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Something pleasant always happens
when I attend one of these events. In 2013
I drove my Aurora, a slab side Cobra
replica, from Seattle to Monterey for the
Rolex Motorsports Reunion. While waiting
in the ticket line outside the track, a
teenager approached the driver’s side of
my car and offered a $95 entry ticket. I ac-
cepted the ticket, got out of my car as he
walked back to his father’s car and offered
to pay him for it. The father refused, say-
ing, “
I work at a car dealership. They gave
me a few.
”
“
No matter to me
,” I answered, “
I’ll
pay you for it.
” “
No, no
,” he said, as he
waved me off. “
We like your car
.”
“
Then let me buy lunch for the two of
you
.” He wouldn’t have it. Nice things hap-
pen to you when you drive a car people
enjoy seeing on the road.
I went to a Cobra owner’s reunion at
the Ritz Carlton Amelia Island bar in
2014. On the way out, one of the car own-
ers handed me a ticket to the Concours.
“
Where did you get this?
” I asked. “
I found
it on the floor.
” I was disappointed at hav-
ing to buy a ticket in 2015. I lucked-out in
2013 and 2014. It was disappointing to
have to buy a ticket in 2015.
In 2015, one of my friends added me
to his crew list for the Rolex Monterey Mo-
torsports Reunion and gave me a parking
pass to a convenient lot. The editor of an
on-line auto magazine convinced the mar-
keting department of the Pebble Beach
Concours d’ Elegance to provide me with
media credentials for the show. I was good
to go.
During the week and Saturday, I at-
tended the Monterey Motorsports Re-
union, including the famous Tire Bridge
photo shoot, where I was able to schmooze
a place in the man-lift basket to take the
famous “Tire Bridge” photo. I watched the
races, had a great time, took plenty of pho-
tos. I’ll leave the details for others and
share my impressions and experiences of
the other events.
The Del Monte Forrest race reenact-
ment was really terrific. I felt lucky to at-
tend the first time it featured Ferrari.
Pebble Beach last opened the road for this
event in 1990 for Allard. It is not a race.
The cars traced three hot laps of the origi-
nal course with driver and passengers in
all but one of them, something really excit-
ing to watch and to hear them run. One of
the owners brought the 166 Mille Miglia
Touring Barchetta Jim Kimberly over-
turned in 1951 trying to win the event for
a second consecutive year. Kimberly’s date
for the weekend, Ginger Rogers, ran to the
car and kissed him when he exited from
beneath it in a genuine Hollywood ending.
No such thing happened this year, but it
was fun anyway. No one brought a 750
Monza like the one Shelby drove in the
1956 race, but a 1955 Ferrari 857S partic-
ipated, essentially a 750 Monza chassis
with the engine enlarged to 3.4 liters.
Looking very much like the car Shelby won
the race in, it was easy to imagine him be-
hind the wheel.
The Pebble Beach Tour was open only
to cars accepted in the Sunday Concours.
As much as I like viewing the cars on the
fairway, watching them rolling down the
road is even more thrilling. This 75-mile
drive begins in the early morning from
Pebble Beach Equestrian Center, passes
through Carmel Valley, stops at a winery
for a morning non-alcoholic snack, turns
south to cruise down the coastal highway
to Big Sur, and then returns for lunch in
Carmel where it becomes a free public dis-
play of the cars which are entered in the
Sunday Concours.
Chuck Cantwell drove the GT350 pro-
totype for car owner, Mark Hovander. Peter
Brock came to the start for greetings, well
wishing, and photo-ops. Mr. Brock has a
great smile and a warm temperament,
very understated and appreciated in light
of his accomplishments in motorsports and
in the presence of the prototype GT350 he
designed. The tour made a mess of the
cars, but a local Ford dealer was kind
enough to offer his shop to Mark Hovander
so he and his crew could clean it up for the
Sunday Concours.
After photographing the cars leaving
the Equestrian Center, I walked to the
media building to try to determine where
to position myself along the tour. In 2013 I
went to the lunch gathering on Ocean Av-
enue in Carmel, but it was so crowded that
it was impossible to get good photos. I
didn’t want to repeat that. Selecting a lo-
cation from the tour map turned out to be
impossible. If you ever want to try this, I
suggest you drive the route the day before.
When you need help, Pebble Beach
volunteers are great. Unfortunately, I
wasted too much time to get to Big Sur be-
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Winter 2016 42