Every year, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion brings together some of the rarest, most valuable, and best known vintage race cars from all over the world. We’re talking about literally millions of dollars in vintage racers rubbing shoulders on the famed Laguna Seca Raceway in California. And every year, a different vintage car is the center of attention.

In 2012, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion will celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra. Autoblog reported on this video of Ford’s VP of Global Marketing, Jim Farley, who got the opportunity to take a rare U.S. Road Racing Championship Cobra around Laguna Seca at this year’s Motorsports Reunion. Road & Track got this footage and was kind enough to share it with the world.

The 50^th anniversary of the Shelby Cobra is kind of a big deal, both for Shelby owners, and for Ford itself. The original Cobra set the automotive world on fire, and set the pace for sports cars over the next decade. So it makes sense that Farley, a well-known car guy, would want to be on the ground at Monterey for the 2012 Motorsports Reunion.

That means getting in some practice laps in an authentic Cobra. And as this video shows, Farley is no slouch when it comes to racing some vintage muscle machines. We can’t wait to see the Cobra’s 50^th anniversary celebration come next August.