Pebble Beach 70th

The Del Monte Trophy Race Group, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion celebrate together in 2021 the 70th anniversary of the Pebble Beach Road Races

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The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance
The Del Monte Trophy Race Group
David Gentry’s Multi-Media Road Racer project
TotalExpo.com for our displays. Jon LeCarner races his 1951 Allard K2 Cadillac with us.

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The inaugural Pebble Beach Road Races and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance were held some 70 years ago on Nov. 4-5, 1950.  COVID-19 ended the celebration in 2020.  So, it is August 2021 when all the energies and love of those who know about one of the most endearing and surprising of world motor racing developments will come together to celebrate the 70th anniversary.

The Del Monte Trophy was held on the twisty, leafy, and very narrow town roads in Pebble Beach, California, from 1950 through 1956. For just $15, you too could compete in the Pebble Beach Road Races; Jaguars, MGs, Allards and Ferraris confronted the California V8 and straight-6 specials from Baldwin, Manning, Kurtis, Cannon, Hagemann, Parkinson and Tatum… and these valuable cars continue to race. The infancy of American road racing in the years following World War II was often an amateur affair, but the event gained credibility when 23-year-old Phil Hill won the first running.

The Del Monte Trophy Race Group is cooperating in mid-August 2021 with both the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion and the world-renown Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance to celebrate those seminal events for motorsports on the Monterey Peninsula and the West Coast.

See the unique racecars and artwork displays

Our Del Monte Trophy Race Group cars are the historic racing connection between modern day Pebble Beach Concours and the Reunion.  We will field a grid of 30 period-correct Production Sports Cars and California Specials built from 1947 through 1955. All could have, and many did, participate in the Pebble Beach Road Races, which were held from 1950-1956.

There will be large displays commemorating the Pebble Beach Road Races in the exhibit areas at both the Concours and the Reunion.  These consist of five panels with artwork, photos and text that present the Road Races in their historical context.  The artwork and graphics are by noted digital artist, David Gentry, and the period race photos are copyright Julian P. Graham / courtesy of Pebble Beach Company Lagorio Archives. The Concours and the Reunion organizers are supporting these exhibits with sponsorship and logistics.

A major element of the two exhibits will be the presence of the five cars that won the Feature Race/Del Monte Trophy at each of the Pebble Beach Road Races. The five winners will be presented in a Special Exhibition Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance (August 15, 2021). They will also be featured in other activities during Monterey Car Week (August 8-15, 2021).  On Saturday, August 14 they will be at Laguna Seca in front of the Celebration Display in the paddock Exhibition/Drivers Lounge area.

The cars of the 1947-1955 Del Monte Race Group 4A will play a key role in the Reunion’s Celebration. Those that actually participated in the 1950s Pebble Beach Road Races are participating directly and virtually in several activities. In the second week of June, the Concours organizers held a film shoot with five of our cars doing (slow) laps around the original Pebble Beach race circuit.  The footage will be used in the coming weeks for various promotional efforts. The cars shown here at Bird Rock in Pebble Beach are the 1956 Huffaker Healy Special, the 1952 Kurtis 500S Dodge, the 1949 Baldwin Mercury Special, the 1953 Tatum GMC Special and a 1952 Jaguar XK-120.

At the Reunion race Saturday Aug. 15, the 1949 Parkinson Jaguar and the 1950 Cannon Mk.1 Specials will join the Phil Hill XK-120 Jaguar for photos and interviews.  These cars were the top three finishers of the 1950 Feature race. The Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spyder that Phil Hill (1955) and Carroll Shelby (1956) drove to wins in the Pebble Beach Road Races will be driven by Tazio Otis on Saturday (Aug 15) in the Del Monte Trophy Race Group 4A and will be shown at the Concours on Sunday.

As in past years, we will be organizing our dedicated Del Monte Trophy Race Group paddock lane and activity.  There, early 1950s Allards, Jaguars, California Specials along with the Group’s smaller displacement Siata, Morgan, Porsche and Triumph sports cars and H-Modified Specials will be on display for event spectators. The Del Monte Group’s paddock display will be linked with graphic panels to the main Celebration Display in the Exhibition/Drivers Lounge area.

Ours are the sports cars that pioneered European-style road racing 70 years ago. They are the sports cars that raced at the Pebble Beach Road Races. They have been a featured race group every year since the inauguration of vintage racing at Laguna Seca Raceway and we want to recognize that history in every way we can during the 70th celebrations.

Note to Media Editors

Del Monte Trophy cars race every year at the Rolex Monterey Historic Reunion, the photo above from 2015. Many more images of these five cars and other media properties are available to the media at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hz5SYuv48FF_2292kA0St2pd09EYkezx.

For other photos and information please contact initially Marcus Bicknell marcus@bicknell.com who also runs the website DMTRG.com and our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MontereySportsCarRoadRacers

Hill won the Pebble Beach Road Races three times – in 1950, 1953 and 1955 – before becoming the first American to claim the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1961. Carroll Shelby added cache to the legacy of the Pebble Beach Road Races by winning the final edition in 1956. Shelby would eventually capture the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959, and go on to create the Cobra and the Shelby Mustangs.

The winners of the first seven Pebble Beach Road Races were…

  • Phil Hill (1950) Jaguar XK-120,
  • Bill Pollack (1951 and 1952) Allard J2,
  • Phil Hill (1953) Ferrari 250 MM Vignale Spyder,
  • Sterling Edwards (1954) Ferrari 340 MM Vignale Spyder,
  • Phil Hill (1955) Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spyder and
  • Carroll Shelby (1956) Ferrari 750 Monza Scaglietti Spyder.

A website which list all the runners in the Pebble Beach Road Races and the results is www.racingsportscars.com/track/archive/Pebble%20Beach.html

For the Del Monte Trophy Race Group:

Rob Manson, PO Box 1003, 338 West Carmel Valley Road, Carmel Valley, CA 93924 , USA
Home:  +1 831 659 4672       Cell  +1 (831) 601-0645       r3teknon@sbcglobal.net
www.dmtrg.com and see us on Facebook
International office:  Marcus Bicknell, Homefarm Orchard, Kirby Close, Threehouseholds, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks HP8 4FF, UK
Office phone: +44 1494 872751     Mobile: +44 7748 111444    marcus@bicknell.com