Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Monterey Historic Automobile Races 2008, prewar sports and touring cars class.

The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is an annual event held at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Its purpose is to provide an event for historic race cars to compete in. It takes place over the course of one weekend every mid-August. It was first established by Steve Earle in 1974 as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Earle organized the meeting for his friends to race their cars at Laguna Seca.

The 2012 event will take place August 17-19.

Notable participants

Most of the participants are amateurs. However, the Reunion has attracted numerous professional drivers and other celebrities.

Nationality	Participant(s)	Year	Class(es)	Original Series	Source
	Butch Leitzinger	2011	Formula One*	American Le Mans Series
	Stirling Moss	2010	Sports Racing Cars*	Formula One
	John Morton	2010	Sports Racing, GT Cars*, Trans Am 2 Liter	Various	\
	Bobby Rahal	2010	FIA Manufacturer's Championship, Sports Racing Cars*	CART
	Tomy Drissi	2010	Trans Am	Trans Am
	Tomy Drissi	2009	IMSA GT	Trans Am	[1]
	Stirling Moss	2009	Sports Racing Cars	Formula One	[2]
	Brian Redman	2009	FIA Manufacturer's Championship, Can Am	World Sportscar Championship	[3]
	David Donohue	2009	IMSA GT	Rolex Sports Car Series	[4]
	Patrick Dempsey	2009	IMSA GTP	Endurance Racing	[5]
	Derek Bell	2009	IMSA GTP	World Sportscar Championship	[6]
	John Morton	2009	GT Cars	Various	[7]
, , , ,	Jean-Pierre Jarier, Alan Jones, Derek Bell, Eddie Cheever, Johnny Herbert, John Watson, Patrick Tambay, Timo Glock, Alain de Cadenet	2008	Exhibition	Formula One	[8]
	Mario Andretti	2008	Exhibition	Formula One	[9]
	Bobby Rahal	2008	FIA Manufacturer's Championship, Can Am, IMSA GT*	CART	[10],
	Tomy Drissi	2008	Trans Am	Trans Am
	Al Unser, Sr.	2007	Prewar	CART	[11]
	Bobby Rahal	2007	FIA Manufacturer's Championship, Sports Racing Cars*	CART	[12]
, ,	Parnelli Jones, Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford, Vic Elford, Bobby Rahal, Ove Anderson, Derek Bell, Al Unser Sr., and Emerson Fittipaldi	2007	Exhibition	Various	[13]
	Gijs van Lennep	2006	GT Cars	Endurance Racing	[14]
	Ricardo Zonta	2006	Exhibition	Formula One	[15]
	Stirling Moss	2005	Exhibition	Formula One	[16]
	Jim Hall	2005	Exhibition	Can Am	[17]
	Andrea Bertolini	2004	Exhibition	American Le Mans Series	[18]
	Jackie Stewart	2003	Formula One	Formula One	[19]
	Parnelli Jones	2002	Trans Am	Trans Am	[20]
	George Follmer	2002	Trans Am	Trans Am	[21]
	Phil Hill	2002	Sports Racing Cars	Formula One	[22]
	John Morton	2002	Trans Am	Various	[23]
	Johannes van Overbeek	2001	GT Cars	American Le Mans Series	[24]
	George Follmer	2001	Trans Am	Trans Am	[25]
	Jack Brabham	2000	Formula Cars	Formula One	[26]
	Bobby Unser	1999	Prewar	Indianapolis 500	[27]

*Scheduled, but did not start.

Other celebrities

• Jay Leno

Other racers

• Vic Elford and George Follmer attended the 2009 event.
• Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Vic Elford, Bobby Rahal and Brian Redman attended the 2006 event.
• The 1997 event tributed Carrol Shelby
• The 1991 event tributed Juan Manuel Fangio
• The 2010 event tributed Dan Gurney
• Alex Gurney attended the 2010 event, which honored his father.
• The 2010 event featured Jay Leno, Parnelli Jones, and George Follmer
• Brian Johnson of AC/DC drove a Lola at the 2011 event

Regulars

• Pete Lovely
• Hurley Haywood
• Johnny Rutherford
• Bob Tullius
• In 2009, Bruce Canepa was appointed to the selection committee. He has also been a regular participant at the Historics.
• John Fitzpatrick
• Vic Edelbrock, Jr. and family are regulars, especially in classes featuring Ford Mustangs.
• Jim Busby
• Gordon Johncock
• Peter Giddings

Sponsorship

The first company to sponsor the event was the Chrysler Corporation. Later, the event added a sponsorship from Rolex. The Chrysler sponsorship was replaced with one from Toyota in 2008. For 2009, the Toyota sponsorship was dropped.

