Rich Pepe and his best friend Frank DiPaola founded the Carmel Mission Classic, a Concours event that is held during Car Week in August at the 300-year-old Spanish Mission in Carmel, California. He is a retired New York City Police Department officer who has worked as an EMT, in law enforcement and the highway patrol. He caught the car bug early in life and his quest to go fast came in handy while working in the highway patrol. He started organizing car shows in the parking lot of St. Columbanus Church. That lead to the Carmel Mission Classic and they have raised close to a quarter million dollars for the Knights of Columbus and their charities. Pretty cool for two kids from Brooklyn. He also put together the unique Peekskill Vintage Grand Prix on the banks of the Hudson River. Today, Rich works at Deutsche Bank overseeing Health & Safety for all of the bank’s offices located throughout the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Rich’s motto is, “Cars are made to be driven.”
