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Monterey Historic Races: 10 Bugattis, 11 Ford GT-40s and Half the Cobras in the Universe . . . At Speed

21 August 1997

Brian Redman won the Ford GT-40 heat and Parnelli (yes, that Parnelli) Jones took the ten lap Trans Am event in his old Ford 1970 Mustang at the 350 car Monterey Historic races at Laguna Seca last weekend, which saw racers trailered in from just about every U.S. state plus Japan, Canada, England and Germany. How many GT-40s are there in the world? They ALL must have been at the 2.1 mile Laguna Seca track, and they were really racing. Former Can-Am racer Redman had a neat dice with Mark Leonard, LaJolla, Ca for several laps and then pushed up the wick to take the win. Class winners:

1947-55 sports cars under 2 liters
1  Bob Baker      Porsche 550
2  Don Martine    MG-TD
3  Ron Butler     MG Miles special

1966-82   Gts
1  Ron Creassey   Corvette
2  Noel Park      Corvette
3  Tom Sakai      Sunbeam Tiger

1955 - 59  Sports cars under 2500cc
1  Bob Akin       Cooper Monaco
2  Don Orosco     Lotus 15
3  Herb Wetanson  Lola Mark 1

1958-61  sports cars over 2 liters
1  Peter Hardeen  Aston Martin   DBR-1
2  Rob Walton     Maserati Birdcage
3  John Hardin    Lister Corvette

1962-65   sports cars
1  Tom  Byrnes    Brabham BT-8
2  Joe Hish       LaBoa   Mark 11
3  Joel Matta     Lotus 23

1965-68  FIA Prototype
1  Bryan Redman   Ford GT 40
2  Mark Leonard   GT40
3  Tom Armstrong  GT-40

1965-72  Trans Am
1  Parnelli Jones   Mustang
2  Tommy Drissi     Camaro
3  David Leslie     Mustang

Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel