Second straight 1-2-3-4 win again proves Lincoln King of the Road!
Originally published in the Fall 1976 issue of Continental Comments (Issue # 126)
Here are the Official Results
Lincolns beat all competitors and 86% of sports car entries
JUAREZ, MEXICO – Four 1953 Lincoln Capri Coupes finished 1-2-3-4 in the International Standard (unlimited stock car) Class of the Mexican Pan-American Road Race, Nov. 19-23, in a spectacular repetition of Lincoln’s clean-sweep victory over the same route the year before.
The four Lincoln production cars, showing superb handling over all kinds of roads, led the stock car field from start to finish over the 1,912-mile course that lived up to its billing as the world’s toughest automotive race. Only 61 of 177 starters finished.
Lincolns had scored a clean sweep of the first four places last year. And this year they did it again – against a bigger field in the same championship fashion!
Chuck Stevenson, with Clay Smith as co-pilot, came in first with a new record of 20:31:32. Walt Faulkner, Jack McGrath, and Johnny Mantz finished in that order – all less than two minutes behind Stevenson. Co-pilots were Chuck Daigh with Faulkner, Ronald Ferguson with McGrath, and Bill Stroppe with Mantz.
Italy’s Lancias captured top prizes in the International Sport Class. Porsches took top money in the Sport Special Class. A Chevrolet finished first in the Special Standard Class for production cars up to 115 horsepower.
Starters in the 59-car International Class in which Lincoln scored the clean-sweep victory included Chryslers, Cadillacs, Oldsmobiles, Packards, Mercurys, Buicks, and a Jaguar.
By far the biggest sensation of the race was the uniform high performance and stamina of the American-build Lincoln production cars. While other entries faltered, fell back, or dropped out, the Lincolns delivered top performance with safety throughout the endurance run – the on-the-road test that means the most to the American motorist.
Only six of the sports cars – especially designed for road competitions – finished in less elapsed time than the four Lincolns.
