Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion
Monterey Car Week

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is the beating heart of Monterey Car Week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca—historic racing brought to life on one of America’s great circuits. In 2024, it ran Wednesday through Saturday, August 14–17, with more than 400 entries across 13 race groups plus a Ragtime Racers class that turns the clock back a century. I worked the paddock and hillside in loops, letting the schedule dictate my rhythm: grids forming, warmup laps off the Corkscrew, cars returning hot and happy to open garages. It’s a museum in motion, and the camera has to move at the same pace.

I came as a guest of Cary Eisenlohr of Eisenlohr Racing—Gunther Werks’ suspension whisperer—and lucked into a proper paddock day. I also reconnected with Jay Eisenlohr, an old friend; one section of this gallery zeroes in on his rig and tent, the cars laid out like a rolling résumé. The shoot had a wrinkle: I’d dropped (and broken) my Canon R5 the night before, so the backup R7 had to carry the load—and did. I gravitated to the Porsche rows first: a run of 356s, then a rare GT2 tucked among modern track rubber. Beyond that, I let the soundtrack pick targets—Shelby Cobra Jet, a sweep of Mustangs, and lots of Fords lighting up the esses. It was a day of problem-solving and happy accidents, which is basically what keeps me coming back to Laguna Seca.

The Reunion is a living archive: period-correct race cars driven the way they were meant to be, amid a friendly festival environment. The paddock is the classroom—drivers and mechanics swapping stories while spectators walk within arm’s reach. That openness is by design; Laguna Seca frames the history lesson with a layout that rewards both the lens and the casual stroll: pit lane vistas, hillside overlooks, the Corkscrew as punctuation. It’s why I build a day around this event every year—cars in context, stories on the move, and a crowd that understands why the details matter.