Chuck, Jim, Brian, etc:
You're right about "Monte of Italy" being a character. If you were to see or meet him, you'd say, "Naah, he's not a bike guy." or something of that sort. Looked like a supreme couch potato before we had that sort of lingo... perhaps a Nascar guy, definitely not a bike guy! Yet, we in Aspen thought that Monte must have had some friends in high places as he personally brought over bikes from Italy, from that "hole-in-the-wall shop" of Masi-- at least my uncle, a United Air Lines (it was 3 words then) pilot engaged him in conversations on various times they hooked up coming back to town.
I did not know Mario, but I think I do remember the time that happened over at Sherpa. Chuck, it's really too bad you don't have the newspaper's date. Was it around the time of one of the old Aspen Alpine 300 or whatever it was called back then-- the stage race that went over Independence Pass and eventually after much more alpine scenery, wound its way to Vail to Glennwood and then to Aspen? It WAS the premier USA road race until some upstarts in Boulder started the Zinger. (Anybody have one of the posters for the original one?)
Sherpa Sports was a block away from my uncle's and I would go over there to window gaze even though I was learning to build wheels, etc at another establishment. Sherpa was the outfit that first brought in Guerciotti when they had beautiful and artsy head badges-- at least I thought so. As an aside, a few years ago when MTBing in Crested Butte with some families from Switzerland (one guy's son raced for Durango-based Team Yeti out of Durango and they were in the states for cheap MTB equipment-- Swiss Franc/US Dollar ratios), the topic at breakfast was Guerciotti and this guy knew the principles involved in the entire operation from the beginning. Said they sold nearly all the production stateside. An exception to the sell locally thread also going here.
Jaskit (Jasjit- or something like that) Grewal was quite a great rider, especially for his age, as well. He did wonderfully well in the Aspen race-- against some good competition-- John Howard, Mike Neel, Geo Mount, etc. Did not hurt that he was pre-acclimatized to the elevations. I remember Alexi (I think, there were brothers, too) on a 24" Guerciotti when I'd come off the afternoon Independence-as-far-as Difficult Campground ride on my Peugeot. The family was into healthy food, too. Mom ran the Little Kitchen over near the Wheeler Opera House back in the day. Great food.
Ken Wehrenberg, Hermann, MO but in Santa Barbara for a while now-- remembering summers during high school and college-- the Aspen Music Festival and the bike scene....