2008 Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Saturday Race Highlights Include Bobby Rahal Winning the Can-Am Race in Dramatic Fashion and Toyota F1 Driver Timo Glock Winning the Toyota Race of Legends
Day two of the 35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota continued with exciting on-track action as official racing got under way. The event was being held at the 2.2 mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.
Highlighting Saturday’s racing action was the Group 7A race for Historic Can-Am race cars from 1966 – 1974, which had many larger-than-life cars in the field, including several McLaren M8s, many stunning Lola T70s, the McLeagle M6B and the 1972 Lola T310 driven by Bobby Rahal.
The Can-Am practice session on Saturday morning offered a hint of what was to come as Rahal ripped off a 1:25 lap, the fastest lap that Sports Car Digest recorded all weekend. With that said, Rahal would still have his work cut out for him, as a water pump belt failure during Thursday’s qualifying session relegated him to starting 21 out of 24 cars on the grid.
To make matters worse, as the race started there was wreck on the pace lap – cold tires and immense horsepower – forcing the 10 lap race to be under caution for the first four laps.
In the course of next five laps Rahal and his 900 hp 8.4 liter Lola T310 were able jump from 21st to 6th to set up the final lap. By turn four on the last lap, Rahal was up to 2nd place, setting his sights on the leading McLaren. In the end, a world class driver in world class car was too much for the field, and Rahal ended up with a 2.7 second victory, leaving fans shaking their heads in bewilderment. What a show.
Along with the 1966-1974 Historic Can-Am Cars, fans took in a variety of historic automobile races featuring Pre-1940 Sports and Touring Cars, 1925-1950 Racing Cars and Indy Roadsters, 1950-1960 Sports Racing Cars, 1966-1972 Historic Trans-Am Cars, and 1964-1975 FIA Sports Racing Cars.
In addition, fans were treated to the Toyota Race of Legends that pitted current Panasonic Toyota F1 driver Timo Glock against a field of legendary F1 drivers including Danny Sullivan, Derek Bell, John Watson, Eddie Cheever, Johnny Herbert, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Alain de Cadenet, Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay. Glock was in top form in his race-prepared Toyota Scion tC using all of the track to hold off the legends and to take home the checkered flag, waved by event guest of honor Mario Andretti.
“The Race of Legends is a highly thrilling event, so adding a current F1 driver like Timo Glock to the mix allows fans to witness a variety of skills of some of the top drivers in the world, both past and present,” said Steve Earle, the founder of the event and president of General Racing, the official race organizer. “It’s a great pleasure for fans and enthusiasts to see their heroes still racing at the highest levels. As we saw out here today, they remain as competitive as ever.”
Off the track festivities included autograph signings by Andretti and the F1 legends, the Rolex “Moments in Time” display, and the enhanced consumer expo complete with interactive exhibits and a light-sport aircraft prototype.
“An event like the Monterey Historics is an enthusiast’s dream. You can see people licking their chops when they walk around,” Andretti said of the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota. “To be here and to listen to the roar of the engines on all these race cars makes my heart skip a beat.”
Andretti also performed demonstration laps in the afternoon in his Formula One Championship winning Lotus 79. The event was especially memorable for Andretti because it was where he participated in the final performance of his professional career.
Monterey Historic Automobile Race Results
Toyota Race of Legends
Winner – Timo Glock, Germany
Second – Jean-Pierre Jarier, France
Third – Eddie Cheever, USA
Group 1A – Pre-1940 Sports and Touring Cars
Winner – Jan Voboril, Topanga, CA – 1924 Ford T Barber-Warnock
Second – Conrad Stevenson, Berkeley, CA – 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C-2
Third – David Swig, Sausalito, CA – 1931 Chrysler CD-8 LM
Group 2A – 1925-1950 Racing and Indy Cars
Winner – Peter Giddings, Alamo, CA – 1930 Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3
Second – Peter Greenfield, Freeport, NY – 1935 Alfa Romeo Tipo
Third – Jon Shirley, Medina, WA – 1934 Alfa Romeo P3
Group 3A – 1958-1959 Formula-Jr Part 1
Winner – Joe Colasacco, Greenwich, CT – 1959 Stanguellini F-Jr
Second – William Cotter, Seattle, WA – 1959 Taraschi F-Jr.
Third – Larry McKenna, Deer Isle, ME – 1959 Stanguellini F-Jr
Group 4A – 1955-1961 Sports Racing Cars over 2500cc
Winner – John Morton, El Segundo, CA. – 1958 Scarab Mk 3
Second – Chris Cox, Chapel Hill, NC – 1958 Ferrari 412MI
Third – Butch Gilbert, Westley, CA – 1959 Hagemann-Sutton Special
Group 5A – 1959-1960 Formula-Jr Part 2
Winner – Dan Marvin, Petaluma, CA. – 1959 Huffaker MkI F-Jr.
Second – Jimmy Domingos, Carmel, CA – 1960 Cooper T52 F-Jr.
Third – Bruce Revennaugh, Marble Falls, TX – 1960 Lotus 18 F-Jr.
Group 6A – 1966-1972 Historic Trans-Am
Winner – Ken Epsman, Saratoga, CA – 1970 Dodge Challenger
Second – Jamey Mazzotta, Newport Coast, CA – 1970 Ford Boss 302
Third – Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA – 1967 Chevrolet Camaro
Group 7A – 1966-1974 Historic Can-Am
Winner – Bobby Rahal, New Albany, OH – 1972 Lola T310
Second – Jay Esterer, Edmonton, ALB – 1970 McLaren M8C
Third – Chris MacAllister, Indianapolis, IN – 1971 McLaren M8
Group 8A – 1964-1975 FIA SR Cars
Winner – Randall Smith, Petaluma, CA – 1971 Chevron B19
Second – Bobby Rahal, New Albany, OH – 1972 Lola T280
Third – Ed Lamanita, Redwood City, CA – 1974 Lola T294
For more information, visit www.montereyhistoric.com.
[Source: Monterey Historics]
IFind it interesting and sad that there seem to be NO british cars like most of us strarted with and that dominated sports car activities such as MG, Triumphs, Austin Healys, Spridgets, Turners, Sunbeams, etc. This tells us that sports car activities are the providance of the affluent and a few hard cose enthusiasts that can spend the large sums required.
This insures that young people will spend the little they have on better speakers and amps for their econobox rather than better tires for autocrossing or local roadracing.