As a resident of the Pacific NW the last 40 years, I have read with great
interest the comments on Pete Lovely and Monte Shelton-two legendsB on the
West Coast.B
As Bill Babcock pointed out, they are both very accomplished racers. In fact,
I have an old Sports Car Illustrated in my files from the late 50's or early
60'sB which has a picture of Pete somewhere in Europe with the Lotus Gran Prix
team. Apparently , he was a good enough racer to draw the attention of Lotus
and had an extended trial with them. Actually ran some races in what is now
F1.B He has a gorgeous well endowed blond with him in the photo. I believe
this lady turned out to be his wife Nevely whom I met at a party in Tacoma in
the early 1980's. What drew my attention to her was the shirt she was wearing.
On the front of the shirt was the rear end of a car with two round red
taillights blinking in a provocative location. Nevely passed away a few years
ago.
Some other tidbits on Pete, he won the first ever professional race at Laguna
Seca . My first Monterey Historics was in 94 when Ferrari was the featured
marque and he was racing his recently restored Testa Rossa . I marvelled how
precise of a driver he was as he shifted at the exact same spot from 2nd to
3rd on the straight lap after lap. He won his race, cleaned up the TR and took
it to Pebble the next day and won his class there! He had a VW dealership in
Fife, WA (suburb of Tacoma)B for many years which he sold, but kept the
buildings and property and leased them to a " Datsun " dealer and then a Volvo
dealership. Not sure if he still owns the property. As Charly Mitchel pointed
out, Carlos and his brother Leno still run Alfa of Tacoma in a building owned
by Pete and I believe he still owns the shop run by Carlos.
Monte is a Porsche legend from the 70's and 80's running 911 RSR's and 935's,
etc. His son Neal is also an outstanding driver and probably could have gone
pro but manages the family car business in downtown Portland. When I had a
business meeting with Neal about ten years ago, he toured me through their
dealership and garage in the back street. Great race cars, rare classics from
the 30's and even a TR4 with under 10K miles! Not sure if he still has the
TR.B Shelton MotorsB still sell Jags and Saabs and Monte and Neal share a
Porsche 962 in vintage IMSA races.
The thing that always impressed me about the Pete and Neal was their
accessibility and friendliness.
John James
TR4
#116
B
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