Two endurance races, on two coasts, two weekends in a row:
To celebrate our 60th birthdays, Cool Parts Racing co-driver and oldest (and I mean really old) friend Doug Davidson and I decided to do one of our all-time-top bucket list tracks: Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway, in the beautiful golden hills just outside Monterey, California. It so happens that this year is also the 60th anniversary of the opening of Laguna Seca. It’s a track famous for its steep elevation changes, fast and blind hill-topping corners; but most famous for “The Corkscrew”–a scary, blind, double switch-back at the crest of a hill that gives the sensation of driving the race car over a cliff! We rented seats in one of two Million Ways To Die Miatas, for the July 15 – 16 ChumpCar 14 – Hour Endurance race, split into seven hours on Saturday and seven hours on Sunday (Laguna Seca isn’t lit at night). Pro motorcycle road racers Ted Rich and Elaine Carpenter run Million Ways To Die (in addition to ChumpCar racing they also do Mojave Mile Land Speed Record runs, fly airplanes, plus a variety of other adrenaline-charged activities). Doug and I shared the car with Elaine and Spike (both very fast!). The track exceeded all our expectations for thrills, and we finished the full 14 hours, 8th in class and 20th overall. Here’s some video from Laguna Seca:
Laguna Seca also has the best race track food shack of any track I’ve eaten at. Here’s Laguna Seca Cruisin’ Cafe’s famous Tri-Tip Sandwich:
The following weekend, July 23, we ran a 1.5-hour SCCA enduro in our own car at Sebring, where we qualified 2nd and finished 3rd. And here’s some video from Sebring:
I also had one extra day to spend exploring California’s Pacific Coast Highway (California 1) from Carmel south down through Big Sur. Here’s some video with PCH’s iconic concrete arch bridges built in the 1930’s, plus barking sea lions, flocking birds, and breaching humpback whales at Point Lobos Reserve State Park:
Bruce Hunt