cool

 

Elysée Wednesday tonight--"Can you help a fellow American down on his luck?"

Look for us Wednesday evenings on the patio from 8 pm (or shortly thereafter) until about 11pm at Caffe Primo, 8590 Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069. Underground parking on Alta Loma just east of the Cafe and south of Sunset or on the street.

No need to RSVP; just join us if you can.his luck?"

 

Elysée Wednesday tonight--"I have here in my pocket - and thank heaven you can't see them - lewd, dirty, obscene, and I'm ashamed to say this: French postcards."

Look for us Wednesday evenings on the patio from 8 pm (or shortly thereafter) until about 11pm at Caffe Primo, 8590 Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069. Underground parking on Alta Loma just east of the Cafe and south of Sunset or on the street.

No need to RSVP; just join us if you can.

 

What color are the flash markings around the headlights?
Carrera Panamericana

 

Back when I was starting to develop my interest in auto racing, I dragged my family to the Times Grand Prix at Riverside. This was about the time I started driving but before I acquired the Jaguar E-Type and so we drove out in the family Cadillac. The first thrill for me was entering the parking lot which could also be described as acres and acres of dirt that became dust as you drove into it leaving your car covered in a thick coat within minutes. Nevertheless, I recognized more exotic cars than I ever thought existed. I saw my first Aston-Martin DB5 in the flesh. Ferrari GTEs and Maserati 3500GTs were there along with Alfas, Lancias, Rolls and Bentleys, too. All coated with dirt.

The race was exciting and the cars very loud. I remember the Cheetahs, which I'd never heard of. A.J. Foyt was driving the Hussein for John Mecom. Roger Penske and Hap Sharp were driving Chaparrals, Bruce McLaren a McLaren Elva Mk I, Richie Ginther and Parnelli Jones Cooper King Cobras and the field included Jack Brabham, Innes Ireland, Jim Clark, Augie Pabst, Ken Miles and Bob Bondurant to name of few. Not a bad line-up!

Riverside was pure racing and didn't pretend to offer glamor like Monaco or Spa-Francorchamps but glamor was present if one cared to look for it. That was the day I first saw what I would later learn was a Ferrari Berlinetta Lusso. I caught site of it in the paddock and I also caught sight of its owner, Jill St. John looking awfully good. Much later, I was to see Jill towing a cabin cruiser on the 405 with that Lusso...

When the race was over, it was every man for himself. The parking lot--essentially a dirt field--had no lane markers and one headed towards the exits like so many cows leaving the pasture. It was chaos, in other words. My father was nothing if not prepared and he fetched a white painter's cap (where ever did he get hold of that?) and a flashlight from the trunk of the Cadillac and said, "Follow me!" Where, I wondered, as the car was blocked by hundreds of other cars wanting out.

My father donned the white cap and used the flashlight to direct the traffic ahead of me. The other drivers must surely have thought he was a parking lot employee for they followed his directions thinking, I can only assume, that he was directing them towards the nearest exit. He was not. What he was doing was clearing a path through which I could drive that big, gold Cadillac out of the parking lot turning the other cars back to where they'd come in the process. We were out of there in no time and it was a stunt that would have belonged in the movie It's a Mad, Mad World. It was just a day in the life with my father, as those who knew him can attest.

That was a seminal day for me and I found that everything I'd read in magazines such as Road & Track about the excitement of racing was true. I was still some years away from owning my own Berlinetta Lusso but the desire was formed and it would be longer still before I attended the Jim Russel racing school, but everything was set in motion that day--not to mention we beat everyone out of the parking lot.

 

"Who are those guys?" (Butch Cassidy). Can you name them?
Carrera Panamericana

 

Amazing story..! Welcome ;-)

 

Elysée Wednesday tonight--"I merely tell you the future of your planet is at stake."

Look for us Wednesday evenings on the patio from 8 pm (or shortly thereafter) until about 11pm at Caffe Primo, 8590 Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069. Underground parking on Alta Loma just east of the Cafe and south of Sunset or on the street.

No need to RSVP; just join us if you can.

 

Elysée Wednesday tonight--"Oh? To what am I indebted for this intrusion?"

Look for us Wednesday evenings on the patio from 8 pm (or shortly thereafter) until about 11pm at Caffe Primo, 8590 Sunset Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069. Underground parking on Alta Loma just east of the Cafe and south of Sunset or on the street.

No need to RSVP; just join us if you can.

 

The car was silver and the flash markings around the headlights were green