In June of 1978, Gary and Evelyn Corbitt, Joe and Terri Gage and Suzanne and I came to Monte Carlo for the Grand Prix. We had a very long connection in London's Heathrow (Officially my LEAST favorite airport on the planet) and arrived very tired. Uncle John (owner of INTRANSIT Travel, SF) had made all the arrangements and reservations.
Upon arrival, Joe, Terri, Gary and Evelyn were given room keys and off they went. I was informed that no reservation had been made in my name! Would I please have a seat and wait while they attempted to find ANY ROOM for me since they were totally full for the GP> Great, I am somewhere between still drunk and the place I call "leftover," which is the stage before a hangover officially occurs....I am in a French speaking town, late at night without a place to sleep and EVERY ROOM is booked for miles and miles since the Grand Prix begins in 2 days... WOW Thanks Uncle John!
The desk clerk came over to apologize for the delay and informed me that the ONLY ROOM available was under repair and would take some time to get ready for me. Time for another drink...or four! Fortunately The Loews Hotel has several bars that remain open until 6AM.
After resigning myself to the fact that I will reside in a leaky room in the basement and having a cocktail or two,( for medicinal purposes only) the clerk appeared and told us he would show us to our room. Feeling a bit better now we followed him to a hotel door. When he opened the door, I was in AWE. The lights were on, the drapes pulled back to show our balcony, which was 3rd floor, right above the letters "es" on the Firestone banner pictured below! SCORE A BIG ONE for UNCLE JOHN. I have no idea how he accomplished this, since the entire third floor was reserved for Race Vendors, Michellan, Gitanes etc. We had THE PREMIER Room for viewing the race....
The next morning, as we walked down the street, a BMW startled us as it screeched to a halt right beside us! The driver jumped out and shouted "RIP" It was Mario Padilla, a friend from college that lives in Mexico City! PARTY ON............
The races started the next day. At what felt like 6AM, with my balcony door wide open, after a late night in the clubs, the Formula 1's began practice! Loud, oh yea! Mario showed up with Champagne and proceeded to pop the cork...onto the track! Yes we were that close. He also brought a bottle of Zabrowka Polish Vodka. This is the Vodka with the Buffalo grass in it. I drink this brand to this day. I don't know if it's the Zabrowka or the fact that it was 8AM, but he insisted that we each have 1 shot. WOW The effect of that shot proved to be like an "E Ticket" ride at Disneyland. The races were incredible and the nightlife beyond description...
After the Grand Prix was over (5 days) we all went to a ledgendary restaurant on the Gran Corniche called Le Ferm or the farm. The first time we went there, the waiters asked to take our jackets and when they returned to begin service, THEY WERE WEARING THEM! Just the kinda place it was.
On the way home, with Gary driving, as we approached Monaco and the race course, I suggested that we "race it." When we passed a motorcycle cop on the side of the road, Gary became concerned but I assured him that these police didn't have radios or a way to catch us. ( To this day Gary swears that I flipped off the cop) Off we sped and it's valid to note here that Gary has always driven VERY FAST! As we passed the casino where we had slowed due to traffic, a policeman was waving cars to move on.....until he saw us and simply motioned us to pull over... Hmmmm? About 5 MINUTES LATER THE MOTORCYCLE COP "We Passed" earlier WALKED UP TO GARY'S WINDOW (with a large Motorola Radio on his hip) and said simply, "Monsieur, ze gran prix, she is fini" At this point, Suzanne, Joe, Terri, Evelyn and I bailed out of the car since we were close to home. This of course pleased Gary to no end! He talked his way out of the ticket somehow and I have still not heard the last of this incident.
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