Carreras
News
May
2013
**PAN AM CARS AT
ROAD AMERICA
**CARRERAS
FIESTA – MONTEREY -- AUGUST 17
**PAN AM
PLANS
**PAN AM
ENTRIES
**PAN AM
RULES
**PAN AM
HOTELS
**COYOTE CONVOY
DATES
**CARS FOR SALE
AND RENT
**ISO
ADVERTISEMENTS
**MUMBO
JUMBO
**CONTACT
INFO
**PAN AM CARS AT
ROAD AMERICA
Plans are being
made to create a run group of Pan Am cars at Road America, Elkhart Lake this
summer. We need 10 or 12 cars to make it
happen. As many of you know, Road
America is one of the most beautiful, fastest road courses in the world, and the
setting is spectacular.
If you would
like to participate, please let me know immediately.
Any car eligible
to run in the Pan Am will be eligible to participate. Cars are subject to a safety inspection, and
the driver’s should have held competition license or comparable experience. A navigator is not required. More details, including the likely date, will
be announced soon. Because I will be on
TDY in Chicago much of this summer, I will be working hard to see this project
through.
Road America
hosts many outstanding events during the summer, including NASCAR Nationwide,
American Lemans, SCCA National Championships, and “The Hawk,” Brian Redman’s
reunion of vintage racers, one of the biggest such meets in North America. The Hawk weekend is July 18-21. There is also a VSCDA vintage event on
September 6-8 and a 24 Hours of Lemons in November. For more info go to http://www.roadamerica.com/calendar.asp
**CARRERAS
FIESTA – MONTEREY -- AUGUST 17
The annual
Carreras Fiesta, in conjunction with the Historic races at Laguna Seca in
Monterey, California will be held on Saturday night, August 17, in nearby Carmel
beginning at 5:00 PM. Final plans and
ticket prices will be announced soon. Please add it to your calendar
now.
**PAN AM ROUTE
AND PLANS -- OCTOBER 25-31
The final route
for the Pan Am has not been announced, but at present the tentative route
is:
--Veracruz,
Oaxaca, Mexico City (!), Queretaro, Morelia, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes,
and
Zacatecas
It is possible
that speed stages will be run the first day in the hills east of Veracruz, like
we did in 2006, because mid-day service is being planned in the city of Orizaba,
which is also in the hill county.
San Miguel de
Allende was considered as one of the overnight stops, but, sadly, the city could
not come up with the necessary support package. San Miguel still might be schedule as a
mid-day service stop on the way from Morelia to Guanajuato. According to the Mexican tourist bureau, San
Miguel is now the number one tourist destination in Mexico apart from the beach
towns, like Cancun and Puerto Vallarta.
**PAM AM
ENTRIES
As of this past
weekend, 71 entries were posted on the official web site:
Turismo
Production (9)
Turismo Mayor
(6)
Sports Minor
(5)
Sports Mayor
(1)
Historic A
(5)
Historic A+
(9)
Historic B
(8)
Historic C
(23)
Original Pam Am
(3)
Exhibition
(2)
Some of the
familiar North American driver’s names include: Robertson, Bailey, Daniels,
Gussack, Hladky, Stewart, Brinkerhoff, Curry, Palthrow, Furrer, Vidal, Bazan,
Stevenson, Sonner, Hampson, Lauber, Harvey, Sikes, Stephens, Gregory, Kelly,
Fudge, Rogers, Ko, Shanahan, and Bledsoe.
It is significant to note that there is not one rookie in the bunch, that
is, someone who has not raced in Mexico (Pan Am or Express) before. We do have a contingent of four “rookie”
couples from Australia in the event this year, however, driving Mustangs
prepared by Todd Landon.
Rumor has it
that Señor Ricardo Triviño, who has been racing in the WRC, is returning to the
Pan Am to reprise his controversial win over Doug Mockett in 2011.
Since the entry
fee now is $1000 USD more than it was in March, there’s not much incentive to
sign up soon. Entries must be submitted
to the organizers via the official web site.
If you need assistance with that process please let me know. Europeans should contact a representative on
that continent.
**PAN AM
RULES
The official
rules for the event have not been posted, and if the past is prologue, they will
not be posted until late in the summer, maybe in
September.
I have been
assured by the organizers that the safety rules and specs for the cars will be
virtually the same as last year, with the exception of:
1. Manual gear boxes will be allowed in OPA cars
that were not available from the factory with manual transmissions, e.g., ’54
Lincolns, Chryslers, and Oldsmobiles, so the rule will be the same as that for
Historic C cars – three or four speed boxes from the era.
2. Some ‘30s roadster replicas will be allowed
to run in Turismo Mayor but are limited to 305 c.i.
engines.
3. All cars must have a “X” brace over the
ceiling and at least two bars, plus reinforcements or gussets, across the front
doors. Also, coupes should have a
windshield brace (Toyota bar) supporting the front, top of the cage.
4. A full set of photos of the car, including
good pics of the cage, should be sent to the organizers. This is especially true for cars that were
not inspected and approved last year.
5. Cars must
have both an external switch for the electrical system and a “pull” for the fire
system, marked with appropriate decals
The inspectors also want to see the pull or switch for the fire system in
reach of the driver and a small fire extinguisher in reach of the
navigator.
**PAN AM
HOTELS
If you have
registered for the Pan Am, a room reservation was made for you for the nights of
October 24 through October 31. If you and your crew plan to arrive in
Veracruz early, you need to make additional reservations via Monica Grossmann monica.grossmann@yahoo.com.mx.
