Earle stays with Monterey Historics for another year

Maybe the 2010 Historics won't be so different after all.

Last week, the day after the Monterey Historics concluded, founder and producer Steve Earle announced that he and his company, General Racing, would no longer be producing that well-loved event. But on Thursday, in an interesting change, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca announced that Earle will be one of five selection-committee members planning next year's Monterey Historics race.

The selection committee will chose which marques, classes and cars will race at the storied track on Aug. 13-15, 2010. There was no mention made of plans for 2011 and beyond.

The other four members of the selection committee are Amelia Island Concours founder and chairman Bill Warner, racer and race-car restorer Bruce Canepa, longtime automotive PR guy and former journalist Jay Amestoy, and well-regarded automotive writer/photographer John Lamm.

Earlier this year, on June 22, officials of another General Racing event, the Coronado Festival of Speed in San Diego, announced that the Historic Motorsports Association would be running that show this year. The Coronado Festival of Speed will take place on Sept. 26-27 at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, across the bay from San Diego.

Earle's General Racing will still produce the Wine Country Classic, another race for historic automobiles, at Infineon Raceway in early June 2010.

By Mark Vaughn