The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2014 was held August 14-17 at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Salinas, California. A field of 550 vintage race cars ranged from a 1911 National 40 that raced at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 to the ground-shaking Can-Am machines from the 1960s and 1970s. The historic racers were divided into 15 groups according to age and engine capacity and chosen for their period-correct presentation.
Formerly known as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races or Monterey Historics, the 2014 running of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion celebrated the 100th anniversary of Maserati in style. The remarkable Maseratis of the past thrilled fans on the raceway, while the Maserati Heritage Display in the paddock featured a collection of the most important cars in marque’s evolution.
Racing great Derek Bell drove a 1957 Maserati 300S owned by Jon Shirley, the same gentleman that won Best of Show at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours. It bears repeating that Bell made his mark in motorsports by winning Le Mans an amazing five times, the World Sportscar Championship twice and the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona three times. It was a treat for all to see these two greats get together for a dance at Laguna Seca.
Rolex Awards of Excellence were awarded in each race category to individual drivers who were determined by an independent panel to be “most deserving,” and the event’s highest “Spirit of Monterey” honor, which is coupled with the awarding of a specially engraved 18k stainless steel and gold Oyster Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona, went to the driver who “excelled in the spirit of the weekend.”
Mike Eddy, who drove a 1964 Ford Falcon in Group 7A for 1966-1972 Trans Am, won the Spirit of Monterey award for 2014. “My dad worked for Carroll Shelby, and the Ford Falcon belonged to our next door neighbor,” said an emotional Eddy. “After work, my dad would go and work on it, and we have pictures of me sitting in it when I was seven years old. As you can imagine, that’s a soft spot for me.”
Eddy, who has worked for Vic Edelbrock for the last 28 years, has been coming to this event since 1977, the same year he acquired the car next door. “Because I was always working on other people’s cars, this car took a back seat, but the original owner of the car passed away two years ago and my dad’s health is not good, so I knew that I had to do this for him.”
“I wish this car could talk,” continued Eddy, explaining that it was the first SCCA A Sedan race car in Southern California, and the A Sedan group evolved into the Trans Am race series in 1966. “The car did well that year in Trans Am, and for the last race of the year, Ford was somewhat behind in points to Chrysler Plymouth, so Carroll Shelby called and arranged to pay for the race entry, knowing that this car would help load the deck. The car scored points for Ford, and Ford ended up winning the Championship. The car qualified for the SCCA runoffs every year from 1966 to 1973 and also had many races all over Europe.”
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Similar to the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 races, Senior Photographer Dennis Gray also documented the 2014 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, offering the following photos that highlight the diverse line-up of historic racing cars battling the straights, curves and drops of Laguna Seca. We split up Dennis’ 210 pictures into two galleries. The first gallery starting below features our favorite images, all displayed in the full-width view of Sports Car Digest, while the second gallery and race results can be found on the last page of the article and gives a comprehensive view of all the photographs.
Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion 2014 – Featured Photo Gallery
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