Carrera Panamericana - 1953

1953

In 1953 the Sports and Stock classes were both subdivided into Large and Small groups, giving four categories in which to compete. These were split by engine cubic capacity; sports cars under and over 1600 cc were Small and Large respectively, and stocks cars under and over 3500 cc likewise. This was to accommodate the huge number of participants and the diverse breeds of cars within the race.

Both Lincoln and Lancia came to the race highly organized and both factories swept 1-2-3 finishes in their respective categories. The Europeans dominated the sports categories, and the Americans the stock. Large Sports Cars was won by Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina in a Lancia, Small Sports Cars by José Herrarte from Guatemala in a Porsche. Large Stock Cars was won by Chuck Stevenson of the United States in a Lincoln and Small Stock Cars by C.D. Evans (again of the U.S.) in an ordinary six cylinder Chevrolet. Stevenson has the distinction of being the only person to ever win twice in the original race.

However, the race was marred by the death of a number of competitors. The co-driver and pacenote systems championed by the Mercedes teams of the previous year were vindicated by the failure of an alternative contemporary system used by some other works drivers, notably those of Lancia who in 1953 year had entered five cars; three 3.3-litre D24s for Felice Bonetto, Juan Manuel Fangio and Piero Taruffi, winner of the 1951 edition of the race, and two 3-litre versions for Giovanni Bracco and Eugenio Castellotti. During pre-race runs of the route at much safer speeds, Bonetto and Taruffi painted warning signals on the road to remind themselves of particular hazards. As the D24 was both open and single-seat, there was no co-driver. This resulted in the death of Bonetto who, leading the race under pressure from Taruffi, missed his own warning signs. Entering the village of Silao, he encountered rough pavement at excessive speed and impacted a building, killing him instantly.