CA (Shelby Memorial / San Juan)

I drove to Sacramento and met Ed at his place. From there, I left my Focus and hopped into Ed's GT. We met up with a few others along the way to San Jose, and because we were some of the last cars there, we were in the front row!

At San Jose was a nice memorial for Carroll Shelby. Hundreds of Shelbys of every year, color, make, model, and style were there.






















The national anthem was sung and a few speakers told stories about Carroll Shelby. Although he couldn't be there in person, Carroll's friend Bill Cosby had written a story that was told to us about a car that Shelby made special for him. (I don't know if any of you remember, but his custom Cobra was also the topic of one of his funny comedy shows.)




Following this, the drivers stood by their vehicles while a photographer high above the crowds in a tall crane took pictures of the group. Then, there was a moment of silence followed by a moment of noise (which was an intense 45 seconds when the drivers all got in their cars and revved them up, making as much sound as possible).



We all received a white rose to put on the cars, as well as a tribute brochure on Carroll Shelby and the itinerary for the day. The roses, stories, moment of silence/noise, and national anthem all sobered us, and reminded us that we were not just at huge Shelby car event, but remembering a great race car driver and designer.











This was our GT group - all except Ginger, who came to the memorial early and was stuck way in the back.




Some of our guys were being interviewed on the influence Carroll Shelby had on them.


During the memorial while walking around we ran into Ginger and her white GT. :)


Most of us had time to go to lunch, so we decided to meet up on the road by Ginger's place. Ed decided to led the pack. Everyone loves it when Ed leads, because unlike other boring cars, he goes through parking lots, side roads, does a few U-turns, back tracks, and takes the "scenic" route to get to his destination. Adds to the fun!!! (Not like I'm one to talk as I'm MUCH worse!)




How many suckers can you fit on a windshield? LOL


When we met up on the private road, we lined up the cars and took a few pictures.








This was Ed caught in an action shot after taking a challenging picture. :)






Rather than take 7 GTs to lunch, we left the GTs there, walked down to Ginger's place, saw a few of her exotics (all white of course), and hopped in an SUV.





We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table to open up, but lunch was great and the company was incredible! We especially liked all the stories from Ginger about her experiences with Luca Cordero di Montezemolo (from Ferrari). It was nice to have as many women as men in the group!


After lunch, we drove over to San Francisco to Clinton's place. His neighbor had a vineyard in his backyard.



Clinton was showing off his mad crazy skills at ping pong...I mean...table tennis. :)


Ginger was a rebel and took her Nissan GTR...or is it a Ford GT???





When we left Clinton's place, we headed back to Sacramento and ended the day with a nice dinner.