Photo © 2025 Rex McAfee
Vintage Car Racing

51st Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, 2025

Still stirring the soul over half a century later

Rex McAfee

There’s something about California and automobile racing; you can’t tear them apart! After WWII, a deep fascination took hold among Americans regarding those sporty “foreign cars” and brands like M.G., Porsche, Jaguar, and Ferrari slowly became not so foreign, but instead, quite fashionable. On the West Coast, the most prestigious Sports Car Club of America event was the Pebble Beach Road Races, which used a temporary road circuit through the Del Monte Forest. From 1950 through 1956, sports car fans cheered on these European cars with drivers like Phil Hill and Carol Shelby competing for the checkered flag. But with a fatal accident in 1956, it was time for a proper road course to be built, which is why Weathertech Raceway, Laguna Seca, exists today.

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Rex McAfee
Published photographer and writer for several Porsche and Ferrari magazines. I currently reside in Southern California and I am very grateful for all of the opportunities the local car culture presents me with. Currently the editor of the 356 Club of Southern California. Sharing the car's history through the club's magazine is a true privilege.
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