Chris and Bruce on a mission

Dawn of the 2026 Mille Miglia’s Day 2 finds Padua’s Prato della Valle abuzz with vintage cars coming to life in various stages of mechanical crankiness, not unlike their drivers. With Day 1 behind them, every sleepy eyed participant understands that the thick of it awaits them. Chris and Bruce have found whatever level of comfort can be had in their diminutive 1948 Fiat 1100 S. Jeff and I have accepted, if not embraced, the random chaos that will accompany tracking Fiat #156 without benefit of the missing Support Car Road Book.

The adventure continues…

Mentor and Mentee Take on the Mille Miglia (Parte Tre)

Chris, Bruce with Fiat #156 at champagne celebration at end of 2026 Mille Miglia

Despite last night’s late arrival, Chris and the support team stand tall with a timely response to Wednesday morning’s early wake-up call. With Bruce cracking the time whip, all team members wolf down a quick breakfast. This jarring sunrise jolt into reality will quickly become the standard Fiat #156 team morning routine.

A symphony of throbbing engines bathe a field of priceless classic cars as they stream out of Padua’s historic Prato della Valle like spill from a breached dam. With Tuscany’s celebrated spa town, Montecatini Terme, the final destination at day’s end Day 2 of the Mille Miglia has begun. A midday breather for lunch awaits in Modena, epicenter of Italian car culture. Support crew teammates Jeff and I have given race participants time to clear the tight streets of Padua before we commence our shadowing of Fiat #156.

Houtkamp’s “pit crew”

Last night the Houtkamp technical crew spent hours beneath the stars and under the Fiat. Working feverishly beneath their well lit traveling “Pit” canopy they addressed the Fiat’s needs with a laser focus. A demanding Bruce with his Smoky Yunnick-like technical savvy had accurately diagnosed numerous problems from the passenger seat at speed. That said, was the old Fiat a disappointment? Well, maybe not, considering all that could go wrong with a 78-year old Fiat boasting the finest in 1930s technology while facing a rugged 5-day 1000 mile challenge. Carburetor issues led the parade of nagging faults. While mindful of the little Fiat’s needs, the primary focus of Bruce’s attention rested upon young Chris.

Bruce says, “Even for a young athletic individual like Chris, the Mille tests your ability to endure. You know, it tests how much gas you have in your tank. Not your car’s tank, your tank. The early start times and the long days behind the wheel of a cranky vintage car with no power assist anything can push you to the max. Especially over 5 days back to back, fatigue can become a factor.” As the days passed, events would seem to support Bruce’s observations.

Day 1 had presented Chris with a wealth of experiences useful in flagging areas in need of improvement and framing his expectations for the coming days. A bright lad, he quickly grasped that upping his game would demand refining his skill set. He also quickly picked up the vibe of what would be the millions of enthusiasts lining the roadways.

Chris says, “In my mind the cheers from the crowds spoke to the people’s admiration for the cars rather than the drivers.” Chris did note that not all reactions from the populace reflected admiration for these special cars and their special treatment. Chris says, “A majority of the local people graciously yielded to the police escorts that in many instances with their sirens and flashing lights pushed local traffic off onto the gravel shoulder in order to carve out a third middle lane for the Mille Miglia participants.” However, this did not always prove to be the case. Others Chris acknowledged offered less gracious acceptance during heavy highway traffic situations. With a tilt of his head and a raised eyebrow Chris says, “On the highway in heavy traffic, there were a few angry faces, probably on people heading home from work. I get it. Here we are splitting lanes and such. You know a police escort can be taken a few different ways.” Chris viewed the problem as not due to traffic caused by the Mille Miglia cars but by poor planning that routed the vintage participants thought normally congested thoroughfares.

Keeping our string of foodless lunches intact, Jeff and I in the big black well marked Volvo Mille Miglia support car once again had local police wave us off from lunch. This time rather than dining at the Military Academy of Modena, security cast us off into the hinterlands of Tuscany. Hey, how bad can that be? I reached out to chat with my Italian guide Geppetto. We nicknamed him ChatGPT. He knows everything. We asked for a superior casual dining experience on the way to Pistoia. Bingo, just like that came the answer to a hungry man’s dream; the highly recommended Vecchia Trattoria Romani. Tuscan dining delights here we come. Like a moth to a flame we had a single focus. However, like that stupid moth we would get burned; More on that later.

