The Monterey Historic Automobile Races might be the best of their kind. No other organizers take their annual theme as seriously as they do at Laguna Seca.
This year, Monterey celebrated the Indianapolis 500 in a big way. They lined up 35 racers on the main straight which didn’t include many prewar cars that were hiding in the paddock. One such car was this Pirrung Special which freshly debuted from restoration and was raced with a fearless riding mechanic.
Toyota was the weekend’s main sponsor and organized a collection of 25 2000GTs. This included twin Shelby racecars and two unique convertibles that were used for a James Bond movie.
Other highlights included a row of pre-war Bentleys, two of them being the 3/8 Litre that had the massive eight liter engine stuffed in the comparably small 3.0 chassis. Inside the display tents were some exciting cars that included the exclusive Corvette SS which never made it past the prototype phase.
Our extensive coverage of the Monterey Historics comes from Dirk de Jager and Richard Owen. Their gallery spans over 600 images and offers a good perspective on the scope of these races.
