morse. (a distant cousin of the inventor of the telegraph). From 1937 to 1968, Gwen Graham was the advertising and publicity director, and was responsible for the continued growth of the event, largely due to her tireless efforts to promote the Concours.

As a publicist, Graham appreciated that the show needed more than just cars; it needed an image of ne plus ultra. In 1954 she started recruiting celebrity judges, and the first was Lucius Beebe, a well known high society figure, as well as stars such as Bob Hope and Merv Griffin. Graham continuously worked to attract more exotic cars, and to feature different marques every year.

At the same time, Bill Harrah and Jack Nethercutt established the idea that the cars shown here should be restored to better than new; in fact they were not even driven before they were shown the first time. Some people say that the show lost its edge in the sixties, but almost everyone agrees that in 1972, when Jules Heumann and Lorin Tryon took the reins as Co-Chairman, it was given a new lease on life. Tryon died in 1999, and the next year Heumann retired, but they had done their work well. In recent years, the number of cars displayed has been reduced, and new classes have been added, such as for original cars, hot rods and race cars. There is little likelihood of any regression now, and it has spawned a whole host of similar shows, such as Meadowbrook, Amelia Island, Greenwich, etc.

The road racing through the pines at Pebble Beach continued until 1956, when Ernie McAfee went off the road, hit a tree, and was killed. The Pebble Beach Company decided then and there that there would be no more races through the pines. A new purpose built course, Laguna Seca was constructed on the Army’s Fort Ord property, about 15 miles to the east on the road to Salinas, and ready for the next year, 1957. But although the races at the new venue continued to share the same weekend, Laguna Seca had a complete calendar of events, and for years the association between the two events did not merit a great deal of attention. What made the difference was the increasing interest in vintage racing and the efforts of Steven Earle. Although the VSCCA (Vintage Sports Car Club of America) had been staging strictly run events at Lime Rock for years, Earle knew all the right people on the west coast and he came up with the idea of providing a venue for people who owned old racing cars to get together and drive them on a track.. This is “gentleman’s racing;” overly aggressive driving is discouraged, and if you wreck a car, you take a year off.

Earle’s first “Monterey Historics” took place on August 11th 1974 in full cooperation with the Pebble Beach Concours, which honored some cars from the races. Like Graham, Earle was great at PR, and featured guest drivers like Juan Manuel Fangio, and special makes, such as Alfa Romeo and Mercedes Benz, who would bring over museum pieces to run on the track as well as show off their new models. Things were beginning to click. It’s hard to believe, but that was thirty four years ago.

The racing at Laguna on Saturday and the Sunday Pebble Beach concours are still the main events, but a lot of other events have been added, at least two events were direct offshoots of the main event. For instance, people always criticized the Pebble Beach cars as “trailer queens,” which were never driven, and indeed this was true. To address that issue, a few years ago the organizers started the Pebble Beach Tour, which leaves Pebble Beach and meanders around the Monterey peninsula, stopping for a few hours in downtown Carmel, where the main street is closed off so ordinary people who cannot spend close to $200 for a ticket can see the cars. Car owners have a great incentive to participate because if there is a tie in their class, the car that has finished the tour wins.

Twenty five years ago a group of artists who chose automobiles for their subject matter got together and started their own guild, called the Automotive Fine Arts Society. Now, the AFAS puts on quite a show of their own, with an exhibit of their works on the 18th green, next to the cars in the show.

A few years ago, a similar concept was started: a huge tent was erected by the Polo Fields, and there are a few dozen vendors selling all kinds of unique, and expensive, automobilia. It is called Retroauto and it grows every year.

But the two original events–Pebble Beach Concours and the Historic Racing at Monterey–are still firmly entrenched as the focal point for this week of activities. But it is not inexpensive. For instance, most motels have a three night minimum and start at $200 a night (prices are up significantly during the Historics). Tickets to three events (the concours, the track, and another show, such as the Quail Lodge Concours) will cost over $500 per person. And then there is dining out, an expensive habit in Carmel and Monterey. All in all, it can easily top a thousand dollars, and that is on the budget plan for just the weekend, and doesn’t count airfare and rental car. Expensive, yes, but after all, it is Mecca for car collectors worldwide.