Monterey Historic Races: Cars are the Stars as Porsche Celebrates 50 Years
20 August 1998
The 24th running of the Monterey Historic races at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California was an unprecedented success, if you judged it by the quality of the cars entered, calibre of the drivers, and size of the crowd.
There were so many spectators at the 2.2 mile road course on Saturday, that management ran out of parking spaces and had to curtail ticket sales. It was the biggest Saturday in Laguna Seca history, and 40,000 vintage race car fans jammed the place. Every food and beverage booth had a waiting line. Entrance and egress were jammed with cars waiting to get in or out . . . but no one cared about the wait and everybody had fun.
The honored marque was Porsche, and Porsches dominated most racing classes. If someone asks you if you went to Monterey for the historic races and they say, "who won," just say "PORSCHE!"
Next year is the year of the Audi and the powerful Auto Unions of pre-war Grand Prix racing.
CLASS/HEAT RESULTS TOP FIVE Group 1A 1 George Wingard 1922 Delage 2 Bob Sutherland 1923 Bugatti 3 Bill Camarano 1925 Fronty Ford 4 David Gibb 1935 Austin 5 Peter Hathaway 1920 Flathead Spcl Group 2A 1 Rodney Smith 1934 ERA 2 Niel Twyman 1932 Alfa P3 3 Sam Mann 1937 Delahaye 4 Ray Jones 1929 Chtysler 75 5 Pat Phinney 1932 Ford Gilmore Group 3A 1 Bill Perrone 1955 Porsche 550 2 Bob Baker 1955 Porsche 550 3 Dennis Aker 1953 Pooper 4 Charles Forge 1949 Porsche 356 5 Clint de Witt 1955 Porsche Group 4A 1 Leonard Turnbeaugh 1958 Porsche 2 Dean Watts Porsche Abarth 3 Bob Paterson 1957 Corvette 4 Dirk Layer 1960 Porsche Abarth 5 Phil Ween 1963 Porsche 356 Group 5A 1 Brian Redman 1961 Porsche Rs61 2 Wayne Baker 1958 Porsche RSK 3 John Morton 1958 Porsche Rs60 4 Dan Baker 1958 Porsche RS60 5 Rob Walton 1960 Porsche RS60 Group 6 1 Rob Walton 1957 Scarab 2 John Mozart 1958 Lister Chevy 3 Terry Jones 1959 Ferrari 246S 4 M. Leicester 1957 Devin Ryan spcl 5 Vic Eelbrock 1959 Lister Corvette Group 7A 1 Bert Skidmore 1970 Lola T-210 2 Chris McAllister 1970 Porsche 917 3 Chris Cord 1970 Porsche 917 4 Rudy Junco 1970 Porsche 917 5 Ernest Schuster 1970 Porsche 90 Group 1B 1 John Buddenbaum 1949 Parkinson Jaguar 2 Steve Shuler 1955 Hageman Chrysler 3 Glen Shaffer 1951 Allard J2 4 Greg Johnson 1953 Jaguar C-Type 5 John Anderson 1953 Jaguar C-Type Group 2B 1 Tom Claridge 1962 Lotus 22 2 Mike Pinneau 1963 Lotus 27 3 Don Orosco 1959 Scarab 4 David Whiteside 1962 Lotus 22 5 Steve Froines 1963 Cooper T-53 Group 3B 1 Gil Nickel 1964 Lotus 26R 2 Larry Menser 1964 Porsche 904 3 Gregg Whitten 1964 Lotus 26R 4 Jeff Lewis 1965 Porsche 904 5 Bob Manschot 1965 Porsche 90 Group 4B 1 Mark Leonard 1965 Porsche 904 2 Joel Matta 1962 Lotus 23B 4 Larry Kessler 1963 Huffaker Genie 4 Bill Watkins 1965 Elva MK8 5 Gerry Layer 1963 Lotus 23B Group 5B 1 Olaf Lang 1973 Porsche 917/30 2 Hurley Haywood 1972 Porsche 917/10 3 George Follmer 1972 Porsche 917-10 4 Bud Bennet 1970 Shadow 5 Brian Blaine 1969 Lola T-163 Group 6B 1 Hurley Haywood 1971 Porsche 914/6 2 Jurgen Barth 1970 Porsche 911ST 3 Lynn Park 1964 Cobra 4 Ken Epsman 1966 Shelby GT-350 5 Ken Ballard 1966 Corvette Stingray Group 7B 1 Gerry Mazzotta 1971 Chevron B19 2 John Fitzpatrick 1980 Porsche Kre 3 Monte Shelton Porsche 935 4 Bruce Canepa 1979 Porsche 935 5 Jim Torres 1979 Porsche 935Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel ----- End forwarded message ----- -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- __Paul Dever____________________________pdever@theautochannel.com__ __News Director____________________________________(502) 584-4100__ ---------------------www.theautochannel.com------------------------