Alfa Romeo hits police motorcycle

At the same time we sped ahead with our taste buds and saliva glands prematurely triggered by gastronomical fantasies centered on dining in Tuscany, Chris was firing up the Fiat’s anemic 1100 cc 4-cylinder and heading south to the Apennine Mountains. Chris says, “The mountain roads were something like I’ve never driven on. There were long fast curves interrupted by very tight hairpin turns.” The best moments occurred when there wasn’t anybody in front of me. I must admit, at those times, I became a little frustrated as I had to remind myself that not every turn can be at 100%. Bruce certainly promoted mindfulness as a critical component of completing this historic event. A number of incidents highlighted the cost of losing focus. A 1956 Alfa Romeo pulled out to pass only to collide with one of the motorcycle police shepherding the vintage cars. The police officer did not appear badly hurt.

In another episode, the driver of a 1954 Talbot Lago lost control and flipped the mid-six figure rarity into a drainage ditch. Luckily other drivers came to the rescue by cutting the two inverted occupants out of their seat belts and dragging them from the partially submerged car. A final lack of mindfulness captured on video shows the driver of an early 1930’s Alfa Romeo

Rolled Talbot Lago

unsuccessfully attempting to navigate a sharp hairpin turn. Swinging wide the Alfa T-boned a BMW parked by the side of the road. However, it counter intuitively may have been the driver’s lucky day. The stationary BMW blocked the Alfa from plummeting down a steep drop off.

Mid-afternoon finds our intrepid 2-man support crew pulling into the handsome Vecchia Trattoria Romani. I wait there while Jeff pulls out for a moment to exchange some dollars for Euros at the local bank down the street. Entering the wonderfully ethnic restaurant it not only promises a feast for the taste buds but it surrounds me with an orchestration of sights and smells that leave no doubt as to this being exactly where we want to be. I look through the back of a dining room defined by beautifully fashioned woodwork to see tables on a sun drenched deck overlooking the fields of Tuscany.

I walk back out the front door to wait for Jeff. As I see the big black Volvo pull into the parking lot, I hear a click from behind me. I turn to see an older dark haired Italian woman dispassionately locking the front door behind me. It is 3:00 o’clock. I learn that many restaurants in Italy take a mid-day break. I also learn that the Italian word for closed is “chiuso.” We find that all other places to eat in town are also chiuso. In desperation we find an Italian “QuickyMart.” My lunch in Tuscany consisted of two energy bars washed down with a Sanpellegrino sparkling orange drink. Jeff opted for a bag of salad and a jar of olives that he ate with his fingers. Unexpected as this was, other surprises had been forcibly intruding into our team’s vision of what the Mille Miglia represented.

Supercars and hypercars clogging the Mille Miglia route

At the top of the surprises list towered the presence of modern supercars and hypercars dangerously interspersed among historic vehicles, vintage vehicles possessing technologies easily outdated by 70 even 90 years. A new Ferrari will stop from 60 mph in roughly 90 feet. Many of the cars running in the 2026 Mille Miglia might need nearly twice that distance. Some people view the presence of hypercars as a Mille Miglia money grab. 459 classic cars registered for the 2026 event. Clearly a big part of the draw for this very expensive experience resides in being a participant in a sort of gathering of the vintage car clan.

Apparently, the money waved by eager new Ferrari owners made adding a Ferrari Tribute Tour on the same day and the same course irresistible for the new keepers of the Mille Miglia flame. It seems lost on Mille Miglia management that a great brand needs to be nurtured not exploited. A brand is a promise. People capable and willing to pay six figures for an experience expect to get what they pay for. If disappointed, they can move on. There exist plenty of other experiences eager to attract their patronage. This diminution of the Mille Miglia brand introduced a flood of hypercars that shared the backroads with the historic cars upon which the Mille Miglia built its name.

On one very picturesque descending curve that crosses a viaduct I spent an hour trying to capture a photograph of at least three vintage cars descending the bend on their own. I had precious few opportunities to attempt that photo without a hypercar mucking up the shot. Hypercars in all their contemporary magnificence and glory created a sclerosis of the byway arteries that should be saved for the vintage cars that made it all meaningful. Otherwise, the future of the Mille Miglia holds no promise other than that of a five-city Italian “Cars and Cappuccino.”

