Anyone who has ever loved racing has their favorite venues. There is drag, road, rally, Nascar, F1, and many other forms of automotive racing. For many of us having been involved from behind the steering wheel for many years, we can enjoy all of the above but there always seems to be at least one racing venue that seems to stand out from all the rest. For me it is hands down La Carrera Panamericana. In short this race started in 1950 with the Mexican government inviting top drivers from all over the world. The race starts at the border of Guatemala and continues 2500 miles back to the United States over seven days with some cars reaching speeds up to 200 miles per hour. And that’s through the middle of down town Mexico City!

Continue reading after the jump, with tons of pics from the race!

Continue reading "My Favorite Race" »

Trevor, one of CarDomain’s awesome developers, happened to be vacationing down in Mexico on Friday the 24th when all of a sudden La Carrera Panamericana came roaring through. See all the shots he took in the square of the town of Oaxaca after the jump. Gotta love the Washington state Corvair with the Ralph Nader bumper sticker!

Continue reading "La Carrera Panamericana Rolls Through Oaxaca" »

Racing can be and is dangerous and running in La Carrera Panamericana is no exception. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have read comments on various message boards saying things like, "It’s not really a race" or "It’s a race where CEO types compete in cars that really don’t go all that fast." The best reply I have to those types of comments is to invite them down to watch, and then afterwards I’ll ask them if they still feel that way. Then there are those who make the argument, "They stopped that race back in 1954 and now it’s just a rally format." This time I would ask them if they knew what in the hell they are talking about. The fact is, the cars today are a much faster than they were back then, not to mention in those days they couldn’t corner worth a damn, had very poor tires, and the roads were mostly unpaved. And back in the 50s the race continued at high speed right through the villages and towns, whereas today the only city we race at speed trough is Mexico City, with thousands of police on hand.

Continue reading, with tons of pics from the race after the jump!

Continue reading "La Carrera Panamericana 2008" »

Here’s a nicely done trailer for "La Carrera Panamericana – Rebirth of a Legend," a soon to be released HD DVD that documents the 2007 La Carrera Panamericana. Quite a bit of footage is devoted to the build of Gary Faules’ beautiful 1965 Shelby GT350R. The film will make its debut next month at the Concurso de Motor Sports in the Mexican city of  San Miguel de Allende.

Besides spending a wonderful Mother’s Day with my beautiful wife I also got to spend a day with the mother of all garages. This weekend I attended a private get together at a friend’s home in Pasadena, where a bunch of us who have or are going to compete La Carrera Panamericana got to meet up and chat. Our gracious host was Ron Lee, and on display were some of the cars in his private collection that he keeps in the garage in his back yard. I found it almost impossible to keep drool from dribbling off my chin all day. Ron drives these cars on a regular basis, and I am not talking about parades or cars shows. These are the kinds of cars that really need no introduction–you just long to hear them start and feel them under your butt. Lots more pics after the jump.

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I will be attending a La Carrera Panamericana Fiesta in a couple weeks for a BBQ with many other veteran drivers, navigators and fans who have competed in this historical event. Also on hand will be La Carrera Presidente Eduardo Leon and his wife Monica Grossmann, who I have had the distinct pleasure of getting to know while competing in last year’s La Carrera Panamericana. Besides a few original La Carrera cars that will be on hand, we will also be treated to a very special private race car selection owned by Ron Lee, which will include one of two ’55 Kurtis GT coupes, and a ’32 Indy car, plus many beautiful hot rod creations.

I asked a good friend of mine, Paul Chenard, if he could whip up a little something special to share with everyone at this rare get together. Paul blew my mind when he sent me this awesome painting of the 1953 World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio, who won the La Carrera Panamericana for Lancia without winning one daily leg of the seven day event–his accumulated time over the entire event was significantly lower than his nearest competitor. He knew how to pace himself and conserve his equipment when others were slowed by mechanical problems. This amazing tribute not only says a lot about Juan Fangio but also about anyone who has ever completed La Carrera Panamericana. For those of you who are interested in race history but may not have heard of Juan Fangio, do a search on him and get ready to be blown away. For that matter be sure to learn more about the historical La Carrera Panamericana which is considered by the race world to be one of the top two most grueling races in the world second only to the Mille Miglia. 

Paul has recently completed a limited edition series that captures the essence of the era of machinery used in Grand Prix cars, which boasted magnificent engines that were also mechanical works of art. You can see this series after the jump.

Continue reading "Automotive Art: in the Eyes of the Beholder" »

Last weekend a bunch of my friends who raced in La Carrera Panamericana got together down in Chihuahua Mexico for the second annual Chihuahua Express. This is a shorter version of the world famous La Carrera Panamericana and instead of the usual nine days of racing it is condensed into three. A couple of nice features about this race are that we don’t have to tow our race cars and rigs all the way to the border of Guatemala to begin the race. This race is held just across the border from El Paso Texas, and instead of having to change hotels and move trailers every day teams stay in the same hotel. From there we race out one highway each day, going in three different directions and back through different types of terrain. One day we race through twisty mountain canyons and the next is on long straights for as far as the eye can see with speeds up to 200 miles per hour being common. More…

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