Uncorked at Laguna Seca

There was huge machine gun strapped to the car on my left. I sat there thinking about what I was about to do and how I can potentially mess up. The CHP car started to move toward the track. I did my best to hold the flag straight up and down. I tried to fasten it to the side of the door with my leg, but the weight of the pole made this too hard. The officers assured me we wouldn’t go to fast, but I knew even 40 miles an hour around the track would be hard and most likely cause me pain.

The sound of unrestricted race cars, the smell of racing gas, riding around the track in a CHP car and the feeling of being surrounded by millions of dollars is how I spent last weekend.

At Lagua Seca raceway there was an event called Uncorked. It was a no noise restriction event put on by Club Auto Sport, an elite club for the wealthier car junkies. All the proceeds of the event went to the Monterey SPCA.

There were many racing events this weekend. There was a historic Nascar race where people who now own actual Nascars, signed by the original driver, raced. Another event that took place was called, “Ride of Your Life”, where people previously bid on EBay for the chance to ride as a passenger on the racetrack. The cars of choice were the Bugatti Veyron and a Nascar with Danny Sullivan as the driver, multiple winner of the Indy 500.

I arrived at the track before most of the Club Auto Sport crew, so I was awe struck when at 6:00pm Friday night million dollar RVs around 60 feet long, towing 40 foot trailers started showing up. Once they started unloading, the gems inside the trailers started appearing, Ferraris, Porches, Lamborghinis, Nascars and Indy Cars.

This event was free to the public, and took place Saturday and Sunday. However, I didn’t just come to the event as a member of the public. I grew up going to this track, track days, motorcycle races and charity events. My connection is one of the most well connected men in professional Motorcycle racing at the highest level. He is a good family friend who used to manage Kenny Roberts, a World champion. This man happened to be in charge of the motorcycle portion of the event so I was there as his guest.




Around lunchtime another family friend who is a CHP officer rode his R1 replica CHP bike around the track along with two other CHP officers. They went out for the national anthem holding flags. I rode in the passenger seat of the CHP car and held the flag. The flag was attached to a 10 foot tall PVC pipe and was very difficult to hold going around a racetrack, but it was definitely worth the muscle cramps experienced later. Laguna Seca is such a fun track to be on. My favorite part is the corkscrew, where you twist around at the same time as dropping two stories. This is the part of the track where motorcycle riders usually get air.

This event was amazing; it’s not every day that I have to get out of the way of a nascar coming of the track. The only downside was the charity of choice. The Monterey SPCA refused to come to the event which angered many of the higher-ups. The unofficial total raised for them was over 100,000 dollars and they didn’t seem to care, but they will pick a new charity for next year.



As we rounded turn 10 I knew the lap was going to end soon, just one more turn and we would pull off. By this point the muscles in my arm were burning, but I knew I could hold on for a couple more seconds. The flag was lifting of the ground fighting with me to be set free, but as the pace car that was once leading us pulled of the track I knew I did it.