Summer’s coming and the sights and sounds of the collector car world will soon be filling up all car lover’s calendars.
From weekend car shows, to grand elegant conours, to rallys, tours, road trips and cruise nights there’s something compelling to do and somewhere car people just have to go almost any day in the summer.
One of the best ways to get your classic car fix is to attend a vintage race like the annual Jaguar Wine Country Classic held at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma every June.
This two-day event combines a Vintage Car festival in the middle of Sonoma’s historic plaza (the site of the Bear Flag rebellion that declared California’s independence from Mexico) with the racing at the nearby track.
After the first day of racing the cars arrive at the Festival on Saturday afternoon with a Highway Patrol escort -- one way to keep them from speeding – circle the plaza and park so the fans can get a close up look at these marvelous machines.
The racers are joined by vintage road cars such as Ferraris, Corvettes, Cobras, Mini Coopers, Porsches and Jaguars.
There’s plenty of fine food and local wines to sample while you ogle away the hours.
At the track you’ll find a stunning array of some of the most important Pre-War sports and racing cars, Formula cars, IMSA GTs, Can-Am cars and Trans-Am cars. Everything from Mustangs, to Corvettes, Porsches, Alfas, Morgans, MGs,
Ferraris, Lotus, Maseratis and, of course, Jaguars.
The real treat for me was strolling though the pits and paddock and talking to the owners and drivers about the history of their cars while I got a chance to closely inspect the cars I’d only read about. Beats a stuffy, static museum display any day.
This sport attracts some colorful characters like famed classic car auctioneer Craig Jackson who showed up to race his 1970 Baracuda. He was pitted against an array of car enthusiasts with speed pedigrees such as the first family of hot rodding – the Edelbrocks; Vic, and his two daughters Camee and Christi.
They weren’t the only family bonding on the track. Jaguar sponsors a father and son team, Bob and Art Hebert, who race specially prepared E-Type Jags. Bob, the elder part of this racing duo, has been competing since the late 1960s when he raced Lotus Formula cars. Later he drove GT and prototype racers and competed at the Daytona 24 Hour marathon six times. It was natural that his son Art would share his passion. By day, Art buys and restores vintage racing autos. While they are members of the same Jaguar factory sponsored team, an anomaly in vintage racing, they are fierce competitors on the track.
When the Hebert’s rolled their distinctive silver Jaguars, with the British racing green stripes, out onto the track and roared off around its twelve turns you could step back for a moment and think about the glories of races gone by.
But who has time for wistful reveries? There’s a race to watch as a roaring pack of glistening cars blows by in a blur sending explosive cylinder shockwaves of pure delight reverberating off the rolling Sonoma hills. Some lucky driver will go home with a trophy but the real winners are the fans.
Links: www.infineonraceway.com or www.ticketmaster.com
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