There were no Monterey Historics--a one time per year
event--but also true is the fact that, every day, the road lies before
you and you could make your own rules and there was virtually no limit
as the where and how the car could be used. There was the Virginia City
Hillclimb event but, I think, the real fun was getting there in company
with Walter Ward in his GTB, Larry Bloomer in his Castrol-scented Lusso,
Phil Cole in his California and other FOC members rewriting the rules
of the road in the process.
Driving any early Ferrari, much less a
racing Ferrari, on the road could be a challenge and meant you were not
one of a large crowd or an inveterate 'joiner'. The fact is, many of us
did use these cars as daily drivers--Mark Slotkin, possibly Bill
Reinhardt and I used 3987 daily, Gary Wales and Matthew Ettinger used
the Breadvan as a daily driver and Peter Woodward-Smith used his 250LM
as a daily driver though he did have a 275GTB as a back-up. Sonny Bono
famously attempted to use a 250LM on the street with disastrous results
but watching that particular train wreck as it was happening, I can only
say that Sonny was not simpatico and leave it at that I think Gary
Wales was using that 250LM on the street. Further, I seem to recall that
Mario Tosi used his GTO (the one I almost bought) as a daily driver but if not, he certainly used
it on the street.
The organized events are great and I loved
seeing all the GTOs at 'Infineon' (née Sears Point) but I wouldn't trade
them for the 'wildcat' events lived with Ettinger, Wales, Helm, Andrews
and others as well as all
those who I never had the pleasure of meeting but were enjoying their
cars to the fullest extent...
.JPG)
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