Day 3 offered a glorious spectacle of Siena’s famous Piazza del Campo filling with row after row of the most remarkable cars to grace the first half of the 20^th century. The streets of Siena can best be described as cobblestone alleyways. People plastered themselves against ancient walls as a phalanx of hypercars and vintage cars sought designated parking areas. With no designated place for our Support Crew Volvo, I left Jeff to circle Siena like a plane in a hold over O’Hare. I wove my way through Siena’s corn maze of streets to photograph Fiat #156 with Chris and Bruce. I luckily found them departing the Piazza del Campo. They expressed no desire to linger even though a feast was set up for all drivers and crew. They came across as two men on a mission. And the mission was to return to the road. In the brief time I spoke with Chris he clearly had settled in. Chris says, “I’ve got to tell you it’s a whole lot of fun. My foot has the accelerator pinned for most of the race. The Fiat is a little sluggish uphill but as soon as we go downhill, I’m catching everybody.” Chris continues recounting his experiences with an infectious vigor and his eyes alive with excitement. Chris says, “I had this moment yesterday in the mountains where there were just enough corners to make the cars that were more expensive hit the brakes a little earlier. This 300SL blew by but about five minutes later, I was right on him.”

Piazza del Campo

Fiat #156 departing Piazza del Campo

Clearly, Chris has become comfortable behind the wheel of Fiat #156. Chris says, “I feel that I have a pretty good grasp of where I should be on the road and when I should hit the brakes or if I should hit the brakes. It’s surprisingly capable.” In his final comment before being waved out of the piazza Chris says, “It’s just fun at this point. I’m having a blast.”

Each day brought new insights that expanded Chris’s perspective on what he was experiencing. Early in the week college student Chris harbored some doubts about this being an event solely for the benefit of “rich guys.” Then came a Ferrari inspired epiphany that changed his mind.

Chris says, “There was a moment today. Three vintage Ferraris passed me at blistering speed and I got chills. And as they went by, I saw the faces of the bystanders. I saw pure joy in their faces. That was the exact same feeling that I felt. Then it hit me. This event gives substance to a sense of national identity. The Italian cars with their rich history fly by and not at parade lap speeds, but at real speed; I believe the Mille Miglia cements a bond between the Italian people and their proud history of automotive excellence. It’s like their 4^th of July.”

For five days this traveling museum tracks from Brescia to Rome and back again. In that time it traces a figure eight across Italy while visiting some of the nation’s most iconic cities.

Like all parties, even great ones, the end arrives. On Day 5 Fiat #156 with Chris at the wheel returned to Brescia to descend the ramp at Viale Venezia and complete the 2026 Mille Miglia. Departing the ramp, Fiat #156 faced a shower of celebratory champagne courtesy of Rutger Houtkamp and the Fiat #156 support crew.

Having come full circle, the team gathered around Fiat #156 with the Villa Fenarilo Palace Hotel in the background. The proud little Fiat had just notched its fourth completed Mille Miglia. Bruce speaking of Chris says, “He did very well. He has skill and he listened. It makes for a good driver.” Bruce being Bruce caps his remarks saying, “We made it across the podium. Thank you God.”

Reflecting on the now completed experience, Chris says, “Absolutely magical. There is no other way to describe it.” He continues saying, “I was talking to another driver about this. I couldn’t explain my feelings of being in the car, it’s different. It’s like being in one of those Villages, watching the cars rip past, but you’re in the best seat and you’re having the most fun.

That evening, the Houtkamp organization hosted a wonderful dinner under the stars for all their teams. By sheer happenstance, I found John Johnson, Chris’s father, seated across from me. Here sat the man who years ago entertained a dream for his very young son to drive the Mille Miglia one day. Now as a young man, the son had realized that dream. In a quiet moment I asked John who had been diagnosed with cancer and given little time to live 10 years ago his feelings that evening. He beamed an honest smile that creased his eyes and said, “I am so happy. I could not be more pleased with this experience.”

Video of Alfa Romeo T-boning a  BMW on hairpin turn

Drivin’ News will take the next few weeks off for vacation and story acquisition.

As the old song goes “See You in September.”