35th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races

The competitive desire burning deep in professional race drivers, even those long retired from racing, showed itself in spades in the Toyota Race of Legends during the Rolex Monterey Historic Races at Laguna Seca. From the start…well, before the green flag, actually, the current and former Formula 1 and sports car drivers showed that they had no intention of giving an inch.

"Eddie [Cheever] started there," said Johnny Herbert, pointing to the final turn, Turn 11. "There were yellows all around, but everybody kept going. And everybody was overtaking me. So Derek [Bell] and I ended up at the back. I want a rematch!"

Former F1 driver and Indy 500 winner Cheever took the lead at the start, but it didn't last very long.

"Eddie did a very good start," said Jean-Pierre Jarier. "I tried to follow, because after the pace car came into the pits, usually you can go flat, which is what Eddie did. So I followed Eddie. Eddie missed a gear or something and I overtook him. I was the leader until Timo [Glock] came up to me…very hard way of driving, sideways and all. I preferred to let him go."

So Panasonic Toyota Formula 1 driver Glock, who started 10th of 11 drivers, took over the lead and never looked back. But behind him Jarier kept pushing, as did Cheever. Further back they were going two-by-two down the front straight, and no area of the track - or off it - was off-limits for racing. That was especially true for Laguna Seca's legendary corkscrew, where for some laps no driver made it from top to bottom without at least a brief visit to the dirt.

Bruce Canepa, the vintage racer who earned the right to compete in the Race of Legends by being the high bidder in a charitable auction and started first by virtue of a blind draw, was shuffled back before the race even started. His Scion tC showed a few signs of wear and tear after the race - remnants of the virtual target on his bumper.

"I think I'm ready for Baja now," he said to Danny Sullivan, who has competed in the legendary off-road race. Still, despite the banging around he endured, he was all smiles as he joked with the other drivers after the race.

Herbert and Bell made up a few positions after the start, but it wasn't enough to catch the top three, with Glock up front and controlling the pace once he got around Jarier.

"When I drove behind [Jarier] I could see he knew what he was doing and was really quick on the steering wheel," said Glock, who earned $25,000 for the Children's Hospital of Frankfurt with his win. "I just had some tricks to catch him up and pull away a bit. It's just so much fun with these guys. It's just good fun."

Toyota Race of Legends results:

1. Timo Glock
2. Jean-Pierre Jarier
3. Eddie Cheever
4. Johnny Herbert
5. Derek Bell
6. Patrick Tambay
7. Bruce Canepa
8. John Watson
9. Alan Jones
10. Danny Sullivan
11. Alain de Cadenet

Legendary race cars

In addition to the Race of Legends, Toyota also arranged demonstration laps of some of its famous racecars and put on the Toyota Historic Showcase, which featured some of those same racecars and the drivers that made them famous.

Some of the cars at the Historic Showcase were Toyotas, of course, including the Toyota Eagle GTP Mk III, the Toyota Celica GTO and the Toyota 2000GT SCCA C Production car. However, also rolling across the stage were a Porsche 956 driven by Derek Bell, a McLaren M8E Can-Am car, a Tyrrell 004 F1 machine and a Shadow DN8 that was driven by two Toyota Race of Legends drivers, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Alan Jones, both on hand to talk about the car.

It was a rare opportunity to hear drivers talk about some of the cars of their past or, in the case of Timo Glock (Eagle GTP) and Eddie Lawson (Celica GTO), the cars that they drove during demonstration laps on Saturday and Sunday. It was also a chance to hear Bell and Eddie Cheever trade barbs about their sports car racing days - while Bell was piloting the Group C Porsche, Cheever drove some races for Jaguar.

Also speaking at the Showcase, which was moderated by Alain de Cadenet, was Scooter Patrick, who drove the Carroll Shelby-run 2000GT to victory in SCCA competition in 1968.

The GTP car, Celica GTO and GTU cars and 200GT made some demonstration laps. While Glock was flying around in the Eagle Mk III, Patrick was driving the 2000GT in which he finished fourth in the 1968 SCCA National Championship race.

"Oh boy. Unbelievable! It brought back a few memories. It felt pretty much the same, it's like a bicycle, it comes back, but the edge on the razor is not quite as sharp," said Patrick.