First Panamericana race
took place in May 1950.
Initially it was a tribute
to the opening of a direct road
connection between USA and Guatemala.

First Panamericana race took place in May 1950. Initially it was a tribute to the opening of a direct road connection between USA and Guatemala. The most renowned car racers like Fangio, Farina, Chiron and many many others participated in this event. Races were rather difficult and Ferrari or Porsche factories got used to present there the potential of their cars. Hershel McGriff with Ray Elliott on Oldsmobile won the first season while second one was dominated by Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale driven by Piero Taruffi and Luigi Chinetti. Third season the German crew of Kling and Klenk won with their Mercedes 300 SL and Juan Manuel Fangio with Lancia D24 won in 1953 annual. Czech fellow Jaroslav Juhan with Porsche did not finish that year. Just a year later he completed as fourth when he drove Porsche 550 Spyder without a co-driver. Umberto Maglioli won with Ferrari 375 that season. Out of total of 150 cars at the starting line only 85 accomplished. Then the Le Mans tragedy occurred and no further season of Panamericana has been organized. Current renewed race still measures a bit over 3000 kms and partially copies the original track. The racers and cars are divided into 10 categories according to the age of the car, authenticity and the engine size. Most represented cars on the starting line are the American passenger cars from 50‘s and 60‘s. Even though cars like Porsche 911 or Jaguar E are also among the contestants, out of last 19 seasons Studebaker won 17 times despite the fact this brand doesn‘t exist anymore. The most popular car by the participants is Studebaker Champion Regal Starliner from 1953 designed by Raymond Loewy. Among other advantages, it had streamlined body helping in those sections where speed hits up to 260 km/h. Although they look like from 50‘s, those cars bear modern technologies from up to date NASCAR racers like engines V8 with more than 500 HP. Therefore we can still talk about real and relatively dangerous race not comparable for instance with reborn Mille Miglia rides. The most frequent winner of the revival is French Pierre de Thoisy who has won already 7 times with his Studebaker. However there are also other gold medalists as rally veterans from Scandinavia Stig Blomqvist (2009) and Harri Rovanpera (2010) both on Studebackers indeed.