Carrera Panamericana Mexico

The last Carrera Panamericana Mexico was held in 1954. The time has shown that the races were extremely influential in the development of motor racing.

In 1950 it seemed to be just a crazy idea of the Mexicans to bring public attention to their recently completed section of the Panamerican Highway which crossed the country from north to south for a total distance of convert|3300|km|mi.

First Race 1950

The first of five races was held in May, 1950 and was entered by racers from all over the world from virtually every motor sport specialty: Formula One, International Rallies, Hot Rodders, stock car racing, endurance racing and drag racing. This is the only racing series ever to do this, making it very special in the history of motor sport.

The first race was held from north to south, beginning in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, across the international border from El Paso, Texas, and finishing in El Ocotal, Chiapas, (now known as Cd. Cuauhtemoc) on the Guatemala-Mexico border opposite from La Mesilla, Guatemala. One segment was run each day for six consecutive days for the 3,300 kilometers.

The first four places were won by American cars and American drivers. The winner, Hershel McGriff drove an Oldsmobile 88 at an average speed of convert|142|km/h|mph|abbr=on. The best placed European car was an Alfa Romeo driven by world-famous Italian driver, Felice Bonetto.

1951

The following year, 1951, the race was run from south to north, starting in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, and finishing in Ciudad Juarez, due to the meager accommodations available for race officials, drivers, crews and press in El Ocotal. By this time a serious entry was made by Ferrari and although these did not technically satisfy the requirements of the touring car category, the Italians were permitted to compete anyway. Although the first two places were predictably won by Ferraris driven by Piero Taruffi and Alberto Ascari, third and fourth places were won by ordinary American motor cars. Bill Stirling, a salesman from El Paso, Texas won third place in a Chrysler Saratoga and well-known race car driver Troy Ruttman won fourth overall in a flat head Mercury which he reportedly had bought for $1,000 on a used car lot in El Monte, California. In spite of this he was able to defeat several of the Factory Lancias and Ferraris.

1952

By 1952, the major automobile manufacturers had taken notice of the race and Mercedes Benz sent a highly organized group of people and autos to the race. First and second places were won by Karl Kling and Herman Lang driving the now legendary 300SL. This group may well have won the first three places had American John Fitch not been disqualified for permitting a mechanic to touch his 300SL on the second to last day. The sports cars were now run in a separate category from the passenger cars and the American cars no longer had to compete directly against the exotic European specialty cars. American Chuck Stevenson won the touring car class in a Lincoln Capri.

1953

1953 was similar to the previous year except that by now there were four categories: sports cars under and over 1600cc and passenger cars under and over 3500cc. Both Lincoln and Lancia came to the race highly organized and both factories swept first second and third places in their respective categories. This was the year of the Americans. Large sports cars were won by Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina in a Lancia, small sports cars were won by Jose Herrarte from Guatemala in a Porsche. Large passenger cars were won by Chuck Stevenson of the United States in a Lincoln and small passenger cars by C.D. Evans of the U.S. in an ordinary six cylinder Chevrolet. Stevenson was the only person to ever win twice in this most difficult race.

1954

By 1954 the race had become highly technical and the final stage was won by race winner, Italian, Umberto Maglioli in a Ferrari at an amazing average speed of convert|222|km/h|mph a convert|365|km|mi|sing=on stage. Phil Hill won second place in another Ferrari with Ray Crawford winning the passenger car class in a Lincoln. Two new classes were in effect in 1954. The European stock car class was won by Italian Sanesi in an Alfa Romeo and the small U.S. stock car class was won by Tommy Drisdale in a Dodge. Californian hot rodder Ak Miller became famous by winning fifth place in his Oldsmobile powered 1927 Ford.

During the years the race was held, automobile racing had undergone an amazing technical transformation to emerge as an advanced science. The speeds had almost doubled but safety controls remained approximately at the same level as before and many people were killed during the race including competitors, spectators and safety control personnel.

Entrants

The race saw famous people from different forms of auto racing converge in one event making an interesting mix of competitors. Not surprisingly they all did well and the fact that American Troy Ruttman in a 1948 Mercury purchased off a used car lot giving serious competition to a world champion in a Ferrari was extremely interesting to everybody who knew about these things.

A few of the famous names involved in the race were:
*Bill France, future president of NASCAR along with Curtis Turner and Marshal Teague from stock car racing.
*Mickey Thompson, Clay Smith and Ak Miller from hot rodding.
*Carol Shelby, Tony Bettenhausen, and Jerry Unser from open wheel Indy type cars
*Future Formula One champion Phil Hill
*John Trevoux, Robert Manzon, Louis Chiron from France, winners of the 24 hours of Le Mans as well as major international rallies
*Herman Lang, Karl Kling and Hans Hermann from Germany.
*Alberto Ascari, Piero Taruffi, Umberto Maglioli and Felice Bonetto, all already famous Italians.

These were the best in the world at that time and even fifty-some years later it is acknowledged that these are key people in the formation of modern motor racing.

The race was finally suspended after it was held five times. 1955 had been a tragic year in motor racing. 27 people had died during the five years of the Panamericana and more than 80 people perished in an accident at the 24 hours of Lemans that year. All of these factors contributed to the permanent discontinuation of the race. It was no longer held in 1955.

The race is no more but it seems to be on its way to becoming a legend.

There now is a modern version of the Panamericana in which vintage autos compete in a replica of this race but it is more of a road rally than an outright road race.

References

All of the above is verifiable information. Most information has been obtained by personal interviews as well as from: The Carrera Panamericana Mexico, Compiled by R.M. Clark, Brooklands Books, Ltd. (no publishing date) ISBN 1 85520 4126