Stuff: 2010 Monterey Motorsports Reunion

[svgallery name="2010_Monterey_hirez"] Story and photos by John LeBlanc LAGUNA SECA, Calif. - Since the mid-1970s, fans of vintage racing have been coming to the Monterey Peninsula’s Laguna Seca race track to see a wide variety of vintage racers, some of which trace their beginnings to the inaugural Pebble Beach road races in the 1950s. And like the senior golf tour, or old-timer hockey, vintage auto racing is less about winning and more about showing up. Like people, getting an old racecar started in the morning is a victory. As part of the trifecta of top-line car enthusiast events held on the Monterey Peninsula during the third week of August (that also includes The Quail and Pebble Beach concours) the Monterey Motorsports Reunion brings together race cars of all ages, from pre-World War One racers, to post-modern LeMans, FIA, SCCA, IMSA, NASCAR, Trans-Am, Formula One cars, and everything in between. This year, the event honoured the cars built and driven by one of America’s true legends of motorsports, Californian Dan Gurney: 1959 Balchowsky Buick Special Currently raced by owner/driver Ernie Nagamatsu, Max and Ina Balchowsky's original "Backyard Special" (a.k.a Old Yeller II) broke many track records while competing against the very best sorts cars from Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar, and Porsche in the early 1960s, piloted by many legendary drivers such as Carroll Shelby, Bob Bondurant, and —of course—Dan Gurney. 1967 Eagle Gurney - Weslake V12 As part of the event’s tribute to 79-year-old Dan Gurney, the ’67 Eagle - Weslake V12 car he won the Grand Prix of Belgium at Spa, June 1967 as the only American to put a car of his own construction in the winners circle of a Formula One race, made it to Laguna Seca this year. In honour of his father, Gurney's son, Alex (a Grand-Am driver), drove the blue and white #36 Eagle in an exhibition lap on the track. 1963 ½ Ford Galaxie Looking for an aerodynamic edge, Ford changed the roofline of the production version ’63 Galaxie to make it more competitive as a NASCAR stick car for the start of the season in January—months after the model were released the previous fall. Dan Gurney was behind this Galaxie when he won NASCAR’s first-ever 500-mile road race at the now defunct Riverside, California track in January 1963, one of several Ford victories that led to a season championship. 1970 Porsche 917-015 The 917, with its flat-12 engine of up to 5.0-litres in displacement, is one of the most iconic sports racing cars of all time. Made famous in Steve McQueen’s 1971 film LeMans, the 015 chassis at Laguna Seca this year may be the ultimate 917: it won the real 24 Heures du Mans in 1970, delivering Porsche its first overall wins at the legendary French race. 1970 Dodge Challenger One of the best Trans-Am car examples was this “Sublime’ green’70 Challenger, driven this year at Laguna Seca by Ken Epsman of Saratoga, California. The Challenger finished fourth overall in the 1970 Trans-Am Championship, driven by Sam Posey. At this year’s eight-lap race final, the Dodge and Epsman one better: finishing third behind a first place 190 Mustang and a 1969 Camaro. 1970 Alfa Romeo GTA If you have forgotten—or never knew—why Alfa Romeos have such a strong hold on car and race enthusiasts’ heartstrings, this compact GTA racecar is all you need to know. Essentially an Italian BMW 2002, Horst Kwech originally built this example for the GTU—Under Two Litre—Tran-Am series. To say the little Italian stallion dominated is a bit of an understatement. Kwech would take an incredible 9 pole positions in 10 races, with three wins. 1974 BMW 3.5 CSL Based on the 3.0 CS coupe production car, the CSLs were the first cars to be developed under the new BMW Motorsport—or M—subsidiary established in 1972, and the first to sport the newly designed official colors: red, blue and purple. One of the most successful production racers of all time, CSL's continued to win races into the late 1970's, even though production ended in 1975 to make way for the new 6 Series. This 3.5 CSL was one of a team of three cars campaigned by BMW of North America. 1976 Tyrell P34 Formula One cars were a featured category this year at the Monterey races. And none of the several examples on hand were as distinctive as the “six-wheeler” ’76 Tyrrell Project 34, originally driven by Patrick Depallier. Using custom-made 10-inch front wheels and tires, with a regular-size donuts out back, the idea of more wheels at the front was to add more grip and brake power upfront. Needless to say, the P34’s lack of success means other racecars still run only four wheels today. 1978 McLaren M28 As one of the most successful teams in Formula One (168 races won; 12 drivers' championships; 8 constructors' championships) and the second oldest team (after Ferrari) it’s no surprise to see a McLaren show up at a Grand Prix car reunion. This ’78 M28 chassis was originally driven by John Watson in seven Grand Prixs, and was last raced at the 1979 Italian Grand Prix.

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