Anniversaries

Occasionally, the event committee chooses to commemorate either the Reunion's anniversary, or the anniversary of a marque or event in motorsport history.

• The event commemorated its tenth anniversary in 1983.
• The event chose Corvette as the featured marque for 2002 in commemoration of the car's fiftieth anniversary, making it the first model rather than manufacturer to be featured. However, the Corvette has often been marketed as if a separate marque from the Chevrolet brand. Also, the Corvette was first manufactured in 1953, making it 49 years old in 2002.
• The event celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1998. The event also celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Porsche.
• The event celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2008 by featuring its first marque, Alfa Romeo, for the third time.
• For the thirtieth anniversary of his Formula One championship, Mario Andretti performed demonstration laps in a Lotus 79 at the 2008 event.
• The 2008 event commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Formula Jr. by dividing the race into separate periods (1959–60, 1961–62, etc.).
• The 2003 event commemorated the hundredth anniversary of Ford.
• The 2000 event commemorated the 85th anniversary of Maserati.
• The 2010 event commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Bugatti Club of America with a Bugatti Grand Prix.
• The 2010 event commemorated the sixtieth anniversary of Formula One by expanding the class to 38 cars.
• The 2011 event commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type.
• The 2012 event will tribute the fiftieth anniversary of the Shelby Cobra

Awards

Although celebrities and professional drivers do attend, the Reunion is not a professional event. Only trophies and prize money are awarded. Along with those who podium in each class, awards and prize money are given to owners of vehicles judged outside of competition in a contest comparable to that of car shows such as the Concours D'Elegance.

On television

In recent years the Monterey Reunion has been featured on television, often similarly to professional series broadcasts.

• Speed Channel has occasionally broadcast highlights of previous races. They typically cover the major classes: Trans Am, Can Am, IMSA GT, Formula One, and IMSA GTP.

• In 2008 the entire durations of the IMSA, FIA, Trans Am, and Formula One races from 2007 were broadcast in separate episodes.
• In 2008, HD Theater televised highlights of the 2003 event as part of its Ultimate Car Show program.
• Highlights of the event were also broadcast in 2008 on HD Theater's Monterey Week program.
• In October, 2009, Speed Channel covered the Can Am, IMSA GT, and IMSA GTP races of the 2009 event as part of a one-hour broadcast.
• In September, 2010, Speed covered the event in a "lifestyle" format, emphasizing the event as a whole rather than focusing on select classes. However, there was still some coverage of select classes, including the Bugatti Grand Prix along with the major groups.
• In September, 2011, Speed again did a behind-the-scenes show, only showing footage of select classes.

In magazines

The Reunion has been featured in Autoweek magazine. It was featured in an online article in early August 2008 and in the September 2008 issue. The 2003 event was featured in an online article of Popular Mechanics. Popular Mechanics also documented the 2000 event. The 2009 event was also featured.

The 2010 event was featured in an issue of Road & Track.

Classes

Various classes from multiple eras and types of automobile racing are featured at the Monterey Reunion.

• Prewar sports and touring cars
• 1908-50 Grand Prix cars and Indy roadsters
• 1947-66 sports racing cars
• 1947-66 GT and production cars
• 1955-63 Formula Junior cars
• 1962-76 FIA Manufacturer's Championship cars
• 1966-74 Can Am cars
• 1966-72 Trans-Am cars (usually only the five liter class)
• 1966-83 Formula One cars
• 1971-83 IMSA GT Championship cars
• 1983-94 FIA Manufacturer's Championship & IMSA GTP Cars

The sports racing and GT classes are divided into four races: under 2000cc (122 cu. in), over 2000cc, under 2500cc (152 cu. in), and over 2500cc. One group often features a combined class. Occasionally, some classes are omitted to make room for tribute races. The event often reworks the schedule, sometimes adding or removing groups, in an effort to "keep things fresh".

Single marque races

In recent years, exhibition races featuring a single marque have been held.

