Carrera Panamericana 1950

1950s Oldsmobile 88, winning model by Hershel McGriff and Ray Elliott

The first Carrera Panamericana took place from May 10th to 16th, 1950.

The race

After the Mexican part of the Panamericana was completed in 1950, it was inaugurated with a multi-day stage race from north to south across the country. From 1951 the route was operated from south to north. Because of too many fatal accidents, the road race was held for the last time in 1954 and then stopped. From 1988 the event was resumed as a rally for vintage cars .

In the first year 1950, the Carrera Panamericana ran from the northern border of Mexico to the southern border over a distance of 3069 km. This made the race twice as long as the Mille Miglia. There were nine stages that led from the Texas border to Ciudad Juárez , Chihuahua , Parral, Durango, Leon, Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez and El Ocotal. The start was on May 10, 1950, the finish was reached after 6 days on May 16. For the first race in 1950, only five-seater series sedans were allowed.

Like the races that followed, the first Carrera was marked by fatal accidents. The first fatality was the four-year-old Juan Altamirano, who ran into the Lincoln Continental of Jesús Valezzi in front of Chihuahua and died. Three other people were killed during the race. The Guatemalan driver Enrique Hachmeister overturned his Lincoln several times on the first stage and flew through the windshield onto the road. He died of serious injuries in a hospital a day later. During the event, the Peruvian copilot Jesús Reyes Molina and an uninvolved spectator also lost their lives.

Most of the starters were from Mexico and the United States . There were three drivers from Europe; the two Alfa Romeo drivers Piero Taruffi and Felice Bonetto and the French sports car driver Jean Trévoux . A race-long three-way battle between an Oldsmobile 88 and two Cadillacs developed for victory, which was ultimately won by NASCAR pilot Hershel McGriff .

