Peering forward along Brian Blain’s long blue hood, I could see far back into the past. That square radiator cowl shouldering the air aside, those high, wood-spoked wheels whirling along the whizzing road, my boot planted firmly on a stout bronze stirrup to jam my butt into the buckboard-like seat; I could see it all from my precarious perch atop this nearly naked 1916 National racecar, and everything I saw gave me new eyes for what it meant to be…

The author gets a thrilling ride as Brian Blain’s “mechanician” on his 1916 National, at this year’s Monterey Historics.