August 10, 1974 was the date of the first Monterey Historics at Laguna Seca. On the front row of this grid is Steve Earl in a Ferrari 412 (#4), Dave Love in his 250 TR (#33) and in the second row the Ferraris of Sid Colberg (behind Earl) and Chris Cord ( behind Love).
Photo: David Love
If you’ve ever attended the Monterey Historics, the Wine Country Classic, a Classic Sports Racing Group (CSRG), or any other West Coast vintage sports car racing events, then you no doubt have seen a familiar sight: a bright-red Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (TR), number 9, circulating quickly around the track—the unmistakable exhaust sound of the 3.0-liter V-12 engine rising and falling with each gear shift, as the driver negotiates the turns and accelerates down the straightaways. This icon of a bygone era of sports car racing remains one of the most beautiful-looking and glorious-sounding cars to ever grace a racetrack.
Photo: Dennis Gray
The proud owner of this particular Ferrari is David Love who first came in contact with the Testa Rossa (“redhead” in Italian) 44 years ago and the two have been racing together almost continuously ever since. However, this is not simply a story of one man and a Ferrari, but rather about his 50-year relationship with racing, his love of automotive history and classic sports cars, and his participation in the development of two significant vintage racing institutions.
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