Recent Blogs
A Return Visit To Carmel Lodge
By James Raia| 11/26/2007Taking The Time To See The Beauty Of San Luis Reservoir
By James Raia| 11/25/2007Scott Simpson: On Golf, Wine, Miracles And Christ
By James Raia| 09/5/2007English Ales Brewery: Marina's Oasis For All That Ales Ya On The Monterey Peninsula
By James Raia| 09/4/2007A Cheers Bar (Brophy's Tavern) In Carmel-By-The-Sea
By James Raia| 06/29/2007Recent News
Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway Has Expanded 2008 Motorsports Schedule
- Published 02/14/2008
The 2008 season at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will feature the best in motorcycle,
historic, sports car and, after a three-year hiatus, open-wheel racing,
on the 2.238-mile Monterey Peninsula circuit in Monterey.
The 52nd season of racing begins May 16-18, with the new Monterey Festival of Speed, a doubleheader weekend featuring the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series on Saturday and the Champ Car World Series on Sunday.
The event will mark the fourth consecutive year for Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype and GT cars in Monterey, while the Champ Cars are returning after a three-year absence.
The 52nd season of racing begins May 16-18, with the new Monterey Festival of Speed, a doubleheader weekend featuring the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series on Saturday and the Champ Car World Series on Sunday.
The event will mark the fourth consecutive year for Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype and GT cars in Monterey, while the Champ Cars are returning after a three-year absence.
Featured Articles
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Announces 2008 Festival Of Speed Schedule
- By James Raia
- Published 03/5/2008
- Sporting Scene
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca has the complete schedule for the Monterey Festival of Speed weekend, May 16-18.
Four different race series will participate in the weekend’s events including the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Series Powered by Mazda, Formula BMW Americas, and the latest addition to the schedule, Historic IMSA cars from the 1970s and 1980s.
Four different race series will participate in the weekend’s events including the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Series Powered by Mazda, Formula BMW Americas, and the latest addition to the schedule, Historic IMSA cars from the 1970s and 1980s.
Lowery Claims AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; Singh Crumbles
- By James Raia
- Published 02/13/2008
- Sporting Scene
Steve Lowery, the 47-year-old possessor of a scraggly goatee, protruding belly and a steady putter, is now also owner of his third PGA Tour title.
Lowery, whose last victory occurred eight seasons and 198 tournaments ago, rallied from a three-stroke, back-nine deficit Sunday to claim a one-stroke playoff victory over Vijay Singh at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Lowery, whose last victory occurred eight seasons and 198 tournaments ago, rallied from a three-stroke, back-nine deficit Sunday to claim a one-stroke playoff victory over Vijay Singh at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Recent Articles
A Look Back At Monterey Auto Week: Jay Leno, The Quail, The Concours d'Elegane & Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca
- By James Raia
- Published 09/4/2007
- Special Features
About the time Jay Leno and friend arrived in a chocolate-brown vintage Bentley sedan, 78-year-old Mike McNally had likely fixed the persistent oil leak in his 1931 Riley Port Ford.
Leno, comedian, late-night talk show host and obsessed automobile motorcycle owner and enthusiast, doesn’t know McNally. But while Leno was meandering through an early morning crowd on a pristine Friday morning at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, McNally, of Sacramento, California was tinkering.
A race car driver for more than 50 years, McNally was finally set to compete on Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway after spending a few days practicing, prepping and fixing the oil leak with a few cranks of an oversized crescent wrench.
Leno, owner of more than 80 cars — Duesenbergs to a Honda Insight hybrid — and McNally, an independent owner/driver/mechanic, couldn't be further apart in the world of automobile ownership. Yet Leno and McNally were solidly connected, just like the thousands of others who attended Monterey Auto Week.
Whether to gawk or bid on a Berlinetta Lusso, the Ferrari 250GT once owned by actor Steve McQueen or to appreciate a restored 1946 Ford Woodie, what began 57 years ago as a centrally located display of rare automotive works of art at Pebble Beach Golf Links, is now something substantially more. It's a weeklong extravaganza of all things automobile.
Leno, comedian, late-night talk show host and obsessed automobile motorcycle owner and enthusiast, doesn’t know McNally. But while Leno was meandering through an early morning crowd on a pristine Friday morning at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, McNally, of Sacramento, California was tinkering.
A race car driver for more than 50 years, McNally was finally set to compete on Laguna Seca Mazda Raceway after spending a few days practicing, prepping and fixing the oil leak with a few cranks of an oversized crescent wrench.
Leno, owner of more than 80 cars — Duesenbergs to a Honda Insight hybrid — and McNally, an independent owner/driver/mechanic, couldn't be further apart in the world of automobile ownership. Yet Leno and McNally were solidly connected, just like the thousands of others who attended Monterey Auto Week.
Whether to gawk or bid on a Berlinetta Lusso, the Ferrari 250GT once owned by actor Steve McQueen or to appreciate a restored 1946 Ford Woodie, what began 57 years ago as a centrally located display of rare automotive works of art at Pebble Beach Golf Links, is now something substantially more. It's a weeklong extravaganza of all things automobile.
Sustainability: It's A Lot More Than Meat & Potatoes
- By James Raia
- Published 06/3/2007
- Special Features
Cooking Solutions
2007, an outgrowth of the Seafood Watch program ochestrated by the
Monterey Bay Aquarium, was held in mid-May, and featured the
sponsorship of Bon Appetit Management Company, Whole Foods, Inc.,
Earthbound Farm and many additional restaurants, wineries and other
food product companies concerned about sustainability and organics.The goal of the yearly three-day conference, according to program literature, is "to raise consumer awareness about the connection between individual seafood choices and the health of ocean ecosystems; and to transform the seafood market so that it favors sustainable fisheries and fish farming.
As a newcomer to organics and sustainability, I wrote this essay following the conference. It details my childhood raised in a family where good food ruled, but also at a time when sustainability and organics weren't yet in the public consciousness.