History cars of the Mexican road race....

and the people, too.

Found this on the web. Thanks, Smokey.

(If the print is too small, hit ctrl + )

http://www.smokeyyunick.com/SampleChapters/LaCarrera.pdf

 

Awesome. As a side note, a friend of mine's dad rode co-pilot and owned the Chrysler That was third across the finish line in the 1951 race behind two dedicated race cars. Bill Stirling was the driver and Robert Sandidge was the co-pilot. The amazing thing is that the Chrysler that they raced is still in a dilapidated garage here in El Paso's lower valley where it has sat since the 1951 race!

 

Fellow '54 Ford Club of America member Carson Scheller and his daughter/co-pilot Lauren competes in the PanAmericana on a yearly basis.

Here is a short video. HRP

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oRah9slQ-ZE?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

HRP - thanks for the video ! That's old time road racing -love it !

 

One of the Mercurys was being restored in Colorado a couple years ago but rumor has it being sold to a collector in either Italy or Holland in an unfinished state.
Thanks for posting this...a big fast American sedan with lots of HP and no brakes....what could be better?

 

It doesn't get much better than that. Nice video.

 

Thanks for the video!
Two things on the Bucket List. One is Bonneville, the other is Carrera.
I have a very solid '54 Buick Special in a friend's field waiting its turn for a Carrera build, which I plan to start next year.

-Brad

 

Kind and well deserved words from Smokey about Clay Smith.

 

kool you tube...ride along video ...."EL HILAIRE BUICK"......54 BUICK WITH RUMPY SB CHEVY N 5 SPEED.....LOL...PUMP THE VOLUME BUTTON AND FEEL THE FUN....love these vintage la carrera cars, read all about it as a kid......m 60 now......kewl stuff

 

The Ray Crawford/Rickey Iglesias 1954 winning Lincoln was in a museum in Reno last time I was there.
Rickey was a good friend of mine.

 

laughed my ass of reading the story, lotta interesting tales. mustve been somethin' racing like that. i cant even imagine it.

AWESOME video. i hope to compete in something like this one day. and a 50's ford passing a porsche, not a sight often seen in nature

 

What's the turn numbers she's calling out mean, 0, 1, 2, 3?

 

This will help explain the numbers.

Carson posted this on the '54 ford Club of American website when we ask the same question. HRP

regarding the co-pilot's/ navigators pace notes : every turn, curve, bridge, crest, cliff etc for all 3000 kms / seven days are noted in the navigators route book .

Each turn is rated 0 to 5 and left , right or straight w/ distance between. This is the info the pilot needs to maintain speed and gear selection or brake w/ down shift . Generally a 0 to 1 turn is flat out, a 2 is lift throttle , a 3 is brake w/ downshift , a 4 is harder brake w/ downshift and rarely see a 5 but = heavy brake and hope there is a guard rail . The pilot need absolute confidence in the co-pilot to maintain a smooth and quick special section . Many cars have gone "off" because of co-pilot errors and of course ...drivers errors .

Below is a example of one page.

The donkey at the bottom of the page doesn't need explanation.

 

Thanks!

 

Donkeys....... Classic

 

Hershel McGriff