Here are some photos from racing in this Years 2007 La Carrera Panamericana in Mexico. The La Carrera Panamericana started in 1950 and is an invitational race put on by the Mexican government and 100 of the worlds top drivers are invited each year. The race starts near Guatemala and continues over 2500 miles back to the United States on the public highways. Much of the race is on dangerous, twisted roads running along cliffs and thru mountains with very few guardrails. Many great drivers have competed in this world famous race including Carroll Shelby, Piero Taruffi, Phil Hill, Richie Ginther, Tony Bettenhausen, Bill Stroppe, Bill Vukovich, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari just to name a few. Considering no rookie has completed this race on their first try since 1950 I consider myself very fortunate to have not only finished but in fact I took 8th overall, 3rd in class and won the most dangerous stage of all, Mil Cumbres.
She'll be comin round the corner and Finish line into the future
Hangin it out at Morelia and some of Gary's racing fans
Sliding thru corner of new track in Quertaro and Trecherous Mil Cumbres
150 Miles Per Hour in Mexico City and Starting arch in Oaxaca
What's around the corner of the dangerous La Buffa? and Friend Bob Bondurant and Gary
Waiting fans Nuevo Laredo and Gary enjoying life
167 Miles Per Hour in high speed stage near Zacatecas and Gary and Coke Gals
Winning most dangerous stage of Mil Cumbres and Lucky in Zacatecas
Racing above Zacatecas and Gary and teammate Jon
Haulin the mail at Tehuacan and 450,000 fans surround us in Tehuacan
Dominating the new track at Queretaro and Fans in Puebla
This in-car video was shot on day zero during qualifying. We were in the mountains near Oaxaca and as you will see for the most part there are no guard rails of any sort and believe me those cliffs drop off for a long ways down as several teams learned the hard way. In-car cameras do not allow you to get the true sense of how fast we are moving but believe me we are hauling the mail. It's also important to remember as an endurance driver we never go balls to the wall during a qualifying run and simply allow other teams to over-cook a few corners as well as hurt their cars on the first day. I tend to be a smooth driver which also leads to a boring look but that came from years of seat time and lots of confidence.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yg4hdRg4C3E&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Yg4hdRg4C3E&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
