1950 After the 2,178 mile (3,507 kilometer) north-south Mexican section of the
Pan-American Highway was completed in 1950, a nine-stage, five-day race across the country was organized by the national government to celebrate its achievement and attract international business. The 1950 race ran almost entirely along the new roadway. The first of five annual races began on May 5, 1950, and was entered by racers from all over the world representing virtually every
motor sport: Formula One, sports cars, rallying, stock cars, endurance racing, hill climbing, and drag racing. Because it started at the border with Texas, it was especially attractive to all types of American race drivers from
Indy cars to
NASCAR.
Bill France Sr., the founder of
NASCAR, was there for the first race as well as later races. The Mexican government's representatives worked closely with the
American Automobile Association and other motor sports groups in the United States to organize and promote the event which was limited to stock sedans with five seats.
Piero Taruffi and
Felice Bonetto, both Italian F1 drivers, entered a pair of
Alfa Romeo coupes specially constructed for the event. However, many of the 132 competitors were ordinary unsponsored citizens from the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere. The entrants included nine women drivers. The first race ran from north to south beginning in
Ciudad Juárez,
Chihuahua, across the
international border from
El Paso, Texas, and finishing in
Ciudad Cuauhtémoc,
Chiapas (formerly known as El Ocotal) on the
Guatemala–Mexico border opposite from
La Mesilla,
Guatemala. The event comprised nine "legs" or stage. At least one leg was run each day for five consecutive days. The elevation changes were significant: from to above sea level, requiring among other modifications the
rejetting of carburetors to cope with
thinner air. Most of the race was run between and . 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 . The car cost McGriff and his partners only $1,900, when the winner's purse was 150,000 pesos (around $17,200 U.S. dollars). Though less powerful than its big
Lincoln and
Cadillac competitors, the car was substantially lighter. This meant that it would eventually pull away from them on the steep, winding course. The car's light weight gave it another advantage: it was much easier to stop, meaning that McGriff finished the race on his original brake shoes when the big cars were re-shoeing every night. This was important because neither McGriff nor his co-driver were capable of even basic car maintenance. Panini was a pioneer of Mexican aviation who established Mexico's first scheduled airline in 1927. He is credited with being the first pilot to fly a light plane around the world. The fatal accident occurred on the second day, during the second stage from Oaxaca to
Puebla. Although the registered driver for the race was Carlos' daughter Teresa, he was at the wheel of a 1949 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS despite poor health and not having a valid license. The accident happened while a young
Bobby Unser was trying to overtake Panini in a Jaguar, as Unser related in his book ''Winners Are Driven: A Champion's Guide to Success in Business & Life'': Ricardo Ramírez of Mexico City abandoned the race to rush the Paninis to a hospital in Puebla, but Señor Panini was announced dead on arrival. His daughter survived with minor injuries. The deaths of Panini and Estrada resulted in denunciations of the race by Mexico City's
El Universal newspaper, who called the race a "crime", and by a government official who stated the race was "an imitation of North American customs not suited to Mexican characteristics." First and second places were won by the works
Ferraris 212 Inters driven by
Piero Taruffi and
Alberto Ascari, third and fourth by ordinary American cars. Bill Sterling, a salesman from
El Paso,
Texas, placed third in a
Chrysler Saratoga entered by
Carl Kiekhaefer of the
Mercury Marine boat motor manufacturer, and well-known race car driver
Troy Ruttman followed him in a flat-head V8
Mercury Eight he reportedly had bought for $1,000 in a used car lot in
El Monte, California yet bested several factory Lancias and Ferraris.
1952 In 1952 the organizers of Carrera Panamericana divided what had been a single class into Sports Car and Stock Car entries so heavy American sedans did not have to compete directly with nimble European sports cars. The major automobile manufacturers had taken notice of the race and Mercedes-Benz sent a highly organized team of drivers, mechanics, and new
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL (W194) Klenk used pre-prepared '
pacenotes' to identify and communicate upcoming road bends in rapid shorthand to Kling. Kling and Klenk also discussed the species and size of the dead bird, agreeing that had had a minimum wingspan and weighed as much as five fattened geese. 'Only' one person was killed in this event, Santos Letona of Puebla, Mexico, who died in a crash near the town of Texmelucan on the third stage between there and Mexico City.
1953 In 1953 the Sports and Stock classes were both subdivided into Large and Small groups, giving four categories in which to compete. These were split by engine cubic capacity; sports cars under and over 1600 cc were Small and Large respectively, and stock cars under and over 3500 cc likewise. This was to accommodate the huge number of participants and the diverse breeds of cars within the race. This race, like the subsequent running of the Carrera Panamericana was to be the last round of the
1953 World Sportscar Championship season. for
Felice Bonetto,
Juan Manuel Fangio and
Piero Taruffi, winner of the 1951 edition of the race, and two 3-litre versions for
Giovanni Bracco and
Eugenio Castellotti. During pre-race runs of the route at much safer speeds, Bonetto and Taruffi painted warning signals on the road to remind themselves of particular hazards. As the D24 was both open and single-seat, there was no co-driver. This resulted in the death of Bonetto who, leading the race under pressure from Taruffi, missed his own warning signs. Entering the village of
Silao, he encountered a dip in the pavement at excessive speed and impacted a building, killing him instantly.
1954 By 1954 the race had shifted from a largely amateurish basis to become a highly professional endeavor. The final stage was won by eventual race winner
Umberto Maglioli in a
Ferrari 375 Plus at an average speed of over the stage. Maglioli would win this race with a combined time of 17 hours and 40 minutes. In comparison, McGriff had won the 1950 race with a combined time of 27 hours and 34 minutes, almost ten hours slower than Maglioli. Maglioli was more than an hour faster than Klenk/Kling in their Mercedes W194 2 years earlier. Even with the route shortened by 160 km (100 mi) for 1951 onwards, speeds had gone up more than 50 percent over 4 years. Phil Hill won second place in earlier
Ferrari 375 MM with
Ray Crawford winning the stock car class in a Lincoln. Two new classes were in effect in 1954; the European stock car class was won by Sanesi, of Italy, in an Alfa Romeo and the small U.S. stock car class was won by Tommy Drisdale in a Dodge. Californian hot rod pioneer Ak Miller (born Arkton Moeller in Denmark, not to be confused with
A. K. Miller) became famous by winning fifth place in his Oldsmobile powered 1927 Ford body on a 1950 Ford frame, "El Caballo del Hierro" (the iron horse), nicknamed by Mexicans as "El Ensalada" (the salad). The race, however, lived up to its bloody reputation – seven people were killed during this event: four competitors, two spectators, and one team crew member. , which placed 1st in the Sport category of less than 1500 c.c. in 1954 race
Cancellation Due to safety concerns and the expense to the government, the race was cancelled after the
1955 Le Mans disaster, although
President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines announced only that the race's original task of publicizing the highway was 'complete'. 27 people had died during the five years of the Panamericana, giving it one of the highest mortality rates per race in the history of motor sports. Only a third of entrants typically finished the race. Unlike more compact circuits, the long stage sections were impossible to secure entirely, making it possible for crashes to linger for several hours before being noticed. During the years the race was originally held, racing automobile technology and performance advanced quickly and racing speeds almost doubled as a result. Despite the increased speed, safety controls remained static and competitors, spectators and safety control personnel alike became casualties. == Legacy ==