As I arrived at trackside for the Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races I got a whiff of Castrol R racing oil and heard the sound of a 1960's Cooper Monaco at speed. For a moment I felt tears of nostalgia and had a lump in my throat. Vintage racing can do that to you. The Monterey Historics are arguably the largest in North America, with over three days of racing and dozens of competing cars in an amazing variety of classes reaching all the way back to the 20's and even earlier. The lineup includes fifty years of F1 cars, famous sports-racers, and the thundering Trans Am cars. This is no parade; the drivers are serious and provide some fabulous entertainment. Regrettably the Laguna Seca organisers refused me a media pass because I'm not a member of the "mainstream media," a prejudice we Internet reporters sometimes face, so I was unable to get exciting action shots. But I did my best and one of the nice things about vintage racing is that anyone can wander through the paddock, thus allowing me to take this photo of a very quick 1962 Lotus 23.