18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY AUGUST 13-19, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com Car Week 2026 On The Road Again For the 75th Concours d’Elegance, the cars that first attracted Pebble Beach crowds return. By Dave Faries Like other concours of the era, the field included brand new models and custom bodied vehicles. Sterling Edwards earned Best of Show in 1950 for his Edwards R-26 Special Sport Roadster, a car of his own design which he brought to run on the track. “You’d see few people at the Concours,” observes Bob Devlin, a judge at Concours d’Elegance for the past 40 years and author of Pebble Beach: A Matter of Style, a history of the road races and Concours. “The races were the real attraction.” These were not the first motorsports events in the area. Drivers piloting brass-era machines competed on the horse racing track at Hotel Del Monte until 1907. But road racing was relatively new in the U.S., and Pebble Beach was attracting future stars like Ken Miles and Bill Pollack in coveted Ferraris and Porsches, as well as the powerful Allard J2. Hill won the first year in a 1950 Jaguar XK 120, which Sports Illustrated described as “sleek as its namesake.” Given the tight confines, however, the portrayal was fleeting. As the story noted, “By the time Hill finished punishing it at Pebble Beach it was merely another muddy, dented, brakeless and clutchless racing hulk.” Talbott attended with his parents every year from 1950-56. He recalls the excitement of younger fans as they identified the different makes and models. These were, after all, cars intended for use on the streets. “I allowed myself one roll of film for a race,” Monterey resident Roger Craig says. “I didn’t have a whole lot of money. I took a picture of the Carrera.” Craig was 18 in 1956 and smitten by the Porsche driven by Don Dickey. “What a nice sound,” he recalls. “I fell in love with the shape.” Sound made an impression. “I swear the pine trees acted like a megaphone,” Devlin observes. From his family’s home he could hear cars practicing on Saturdays and ride his bike over to watch. The route wound from the start/ finish line on Portola Road to Sombria Lane and onto Drake Road. In 1950 it cut across an unpaved stretch to Forest Lake Road then back toward Portola after a sharp right at the corner of Ondulado Road. The following year they added a left from Drake onto Stevenson, then following a curve to Forest Lake. “We were right there with my mom and dad, seeing cars hit hay bales, hitting Monterey pines,” Talbott says. “I Jim Caldwell just happened to be looking in the right direction. He was 14 years old at the time and had come from Atherton with a friend’s family to see the popular Pebble Beach Road Races, along with the great names of the day—Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby—in sleek new Jaguars, Ferraris and other exotic sports cars. He recalls the crowds and the excitement. It was 1956. Drivers had been tearing through the pines of Del Monte Forest along Pebble Beach’s narrow roads every year since 1950. Some 10,000 fans witnessed the first edition. The next year, around 25,000 people lined the circuit, standing behind hay bales or rickety snow fences—or just crowding along the pavement. “I saw a giant cloud of dust, then there was a huge commotion,” Caldwell says. “I really didn’t understand what was happening at the time.” Attempting to make a pass in Turn 6, Ernie McAfee lost control of his Ferrari 121 LM. The car careened into a drainage ditch and shot into the air, smashing into a tree. McAfee died almost instantly. The incident spelled the end of the Del Monte Forest races. In 1957, the series moved to the newly-constructed course at Laguna Seca, leaving Pebble Beach with just a small event that had been tacked onto the races as a sideshow: Concours d’Elegance. “I had a wonderful picture of the first Concours,” says Robb Talbott, who grew up in Carmel Valley. “My mom and dad were dressed up; I was dressed up in my shorts.” But, he adds, “There were not a lot of cars.” The event did not make much of an impression on the youngster. Although researchers report around 30 entries, Talbott remembers no more than 15. JULIAN P. GRAHAM : PEBBLE BEACH COMPANY LAGORIO ARCHIVES Cars cross the finish line on Portola Road. There were generally four races featuring cars of different classes.
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