FCA-SW and Road Kings Picinic at Santa Anita Park

Article and photos by Demetri Zafiris

I would like to thank the Road Kings of Burbank for their invitation for our Club to join them at Santa Anita Park on Sunday, October 14th to participate in their annual car show.

David Frith-Smith and Al Giddens couldn?t do enough to make us feel welcome. The Ferraris were the only cars allowed center stage by the water fountain... a very special place.

There were over 500 cars in attendance. We were to place our cars before 9:30 AM. The first of our group to arrive was Michel Gensini with his 1990 Testarossa. The only problem encountered was that the ramp to the placement area was not long enough so that the TR could not enter without scraping the front end. Park maintenance was called and 2x4s plus plywood sheets allowed just enough clearance to carefully drive up the ramp. Thanks to Marshall Leib?s excellent directions, the cars were all in place on time.

An interesting event took place while Michel Gensini was waiting for the maintenance people to arrive. A vendor who does the detailing for the Road King members and makes his own polish was anxious to show a customer the benefits of his service and used Michel?s TR as a demo. Before Michel could stop him, he had started to polish a small area on the car. Three Road King members standing nearby immediately told the vendor to stop since most Ferrari owners are extremely particular as to who works on their car.

I later found out Michel does his own detail work and that he was judged at Concorso Italiano this August and received a gold award. Michel was the perfect gentleman and accepted the vendor?s apology; he had never encountered any Ferrari owners before, and I?m sure he learned a valuable lesson.

Included in our gift pack was a Daily Racing Form, a dash plaque and a collector?s poster. At 10:30 AM we had a handicapping seminar from an employee of The Racing Form to help us pick winners during the day?s racing. The first race was at 12:15. Lunch tickets were included with our entrance fee.

Besides racing, the day?s activities were raffles for various automotive products, T-shirt and giveaways.

Our cars were judged by a restorer and member of the Road KIngs, Mike Fennell who has restored Ferraris, and currently has an automobile collection of 80 various makes.

Three awards were presented:

First Place - Bill Kling, 1972 Daytona Spyder
Second Place - Bradley Baum, 1971 Dino 246
Third Place - Michel Gensini, 1990 Testarossa

After the last race at 5:15 it was time to go home... what a traffic jam: 500 cars all trying to exit under the track through a tunnel wide enough for only one car. Marshall Leib and I both appreciate everyone?s participation for a wonderful day.

---