A Lovely tribute to race-car legend

It was hard to hear him over the rumble and rage of some of the world's most beautiful and pampered race cars, but the smile said it all.

This was Pete Lovely's year at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Tacoma racing legend was everywhere at the Monterey, Calif., racetrack Aug. 18 — on banners, in the program, in the pits.

All to celebrate the track's 50th year and Lovely's role as the winner of its inaugural race.

He was just one of the Northwest contingent of racers, car owners and car hobbyists to travel to Monterey for a head-spinning series of races, auctions, dinners and displays known simply as "Pebble."

Lovely remembers well one weekend at Laguna Seca: On Nov. 10, 1957, Lovely was driving a 2-liter Ferrari Testarossa against the likes of Carroll Shelby, who had the choice of two Maseratis that day. In the end, it was Lovely's skill at taking corners fast that put him behind leader Johnny von Neumann.

"At Turn 11, I came right up behind him," Lovely recalled. "I used first gear and I squirted ahead of him in second gear. He put his gear in neutral. He just didn't get it in second gear."

And so the win — and the legacy — was Lovely's. "I don't play golf and I don't do yachting," he said. Nothing to do but drive race cars.

He's run this track about 40 times. Before it was built, he used to race around the trees at Pebble Beach.

It was Lovely who encouraged Medina's Jon Shirley to race. Shirley started in 1993 and is now a Historics regular.

"Pete was the one who talked me into it," Shirley said. "He said, 'You should go,' and I was petrified."

But there was Shirley in two races on that Saturday two weeks ago, racing his 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 and a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO.

There, too, was Greg Whitten, also of Medina, with his 1932 Alfa Romeo P3 and 1957 Aston Martin DBR2, which would win the 2007 MSN Autos People's Choice Award at the Concours D'Elegance the following day.

"I like this track because it's more difficult than others," he said. "The number of turns on The Corkscrew are pretty complicated. You can't brake if you're airborne."

The Northwest was all over the place at the weekend's events.

Friday's Concorso Italiano is owned by Jack and Leslie Wadsworth of Lynnwood. Included in the special 50th anniversary display of Ferrari 250 GT Pinin Farina Series I Cabriolets at The Quail Concours was a 1959 owned by Glenn Mounger, of Bainbridge Island, former co-chairman of the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance.

The area was well-represented on the Pebble Beach lawn, with cars owned by Ken and Patty McBride of Seattle, Ed Rittenhouse of Mercer Island, Gordon Apker of Des Moines, Monty Holmes of Seattle, James Raisbeck of Seattle, David Smith of Medina, John McCaw of Seattle, Charlie Morse of Seattle and Greg Whitten of Medina.

And, as always, Northwest buyers and sellers attended the annual auctions, which brought in over $100 million this year.

At Christie's, a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso once owned by Steve McQueen sold for $2.5 million.

A 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Spyder California took in nearly $4.5 million at the Gooding & Co. auction, where the oldest driving vehicle in existence, the 1884 De Dion Bouton Et Trepardoux, sold for just over $3.5 million.