Northern California has the distinct pleasure of hosting two vintage car races. The first one is held at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma and the more famous one held down in Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway. Laguna Seca Raceway has been operated by the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula since its opening in 1957. SCRAMP is a non-profit organization chartered to benefit local charitable and non-profit groups and to promote economic vitality in Monterey Peninsula and Central California area.

The Monterey Historic Automobile Races have been held for the last 25 years and now rank as one of the premier events in the United States for vintage motorsport. Founder Steven Earle's idea of creating an "automotive weekend in Monterey" became a reality in 1974 with 60 participants, and 1,000 spectators. The races actually are a part of a week long series of events that include various important auctions and the Pebble Beach Concours d' Elegance. The races are held at the Laguna Seca road course located just north of Monterey. The track is 2.238 miles / 3.602 kilometers in length and the current course record is held by Brian Herta (Indy Car) at 67.895 (118.666mph).

In 1999 the event featured the Silver Arrows from Auto Union. Formed in 1932 when four struggling German automakers - Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer - were molded into one company. This company became known as Auto Union. The adjoining rings symbolized the unbreakable bond shared between the four automakers. Uncertain economic conditions plagued Auto Union during its inception and the board of directors realized that the new company needed to distinguish itself with a special project that would assert its dominance in the automotive arena. The directors decided that their best course of action was to produce an unprecedented racing machine that would take the world by storm. For this they turned to legendary automotive engineer, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, who just happened to have designs for a mid-engined racing car that would be adapted to the new regulations of 1934. Porsche was brought aboard to build a Grand Prix car for the new company.

With financial backing from Germany's new Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, Porsche and Auto Union took their share of a 500,000 Reichmarks offering that was to be split between Auto Union and Mercedes-Benz for a government-sponsored racing program. Hitler wanted to boost Germany's struggling automotive industry; through competition in Grand Prix racing. The Auto Union design consisted of a massively powerful mid-engine design featuring a supercharged, 16-cylinder, 6-liter powerplant. Eventually with more than 520-horsepower and 603 foot-pounds of torque, the new Auto Union Grand Prix race cars' acceleration capacity was amazing, allowing a driver to induce wheelspin at 150 mph.

In November of 1933 the first car broke cover on local roads just outside the factory gates before being taken to the Nurburgring where Willy Walb, the first team manager, drove it. The following March it was taken to Avus, the high speed circuit near Berlin. Hans Stuck was the driver this time and promptly set three new World Records. The first major race under the new formula for the German cars was the Avus GP in May. Both Mercedes and Auto Union were there along with the usual assortment of Bugattis, Maseratis and of course Alfa Romeos. After suffering some mechanical problems during practice the Mercedes team cars were withdrawn, after the race the Auto Union team may have wished to had done the same. There were three Auto Unions for Prince zu Leiningen, August Momberger and Hans Stuck. Stuck surged into the lead at the start of the race and after the first lap he had a one-minute lead over Louis Chiron. It was as if he was in a race by himself but after lap 12 he was out with clutch failure. The Alfas of Guy Moll and Achille Varzi beat the Auto Union of Momberger over the line but notice had been served. The next race was the Eifel GP at the Nurburgring and the German cars tasted first blood with the Mercedes of von Brauchitsch leading the Auto Union of Hans Stuck. The most important race of the calendar was still the French Grand Prix, but the race turned into a disaster for both Mercedes and Auto Union when all of the German cars retired. The German GP was next and with it came the first victory for Auto Union when Hans Stuck beat the Mercedes of Luigi Fagioli.

Professor Porsche attended almost every race of the first season and would study the race reports and film taken of his cars. Professor Eberan-Eberhorst helped develop a special on-board recording instrument that plotted various parameters such as car speed, engine speed, shifting and breaking points.

For 1935 Hans Stuck was joined by the great Italian driver Achille Varzi. Later that year they were joined by Bernd Rosemeyer. The year saw more success for the team from Zwickau. Stuck won in Monza in addition to two hillclimbs while Varzi was victorious in Tunis. But Mercedes led the way and the inaugural European Championship went to Rudolf Caracciola. A modification was made to the car, which would have profound impact the following year. Ferry Porsche; the Professor’s son and a talented engineer in his own right discovered that when accelerating out of a corner the inside rear wheel would spin furiously. Having also experienced a similar problem with their road cars they had ZF in Stuttgart build a new limited-slip differential for their racecars. This modification and the brilliance of their new star Rosemeyer resulted in Auto Union’s greatest season. Rosemeyer would also claim the European championship for his own that year. Auto Union’s domination was so great that Mercedes actually pulled out of the last few races in order to overhaul their entire organization.

Porsche’s contract with Auto Union ended with the 1937 season and the team was now headed by Professor Eberan-Eberhorst. The pressure would begin to tell on the brilliant young driver and in January of 1938 he would die while trying to regain the speed record from Caracciola and Mercedes. Auto Union would never fully recover from this tragedy though they did win three more races in the next two years with Muller and the incomparable Nuvolari.

While Mercedes had more total victories than Auto Union the latter team raced with a budget only half the size of the former. On an ironic note while Auto Union became famous for their rear-engined racing cars they never produced a production car with the same layout. The weather was great the whole weekend even though there was some early morning fog this only added to the natural beauty of the Monterey Peninsula. Nearby attractions include Carmel, 20 championship golf courses including those at Pebble Beach, Monterey Bay, Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey Bay Aquarium and historic Cannery Row. The highlight for me was of course getting to see the Auto Unions on the race track rather than just at the Deutsche Museum. When not on the track they were displayed inside a large tent. A short film was also shown describing the history of these great cars. For icing on the cake I was able to meet Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney and Michele Albereto.