• In 2003, they added an all-Bugatti race known as the Bugatti Grand Prix
• In 2004, an all-Ferrari race was held
• In 2008, two exhibition Ferrari races were held, the first featuring those with drum brakes and the second with those featuring disc brakes.
• The 2010 event again featured a Bugatti Grand Prix.
• For 2011, an all-Jaguar E-Type race was featured.
• Also for 2011, an all Ferrari GTO race was featured.
• For 2012, an all Shelby Cobra race will be held.

Featured marques

Each year since 1975, the Reunion has honored a specific automobile manufacturer by adding vehicles of that marque to its races. Occasionally, a special marque will be honored, often featuring limited production or purpose-built racecars.

1974- none

1975- Alfa Romeo

1976-Jaguar

1977- Bugatti

1978- Mercedes

1979- Bentley

1980- MG

1981- Cunningham

1982- Porsche

1983- Ford

1984- Ferrari

1985- Alfa Romeo

1986- Mercedes

1987- Chevrolet

1988- Maserati

1989- Aston Martin

1990- Allard

1991- Fangio

1992- Jaguar

1993- Miller

1994- Ferrari

1995- Lotus

1996- BMW

1997- Shelby

1998- Porsche

1999- Auto Union

2000- Maserati

2001- Bentley

2002- Corvette

2003- Ford

2004- Ferrari

2005- Chaparral

2006- Cooper

2007- Indy Roadsters

2008- Alfa Romeo

2009- Porsche

2010- Dan Gurney

2011- Jaguar XKE

2012- Cobra

Special Groups

Occasionally, the Reunion will feature special one-time groups for that year.

2003

• Bugatti Grand Prix

2008

• All-Ferrari races
• 50th anniversary of Formula Jr. races

2010

• Bugatti Grand Prix
• 1960-1975 Grand National/Winston Cup
• Formula One 60th anniversary expanded group
• Trans Am Series 2000cc group

2011

• Jaguar XK-E race
• Ferrari GTO race

2012

• 1962-1967 Shelby Cobra race
• 1974-1980 Formula Atlantic cars
• 1974-1990 Winston Cup cars with disc brakes

Rules and format

Because of the high value of many of the cars used, the Reunion committee has established a severe punishment for avoidable contact. The driver convicted will be unable to participate in any further events, but can appeal the judgement one year after the incident.

Occasionally, cars will be put in seemingly-inappropriate classes, such as a car being out of period or a two liter car being put in the over 2500cc class. Reasons for these moves include the car's performance or a late entry. Each race usually lasts ten to twelve laps and the races are put in roughly chronological order.

In order to balance out the schedule, both days typically feature some of the more popular classes such as Trans Am or Formula One.

Modern Race Cars

In 2009, the IMSA GT group featured an American Le Mans Series Porsche GT3, the first time the event has featured a modern race car among the historic cars otherwise featured. This came after the Wine Country Classic, while tributing Morgan, added an ALMS Morgan Aero 8 to their IMSA GT group.

Sister events

Prior to 2010, the event was affiliated with the Wine Country Classic at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The event, now known as the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, was unique in that (prior to 2010) it was the only event to tribute Grand National stock cars, using a 1949-1972 group until 2010, when the group was changed to 1960-1975. The event also tributed Formula 5000 in 2008. Prior to 2010, the event's races were held on both days. For 2010, the event was redone to be more like the Monterey Event. In 2009, 1980s Trans Am Series cars were added to race alongside the IMSA GT cars.

Other sister events included the Coronado Speed Festival (near San Diego, California) and the Lime Rock Vintage Festival.

Change of management

• After the 2009 event, General Racing Ltd., who created and owned the event, announced they would no longer organize the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. The event was taken over by Sports Car Racing at Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) after they canceled and refused to renew their contract with General Racing Ltd. The event was reorganized as the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, the original name still being owned and copyrighted by GRL. General Racing will retain the sister events at Infineon Raceway, Lime Rock Park, and Naval Air Station, Coronado. The Sonoma event has been reorganized into a two-day event with a schedule more like that of the Monterey event. Despite the reorganization, the committee still observes the event as having begun in 1974. This contrasts with the Sonoma event, which despite having begun many years ago, was listed as "second annual" for 2011.

External links

• Event page on the Mazda Raceway website