WELCOME!

I decided to start this blog to as an avenue for me to be able to post about some of the fun things that I do from time to time. It could be a Car Show revue, what I did on Vacation, what I like about this or that automobile, my experience with a photo shoot, what I have in my Automobilia collection, or whatever I think of at the moment. I hope you like it! All feedback will be appreciated.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion - 2011

I made it down for the weekend to work the Monterey Motorsports Pre-Reunion. This is the event that kicks off all the festivities for Monterey Week. This is the week where auto enthusiast, hobbyist, rich and ridiculously wealthy from around the world come out to play. But as for me, I am just your average enthusiast. I do however spend most of my time at the track helping out as a Paddock Volunteer for SCRAMP. I only get away from the track on Friday every year. I do in order to attend one of my favorite events that I've actually been able to attend, outside of the track. That Event? Well, it's Concorso Italiano. My experience for that event will come later.

So let's get back to the Pre-Reunion. I left my house a little late on Saturday morning and didn't actually get to the track until sometime after 1:00 in the afternoon. I hadn't actually planned on working Saturday as I wanted to get some photo and video shots and just work the event on Sunday. No sooner do I get there that I get hit up by one of my Directors to work. Only 4 Assistant Directors had shown up to work and that just wasn't cutting it. The only other help that was there was a couple of others that volunteered to help out. So I put on my uniform shirt, MRLS cap, credentials, and my whistle, grabbed my video camera and started taking some video of a couple cars just outside our area. About 30 minutes later I got to where I was asked to work. Off and on I was able to get some video of the cars going by, as well as some of the Trans-Am cars that were staged right there behind me. It was a decent afternoon considering I really had not planned on working. I was able to speak to one of the owners of a nice Gold and Bark Blue Mustang. I had met this gentleman last year when I had spent the entire week at the track. It seems that every year that I work, I get to know the participants a little more. However, as bad as I am with names, I just always forget those. But, I always remember the faces of the lucky ones that get to race throughout the weekend.

After the day was done, I took off around 7:00 PM to do some car spotting around town. I ran around for 2 hours and really didn't see much. Considering the week had just started, I had kind of figured there wouldn't be to many sweet rides running around just yet. So I headed back to the track and went to bed.

On Sunday morning I had slept in a little later than I usually do when at the track. I didn't get much sleep Friday night, so I figured I would make a little up. At least until on of my Directors decided to come and interupt my sleep and woke me up. He didn't event knock on the door! He just opened it right up. So, needless to say, I was a little pissed off about that. I then went ahead and got dressed, grabbed my coffee, brushed my teeth, grabbed my camera and video camera, then jumped on a scooter to see what other cars I hadn't seen the day before. I went to the Bonhams display and saw something that I just couldn't pass up. Besides the beautiful 1953 Ferrari 212 Inter Coupe Vignale and the 1927 Bentley 6.5 litre Sports Tourer that I had recorded on Saturday, sitting there on display was a 1979 BMW M1 Pro-car. For those that know of the Peter Gregg BMW M1, this is the art car painted by Frank Stella. I had only ever seen 1 other M1 before, a street version, and I just couldn't pass up the chance to shoot some photos of this car.  I am very glad that I did. I may never see this car again in my life. I also took some pics of the Ferrari. Once I was done I grabbed my radio and headset and headed to center gate for my duties. Throughout the day I was able to shoot more video. By the end of the day, I was beat. Around 8:00 I finally decided it was time to take the 2.5 hour drive back home. I will be back in Monterey on Friday for Concorso Italiano, so I will share that experience when I return.

No comments:

Post a Comment