This year’s J.C Agajanian Award is given to The Telluride Autumn Classic. The event was launched in 2015 as the Telluride Festival of Cars and Colors. Festival Founders Ray and Anita Cody, along with friends Rob and Sindy Lindow, saw a need for a late September event in Telluride, a town known for its ski resort and summer festival community. They created a Festival that has grown to include a Concours d’ Elegance staged on the Telluride Golf Course, display shows staged on Main Street and other venues in town, a Fine Art Festival, Casino Night, and Road Rally events. More recent expansion of the event’s reach to include motorcycles and airplanes has broadened the event’s appeal to an even larger audience.
That first event drew a total of 36 cars, including several non-operable models that were pushed onto the 18th hole of the Golf course for the Concours event. Porsche had just released their 918 Spyder Supercar in the US that year, and two were owned by Telluride residents who entered their cars in the festival, along with a rare 904 Porsche with racing pedigree. The snowcapped mountains and the forest in full fall color provided amazing photo opportunities that were perfect for marketing the new event.
The Festival immediately attracted significant media interest, and a BBC film crew attended the event in its second year to create an episode of Incredible Rides, which aired throughout their network affiliates in Europe. Further media exposure occurred when Dennis Gage chose the event as the subject of his My Classic Car program, and the episode has since run in syndication on Velocity and Motortrend cable networks. As word spread about Cars and Colors, an increasing number of great cars and interested owners became part of the event. The Classic Car Club of America made the Telluride their annual autumn caravan destination, and McClaren chose to launch their new Arturo model at the festival in 2021 as the festival grew in size and popularity each year.
The pandemic of 2020 presented an unexpected challenge. The Telluride Festival of Cars and Colors was cancelled, and the shutdown allowed event management staff to retool and change to a new name: The Telluride Autumn Classic. The event had grown to be more than just Cars and Colors; it had evolved into a celebration of the Rocky Mountain lifestyle, featuring specialty automobiles, aircraft, and motorcycles, along with wine, spirits, and great food. With a new logo, new name and reinvigorated spirit, the expanded platform was introduced in 2021. Today the event staff is proud of the Festival’s status as a premiere automotive destination event while showcasing the beauty of Telluride and the Colorado mountains.
In recognition of this achievement and its positive impact on the Colorado Motorsports community, the Telluride Autumn Classic was into the Colorado Motorsports Hall of Fame with the 2024 J.C. Agajanian Award.
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