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portunity to hear some of the stories
from Shelby American’s glory days. I
drove my Jeep from Seattle to Sonoma
after a full day at my real job to be at
the banquet. It was worth it.
Northern California’s Mini-Nats
vary from year to year in both theme
and who and what show up. I went
every year when I lived in Northern
California between 1992 and 2005,
when I retired from a high technology
career and returned to Seattle. Last
year was the first time I attended
since.
I have often thought the club could
charge admittance to this event. It is
that good. But no, club members and
non-member participation fees cover
costs and earn enough of a profit to
fund most of many club activities
though the year. The club wants to
keep this event free to the public. I
don’t know any other place you could
attend and see such things presented
for free. It’s a static and yet rolling rac-
ing museum; a mixture of history and
current products.
Last year I noticed the road race
grids and the paddock were not filled
with Ford products. There were a
number of Ferraris, Corvettes, MGs,
McLarens, Porsches, and even a
Jensen Healey race car. Sad I thought,
when in previous years you had to
apply early to be accepted. In 2014 the
club accepted anything safe on a race
track to fill the grids and make sure
the event didn’t lose money.
This year was different. A higher
percentage of the grids were filled
with Ford products, Mustang, Shelby,
GT40, Cobras of every flavor and ver-
sion with an odd Ferrari, Corvette,
Porsche, or BMWmixed in. Many were
late model Shelby or Ford Mustangs,
not what you might see at a “vintage”
event, but very interesting given the
performance of the late model version
of these cars, available right off the
showroom floor with full warranties.
Little modification is needed to make
them safe and reliable track cars. For
pure fun, modification aren’t neces-
sary.
The SHELBY AMERICAN
If there was no risk to participating in the open track there
wouldn’t be much of a reward. At the drivers meeting when they
say that things can go bad in the blink of an eye, that’s not an
exaggeration. Ninety-nine percent of the time the open track is
like a Disneyland ride. But that one percent really hurts.
Former Shelby American personnel never seem to tire of attend-
ing events like this and meeting the current guardians of “their”
cars. Pictured [
left to right
] are Chuck Cantwell, Bernie Kret-
zschmar, Allen Grant, Perter Brock and Ted Sutton.
Fall 2015 327