An annual event that attracts more than 400 vintage race cars,  the Rolex Monterey Historics provides the perfect venue for collectors to run their vintage racing machinery at speeds for which they were intended, while at the same time providing car and racing enthusiasts the opportunity to see these amazing machines on the racetrack.

The home track of the Historics is Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, a course famous in the racing world for its "corkscrew" complex -- a combination of turns with a dramatic drop in elevation that has made it a favorite with racing fans.

The 35th anniversary of the event honored Andretti, who treated his fans to a series of “hot laps” in the 1978 Lotus Type 79 he drove in winning the Formula 1 World Driving Championshipthat year.

As the exhaust note of the Ford Cosworth DFV engine echoed off the surrounding hills, time seemed to stand still as the iconic black-and-gold John Player Special Lotus Type 79 streaked by with Mario’s trademark silver and red helmet in the cockpit. The Lotus 79 was one of the first racing cars to take advantage of ground-effects aerodynamics and is very significant historically.

A salute to Alfa Romeo included a parade of Alfa Romeos on Sunday morning to kick off the third day of racing. On Saturday, a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia Spyder with significant ties to road racing on the Monterey Peninsula was featured with a number of laps on the track.

That car now owned by Ralph Lauren, raced in the Mille Miglia, the 1,000-mile race on public roads in Italy, and was driven to victory by American Grand Prix champion Phil Hill in the 1951 Pebble Beach Handicap through the Del Monte Forest. In the second edition of the Monterey Historics in 1975, Hill drove the 8C 2900B to victory at Laguna Seca.

In the same lapping session, Patrick Dempsey, star of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”, rode for several laps in a 1931 Chrysler CD-8 LM driven by San Francisco native David Swig. An accomplished race driver who has participated in ithe Rolex 24 at Daytona, Dempsey appeared to be enjoying the Historic racing, and also attended the Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday.

Toyota Race of Legends

On Saturday afternoon, Timo Glock, current Panasonic Toyota F1 driver, won the Toyota Race of Legends against a formidable group of former F1 drivers, including Danny Sullivan, Derek Bell, John Watson, Eddie Cheever, Johnny Herbert, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Alan Jones and Patrick Tambay.  Amateur driver Bruce Canepa of Scotts Valley, Calif., who won the opportunity through a charity auction, was on the pole.

The 8-lap race was in race-prepared Toyota Scion tC sport coupes featuring 2.4-liter, 215-horsepower TRD-supercharged engines.  Glock earned $25,000, which will be donated to the Children’s Hospital of Frankfurt, Germany, the charity of his choosing.

In addition to the Toyota Race of Legends, Saturday racing highlights included a variety of Historic automobile races featuring Pre-1940 Sports and Touring Cars, 1925-1950 Racing Cars and Indy Roadsters, 1950-1960 Sports Racing Cars, 1966-1972 Historic Trans-Am Cars, 1966-1974 Historic Can-Am Cars and 1964-1975 FIA Sports Racing Cars. 

Famous car names such as Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Maserati, Cobra, Lotus, McLaren, Lola, Mustang and Camaro competed in various race groups throughout the weekend, pitted against the same cars that would have been their rivals in their original era of competition.

Sunday racing included race groups for 1955-1966 Production Sports Cars, 1967-1978 Historic F1 Cars and 1972-1983 Historic IMSA Cars. Glock did demonstration laps in a Toyota GTP, one of the most dominant cars of the IMSA GTP era.

Also on Sunday, the Monterey Cup was awarded to George Wingard of Eugene, Ore.  Wingard, who brought the 1908 Grand Prix Mercedes to this year’s event to celebrate the car’s centennial, won the flagship award for being the ultimate enthusiast and embodying the spirit of the Rolex Monterey Historics.