Extra rooms for
the eight nights of the race are $1280 USD.
Extra rooms in Veracruz or elsewhere along the route are $160 USD per
night.
If you want the
optional luxury hotel package, you also need to notify Monica. Those rooms are $160 extra per night or $320
a night. They sell out fast,
too.
According to LCP
rules, once you pay for the rooms, there is no refund for any reason and the
rooms cannot be given or transferred to another person. In other words, they revert to the
organizers.
Entry fees may
be partially refunded or credit may be given for the coming year, according to
terms set forth in the rules.
**COYOTE CONVOY
DATES
The Coyote
Convoy, now in its 12th year, will roll from Laredo, Texas to San Miguel de
Allende on Saturday, October 18. It will
spend two nights in San Miguel and then arrive in Veracruz on Monday. Since cars will not be allowed into the
Convention Center in Vera Cruz before Tuesday, there’s not much need to get
there earlier. Here’s the preliminary
schedule:
Convoy meeting,
Friday, October 17, 7:00 PM (hotel will be confirmed
later)
---cross border, Saturday, October 18, 7:00
AM
---arrive in San
Miguel de Allende, October 18, 5:00 PM (hotel confirmed
later)
---Saturday,
tour of San Miguel, cocktail party that evening
---Sunday, Pan
Am car show in main square 10:00 AM-3:00 PM
---Monday convoy
leaves for Veracruz 8:00 AM, arrives 5:00 PM
**MEXICAN RALLY
OPPORTUNITIES
Although the
Rally de Volcanes scheduled for June 1 has been canceled, there are many other
opportunities to rally in Mexico. The
Rally Patrio in Morelia on September 27, for example, is an excellent
opportunity tune and test for the Pan Am.
Registration is Friday and the race – two times up and down Mil Cumbres –
is on Saturday. Cost? Only $165 and the cost of a FMAD rally B
license, if you do not have one yet.
There are also
stage rallies in the Valle de Bravo and Queretaro this summer, as well as the
Acapulco rally after the Pan Am.
I will be
leading a group down from San Miguel to Morelia and back for the Patrio
Rally. It’s only two hours south of
here, freeways most of the way. Ship
your car to San Miguel, rally it on Mil Cumbres, and leave it here for the Pan
Am. Mats Hammarlund’s shop will take
care of it for you.
**PAN AM CARS
FOR RENT
Ford
Falcon -- $29,000
Mats
Hammarlund Racing has three Ford Falcons—comparable to his Mustangs—for rent at
$29,000 each for the Express. The rental
fee includes full service. Contact him
at mats@mhracing.com.mx.
Cars from the Hammarlund garage have won three Pan Ams and are now on the
tracks in Mexican NASCAR.
Hammarlund
Racing is becoming one of the premier shops in Mexico, as its record shows. Their service for Falcons and Mustangs, as
well as Turismo Mayor Studebakers, is carefully prepared and executed. The cars are disassembled to check each night
before something breaks.
Awesome!
**PAN AM CARS
FOR SALE
There seems to
be a glut on the market of Pan Am cars for sale. Why?
Some seller’s apparently want top dollar for their cars and refuse to
lower the price enough. Apparently,
they don’t need the money. On the other
hand, many competitors like to build their own cars or have them constructed by
a trusted shop. I encourage people to
buy existing cars, because these purpose-built cars should return to Mexico and
in many cases, they are bargains, compared to the cost of building a new car.
If you have a
Pan Am car for sale, please send me the details, price, and a digital photo, and
I will include it in a special CARRERA NEWS next month. A $25 contribution to the Lupita Hernandez
Fund will be appreciated. Payments may
the made through PayPal. I do not expect
any commission for helping sell a car, but again, a modest contribution to
Lupita would be nice.
Right now I know
of the following Pan Am cars for sale:
’54 Studebaker,
Carrera Champion
’54
Studebaker
’50
Ford
’54
Buick
’54
Lincoln
’64
Corvette
‘65
Mustang
544 Volvo
Special, Turismo Mayor
**ISO
Advertisements
Looking for a
“funded” co-driver, truck driver, mechanic, and “mamacita” (party girl) for the
Pan Am? Let me know what you
need.
Currently, I
have a jumbo co-piloto who is looking for a ride. And one 911 Porsche guy, Ray Stephens, who
needs a slim, funded co-driver……
ISO ads and my
match-making services are free.
Divorces, however, are costly.
**MUMBO
JUMBO
You all know by
now that road-racing in Mexico can be deadly, dangerous, and addictive. Furthermore, I should point out that CARRERAS
NEWS is a spasmodic, idiosyncratic publication that does not represent the
official views of the organizers of the Pan Am, Chihuahua Express, or any other
event.
**CONTACT
INFO
Gerie
Bledsoe, North American
Coordinator
La Carrera
Panamericana and Chihuahua Express
USPO
address: 220 N. Zapata Hwy Ste
11
PMB 68B
Laredo, TX
78043
1-650-525-9190
(Home office, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico)
1-650-867-9488
(mobile, only in US)
Number in Mexico
+52-415-185-8470
Email: gbledso@aol.com
Carrera
car: Chevy II, Nova, #395, Historic C
(1999-2012)
Competitor, LCP
1999-2013 and Chihuahua Express, 2004-2013
Carrera HQ,
Mexico City 1-310-860-6959 (dial as a U.S. number)
hotels: monica.grossmann@yahoo.com.mx
©Gerie Bledsoe
2013
San Miguel de
Allende
Mexico
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