Pelican Parts Forums - Update on the Carrera namesake race

A couple of weeks ago, this guy trailers in a 53 Studebaker wanting some dents fixed and an inexpensive paint job. Lo and behold on the roof is "La Carrera Pan America" in decals. Since I have a namesake Carrera, we strike up a conversation about said race and this tractor grey Studebaker.
The race still runs annually around April from the southern part of Mexico back to the U.S. Tidbits of information from our conversations.

A friend of his called and told him to watch a cable program about the race. He called some friends. One of whom asked" What are we racing?". They did some investigation, found the car and built it up in 7 months.

Minimum weight in his class (1954 and older) is 3300 pounds. The 51 through 53 Studebakers are the most aerodynamic and the one of the most popular cars in the race.

This car should be called a Sherman Studebaker. The bodyman working on the car was complaining about the thickness and hardness of the steel.
Roll cage welded in. No glass. Flat squared off dash. Looks like the race car it is.

The Studebaker original hood is raked downward, so the big radiator won't fit. He banged humps upward on the hood to accomodate the corners of the radiator.

All cars are supposed to be original but there is a dearth of running 53 Studebaker motors so an exception was made for this class and there is now a swarm of 53 Studebakers with 350 Chevy and 302 Ford engines in the race. Straight pipes that set off every alarm on every car in the building. No turbo or supercharging allowed. There are only one or two spots flat enough, straight enough and long enough to reach top end. He got to about 140mph in one stretch. He has rebuilt the motor and bored it .040 to the class maximum 362 cu. in. Expects to get 175 or 180mph this, his second, year.

He started the race with 10 inches of clearance. When he got it home (near San Antonio, TX) he had seven inches of clearance.

He didn't finish the race as the motor blew about 300 miles from the finish.

The old Porsches tear everybody up in the hilly mountains. but as the newest cars in the race are 1964's they don't have the horses to compete with 350 Chevy's.

Not really on topic but thought you might find it interesting.

David