Photography and video by ©2015 Toni Avery

The Historic Races at Laguna Seca are a favorite for many attendees of the Monterey Car Week. It’s the event I wait all year and all week to attend. Parking is a mess and its usually ten degrees warmer, at least, than the rest of the Monterey Bay area. No matter how many people show up or how bad the parking is this will always be the highlight of my year.

The fact that these vintage race and street cars get to take to one of the worlds most famous racetracks and we as spectators get to watch, is amazing. The racecar owners prepare and labor over their cars in preparation for this day and hope to come away unscathed. Sure, it’s no fun seeing millions of dollars balled up on the gravel somewhere but racing is what these cars were built to do. It would be more a shame if they were never used for what they were built for.

Aside from the deafening exhaust notes rounding the track you just get a certain feeling from each person there. These are hardcore car enthusiasts, not just ones that like to look and admire shiny show cars, but those that like to see them out to good use. Not only do spectators get to watch these cars on track, but they can also get an up close look out on the paddock between sessions.

I made the uphill hike to the Corkscrew for some iconic photographs. I arrived for the first Saturday session and stayed till after the group of GT350 cars came in from their first session. Below are my select favorite images captures during the first three sessions of the day. Also, be sure to check the video at the very bottom of all the photos.

1A – Pre 1940 Sports Racing and Touring Cars (1st and 3rd place cars):

  • 1 #39 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Super Sport (Conrad Stevenson)
  • 2 #111 1939 Lagonda V12 Le Mans (Joe Harding)
  • 3 #12 1939 Lagonda V12 (Richard Morrison)

2A – 1955-1962 GT Cars (1st throguh 3rd place cars):

  • 1 #3 1963 Alfa Romeo TZ-1 (Joe Colasacco)
  • 2 #23 1954 Porsche 356 (Ron Goodman)
  • 3 #10 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Lusso Competizion (Mark Colbert)

3A – 1965-1970 Shelby Mustang Cars (1st thoguh 3rd place cars):

  • 1 #1 1966 Shelby GT350 (Tommy Steuer)
  • 2 #8 1966 Shelby GT350 (Terry Lawlor)
  • 3 #165 1965 Shelby GT350 (Jeffrey Abramson)