34 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY AUGUST 17-23, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com FACE TO FACE When Brian Blain and the other drivers in his Ragtime Racers brigade roll onto the track, people take notice. “They’re different than any other race car,” he explains. Ragtime Racers, which take part in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, consist of cars that ran on the rudimentary dirt and gravel tracks before the U.S. entry into World War I. The wheels are wooden, the tires narrow and braking often comes with a question mark. The look and sound is distinct from anything else on the track at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. But Blain didn’t start out with an interest in restoration or vintage racing. Born and raised in Visalia, where he still tends to groves of walnut and pecan trees, he is a teacher-turned-farmer whose life changed in the early 1980s when a close family friend—Blain considered Harry Sprague his adopted grandfather— bequeathed an old steamer trunk to the young man. “It was full of all his racing memorabilia—goggles, gloves, newspaper clippings, anything you could think of,” Blain recalls. “None of us knew he had raced. Harry was from a proper family.” The discovery sent Blain on a search to find and restore examples of the first generation of race car, many of which were scrapped for metal during World War II. He formed the nonprofit Blain Motorsports Foundation to help preserve racers from the era. Weekly: So what happened after you discovered Harry was a race car driver? Blain: I did research and found out that as a teen he was a chauffeur for a wealthy family in Visalia. They had a National. That same year—1912—Visalia decided to have a race. They stripped down the National. Harry drove it in the race and won. I immediately started looking for a National. I found one in Kentucky and restored it. The first time I raced it was 1998. Now you have several cars. What’s the fascination? There’s something about driving a 100-year-old car that’s enchanting. They’re tricky. The steering is very heavy, the pedals are in different places, you have no front brakes at all. It’s scary, in a different way. If you want to stop today, you put the brakes on yesterday. One of the cars I drive most often is a 1911 National that drove in the first Indy 500. The Indy 500 in 1911 was a seven-and-a-half-hour race. I’m tired after 15 minutes. People certainly love to see Ragtime Racers. It’s really amazing. When I started doing this, it was rare to see a car from the World War I era. People had never seen these cars before. They’d think it was from the movies, they thought the cars didn’t have engines. Then we’d fire it up. That’s what got us motivated. This was the genesis of auto racing and it was getting lost. It’s so much fun to see and hear the cars. Until you see them on the track, you have no idea. The whole idea is we want people to experience what it was like in the day. The crowds start gathering when we fire them up. There are so many people around that we can’t get out. Since Ragtime Racers has become so popular, guys have started restoring cars. Every year we get two or three new cars joining our group—just a bunch of guys who go around the country and race, put on a show. But to risk racing them? It’s a different philosophy. We’re not out there to see who’s the fastest. We’re trying to put on an exhibition. We’re not taking chances. Are the cars hard to maintain? They really are. There are no parts, if anything breaks. You pretty much have to make it from scratch. It’s expensive. These cars have to be patched together after every race. It must be impossible to find tires. Surprisingly that’s the easiest part. There are a couple of companies that make them. Wheels are a different story. We send wheels to an Amish company in Ohio where they make wagon wheels. It’s difficult to find craftsmen who can work on these cars. Is there a car on your bucket list? Oh, gosh. There are so many. I would love to find the car my adopted grandfather raced. I’ve looked in every barn around Visalia. It’s probably long gone. Every now and again, I’ll see an old barn and wonder what’s inside. Ragtime Racers run 15-minute sessions each day at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, with approximate start times between 10:30-11am from ThursdaySaturday, Aug. 17-19. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, 1021 Highway 68, Salinas. 242-8200, weathertechraceway.com. Ragtime Band A group brings the sights and sounds of racing’s earliest days to Laguna Seca. By Dave Faries Brian Blain (right) of Ragtime Racers gives Porsche factory race team driver Patrick Long a lesson. “I kept telling him ‘no brakes,’ but he wasn’t paying attention,” Blain says. “We went into the first turn and he says ‘You weren’t kidding.’” COURTESY REGTIME RACERS CAR WEEK | 2023 831.200.9700 • www.gocatrescue.org Dreamboat Danny Danny is a good-looking redhead who loves to greet everyone who comes his way. This friendly 8-year-old is super mellow and likes to lie on his back for tummy rubs and keep his person’s feet warm at night. One of Danny’s other favorite pastimes is catching rays from the safety of a sunny windowsill while watching the world go by. Wouldn’t you love to “catch” sunny Danny? If you are interested in Danny, please fill out an adoption application at www.gocatrescue.org. Please contact us to sponsor our next ad. Diamond Want to meet Diamond? Please fill out our online adoption questionnaire. Things to love: approx. 6 years old - 50 lbs - female - Husky Diamond’s beautiful eyes sparkle just as much as her name. She does great with other dogs and people, loves to go on walks, and settles down nicely when home alone. She can be a little head shy at first and prefers a good chest scratch over a pat on the head. Ad sponsored by M.B.W.W.C. www.GoWhales.com If you’d like sponsor our next ad, give us a call. 831-718-9122 | www.PeaceOfMindDogRescue.org P.O. Box 51554, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==