Results

Final ranking

Item	class	No.	team	driver	vehicle	Travel time
1	ST	52	Roy Sundstrom	Hershel McGriff Ray Elliott	Oldsmobile 88	27: 34: 25,000
2	ST	113	Thomas A. Deal	Thomas Deal Sam Cresap	Cadillac Series 62	27: 35: 41,000
3	ST	21st	Eugene Barry	Alvin Rodgers Ralph Rodgers	Cadillac Series 62	27: 55: 39,000
4th	ST	90	Automobile Club d'Italia	Piero Taruffi Isidoro Ceroli	Alfa Romeo 6C 2500	28: 01: 04,000
5	ST	12	James Motor Company	Bud Sennett John Balch	Oldsmobile 88	28: 02: 21,000
6th	ST	79	HG Littlejohn	Lewis Hawkins Wayland Burgess	Oldsmobile 88	28: 19: 15,000
7th	ST	46	Transportes Tampico	Luis Leal Solares Damaso de la Concha	Oldsmobile 88	28: 23: 54,000
8th	ST	53	Automobile Club d'Italia	Felice Bonetto Bruno Bonini	Alfa Romeo 6C 2500	28: 25: 36,000
9	ST	38	Bob Estes	Johnny Mantz Bill Stroppe	Lincoln Cosmopolitan	28: 27: 10,000
10	ST	118	Tony Parravano	Jack MacAfee Ford Robinson	Cadillac Series 62	28: 28: 03,000
11	ST	39		Raúl Argilles Salgado	Mercury	28: 45: 48,000
12	ST	19th		Jean Trévoux André Mariotti	Delahaye 175S	28: 55: 04,000
13	ST	42		Jesus Nava Gonzáles	Lincoln	28: 58: 22,000
14th	ST	41		Edmund Kasold Geano Contessotto	ford	29: 11: 17,000
15th	ST	82		Leo Almanza	Mercury	29: 23: 06,000
16	ST	77		Owen Gray Leon McMillan	Oldsmobile	29: 26: 52,000
17th	ST	91		Arcesio Paz	Oldsmobile	29: 38: 48,000
18th	ST	62		Carlos Mass	Oldsmobile	29: 42: 10,000
19th	ST	121		Abelardo Matamoros Acosta	Lincoln	29: 43: 43,000
20th	ST	77		Jesús Valezzi Duenas Costa	Lincoln Cosmopolitan	29: 56: 25,000
21st	ST	77		José Soto Beltrán	Cadillac	30: 04: 53,000
22nd	ST	72		Manuel Lara R. Soto	Cadillac	30: 09: 07.000
23	ST	128		Hugo Inciarte	Studebaker	30: 19: 30,000
24	ST	101		José Maqueo Topete	Chrysler	30: 44: 40,000
25th	ST	9	Mexico	Guillermo Palmieri Rodolfo Castaneda Florencino Estrada	Cadillac	31: 07: 48,000
25th	ST	34		Octavio Anza Esquivel	Lincoln	31: 07: 48,000
27	ST	74		Ramon Lopez	Chevrolet	31: 13: 28,000
28	ST	97		Ali Rachid	Oldsmobile	31: 34: 08,000
29	ST	86		Samuel Marín Arturo Marín	ford	31: 38: 28,000
30th	ST	120		Ray Colenbough	Cadillac Series 62	32: 23: 02,000
31	ST	92		Rafael Almodóvar Luis Almodóvar	ford	32: 26: 11,000
32	ST	70		Luis Astengo Albizuri Innocenzio Ortiz	Studebaker Champion	32: 29: 50,000
33	ST	104		Juan Riu Jean Mott de Riu	Mercury	32: 35: 14,000
34	ST	106		Arturo Breton	Lincoln	32: 50: 50,000
35	ST	24		Ironeneo Rojas Garza	Oldsmobile	32: 55: 55,000
36	ST	33		S. Santoyo	Nash	33: 19: 58,000
37	ST	20th		Chas. Fraley Reginald McFee	Hudson	33: 30: 30,000
38	ST	83		L. Núnez Chavez	Buick	33: 34: 43,000
39	ST	116	Republic of China	Manuel Luis Meneses José Larronga	Nash Ambassador	33: 45: 57,000
40	ST	131	Cerverceria Montezuma	Emilio Camargo Raul Mendozas Terrazas	Chevrolet 2100	33: 51: 04,000
41	ST	109		JV Hirschfeld	Oldsmobile	34: 14: 39,000
42	ST	124		Victor de la Lama	Buick 40 Special	34: 48: 51,000
43	ST	57		Alfonso Verdugo Quirez	Mercury	34: 52: 51,000
44	ST	127		P. Miranda	Chevrolet	35: 02: 24,000
45	ST	17th	Jacqueline Evans	Jacqueline Evans	Chrysler Windsor	35: 50: 37,000
46	ST	125		Manuel Lomelí Martinez	Cadillac	38: 02: 35,000
47	ST	80		Andrea Gonzáles Lucille Acevedo	Buick	40: 41: 26,000
Not classified
48	ST	6th		Tommy Francis Jimmie Crum	ford	32: 52: 06,000
49	ST	15th		R. Montes de Oca	Mercury
50	ST	105		Antonio P. Casero	Buick	34: 11: 35,000
51	ST	107		William Gillespie LH Gillespie	Buick 40 Special	36: 00: 17,000
52	ST	132		Wishuhn	DeSoto
Disqualified
53	ST	49		Pat O'Connor Robert Owen Curtis Turner	Nash Ambassador	27: 50: 35,000
54	ST	114		Edwin Sollohub Nicholeo Scott	Nash Ambassador
55	ST	130		Arthur Daniel Boone Marie Boone	Buick
56	ST	87		Andres Wiltz	Studebaker Champion	44: 42: 02,000
57	ST	25th		David Aprezza	Lincoln	37: 52: 11,000
58	ST	27		Alfonso Oviedo Eulalio Rodríguez	Cadillac	35: 02: 24,000
59	ST	56		Eduardo Lower Max Diener	ford
Failed
60	ST	10		HR Lammons Merryl Bedford	Buick
61	ST	26th		Raymond Parks Red Byron	Lincoln
62	ST	31		Raymond Crawford	Lincoln
63	ST	32		Olegario Perez	Mercury
64	ST	37		Bill France Curtis Turner	Nash Ambassador
