34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

With only a few laps of practice and a full schedule of historic racing at the 34th Monterey Historic Automobile Races presented by Toyota, the drivers in the Race of Legends drew for starting position rather than running a traditional qualifying session.

As a result, the drivers on the front row alone will count seven Indianapolis 500 wins on their rsums. Four-time Indy 500 winner Al Unser drew for the pole and three-time winner Johnny Rutherford will start alongside him. These two not only share a long history of racing against each other at Indianapolis and elsewhere, they see each other regularly as part of their roles with the Indy Car Series. Rutherford is the pace car driver, and Unser is the series' driver coach and consultant. Starting on the front row is where Rutherford wanted to be.

The draw "is going to be the key to the thing," Rutherford said after practice. "These cars are really hard, unless you can get up and really push somebody to make a mistake, to get by, because they're all so equal."

Starting on the second row are sports car ace Vic Elford and rally master Ove Andersson. Like the front row, these two share a win in the same event, the famous Monte Carlo Rally. Row three will be three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser and five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Derek Bell, likely starting a race side by side for the first time. Bobby Rahal and Parnelli Jones make up row four.

Charity auction winner Larry Bowman will start from the inside of the last row. Although he got into the field by virtue of being the high bidder in the charity auction - proceeds will go to the Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital Foundation - he's got a bit of racing experience under his belt.

"I race quite a lot of different types of cars," Bowman said. "I'm in the IMSA GT3 Series, I've been in the Grand-Am Series. I did the Daytona 24 Hours this year, plus I also race in a vintage series and try to keep my hand in with historics too. So I spend a lot of time driving cars, and I really enjoy it."

Two-time Formula 1 World Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, one of the quicker drivers in practice, will start last, so he should be interesting to watch as he tries to move up through the field.

In all, this group counts 14 Indy 500 wins, 10 American open wheel championships, Two World championships, Five Le Mans victories, a Trans-Am championship and a European Rally Championship.

Toyota Race of Champions Starting Grid

Starting Position Driver/Scion Car Number/Color

1. Al Unser/3/silver
2. Johnny Rutherford/18/white
3. Vic Elford/20/white
4. Ove Andersson/22/burgundy
5. Bobby Unser/6/light blue
6. Derek Bell/25/burgundy
7. Bobby Rahal/8/light blue
8. Parnelli Jones/5/silver
9. Lawrence Bowman/14/dark blue
10. Emerson Fittipaldi/11/dark blue