65	ST	94		Fernando Gallardo Amaro Enrique Torres Caballero	Studebaker
66	ST	8th		José Estrada Menocal	Packard
67	ST	35		Javier Razo Maciel	Packard
67	ST	44		Fernando Razo Maciel	Packard
68	ST	45		John Stewart James Massey	Packard Eight
69	ST	45		EP Warren Mrs. Warren	Buick
70	ST	6th		George Nelson Ashley Alfredo Saucedo	Cadillac
71	ST	66		Bob Korf	Hudson
72	ST	68		Bill Sterling Daniel Arias	Cadillac
73	ST	73		Rafael Mendoza Licea	Nash Ambassador
74	ST	81		Lonnie H. Johnson GW McGraw	Cadillac
75	ST	84		Carlos Almanzan	Mercury
76	ST	93		Gabriel Herrera	Mercury
77	ST	111		JW Parham	Cadillac
78	ST	2		Oscar López de Llergo	Packard
79	ST	14th		Dempsey Wilson Lou Figaro	Hudson
80	ST	18th		Fred Steinbroner	ford
81	ST	5		G. Pirez	Oldsmobile
82	ST	16		Alberto Rojas	Cadillac
83	ST	40		Ross Barton Marie Brookreson	Lincoln Cosmopolitan
84	ST	59		Robert Clement	Cadillac
85	ST	95		Charley Goldtrap	Oldsmobile
86	ST	122		Harry Adam Elbel	Hudson
87	ST	129		CD Evans Ramiro Aguilar	Oldsmobile
88	ST	1		Luis Iglesias Davalos Tómas Iglesias Davalos	Hudson
89	ST	23		José Sánchez	Cadillac
90	ST	50		John Reher	ford
91	ST	55		George Lynch John Fredricks	Cadillac
92	ST	61		Carlos Mass	Buick
93	ST	98		Chuck Meekins Joe Pisano	Hudson Commodore
94	ST	102		Dwight Fox	Cadillac
95	ST	123		Fonty Flock Bob Flock	Lincoln
96	ST	7th		Henry Charles Bradley Jesús Reyes Molina	Nash
97	ST	75		Jesus Valosi Garcia Ruiz	Buick
98	ST	88		Harry Sents Amos Hill	Lincoln Cosmopolitan
99	ST	108	Lucas Taylor	Lucas Taylor John von Neumann	Hotchkiss
100	ST	4th		Ismael Alvarez Eliseo Cruz	Hudson
101	ST	11		Buster Anthony Hemesbedy Margie Allen	Mercury
102	ST	13		Antonio Exchaiz	Lincoln
103	ST	29		José Antonio Solana Javier Solana	Nash
104	ST	36		Andrew Moran John Moran	Cadillac
105	ST	54		Jimmy Hicks Knobby Amos	Lincoln Cosmopolitan Sport Sedan
106	ST	60		Salvador Barragan	Mercury
107	ST	64		Marcelo Quintianilla Roberto Quintianilla	Mercury
108	ST	78		Attilio Cagnasso	Oldsmobile
109	ST	89		William Grover	Buick
110	ST	110		Jay Chamberlain Jorgen Thayssen	Jaguar Mark V
111	ST	115		Lewis Ruwaldt	Lincoln
112	ST	119		Emilio Portez Medina Armando Rodriguez Morado	ford
113	ST	22nd		Ralph Holp	Buick
114	ST	30th		Edward Walker Otto Foster	Talbot Lago
115	ST	43		Hugh Reilly Walter Dorsey	Cord 812
116	ST	47		Joel Thorne	Cadillac
117	ST	51		Duran Mejia	Buick
118	ST	65		Francisco Ibarra	Packard
119	ST	76		Salvador López Chavez	Hudson
120	ST	85		Gustavo Ladewig	Hudson
121	ST	96		Joe Thompson	Buick
122	ST	99		Marano Gomez	Packard
123	ST	100		Felix Cerda Loza	Buick
124	ST	112		Enrique Hachmeister Francisco Toscana Valle	Lincoln
125	ST	112		Gonzalez	Buick
Not started
126	ST	28		Gutierre Tibon	Chrysler	1
127	ST	53		Ricardo Lopez Mendes	Cadillac	2
128	ST	58		Robert O'Brien Burnett Thatcher	DeSoto	3
129	ST	117		Alfredo Call	Buick	4th

¹ not started ² not started ³ not started ⁴ not started

Only in the entry list

Here you will find teams, drivers and vehicles that were originally registered for the race but did not take part for a variety of reasons.

Item	class	No.	team	driver	chassis
130	ST	67		Rafael Norma	Cadillac
131	ST	69		XXX	XXX

Class winner

class	driver	driver	vehicle	Placement in the overall ranking
ST	Hershel McGriff	Ray Elliott	Oldsmobile 88	Overall victory

Racing data

• Reported: 131
• Started: 125
• Rated: 52
• Race classes: 1
• Spectator: unknown
• Weather on race day: unknown
• Route length: 3069.800 km
• Driving time of the winning team: 27: 34: 25,000 hours
• Overall rounds of the winning team: 1
• Total distance of the winning team: 3069.800 km
• Winner's average: 126.173 km / h
• Pole position: none
• Fastest race lap: none
• Racing series: did not belong to any racing series

literature

• Peter Higham: International Motor Racing - A Complete Reference from Formula 1 to Touring Car . Guinness Publishing Ltd., London 1995, ISBN 0-85112-642-1 .

Web links

• Race results

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the death of Juan Altamirano
2. ↑ On the death of Enrique Hachmeister