1953 Carrera Panamericana

The 1953 Carrera Panamericana was the fourth running of the Carrera Panamericana Mexican sports car racing event, and the first edition as a part of the World Sportscar Championship. The race took place from 19–23 November, and was run from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, over 8 stages and 3,077 kilometres (1,912 mi). 182 cars started the race, and 60 finished all 8 stages.

For the 1953 race, the existing Sports and Stock classes were both subdivided into Large and Small groups, giving four categories in which to compete. These were split by engine capacity; sports cars were divided under and over 1600 cc (98 ci), and stock cars under and over 3500 cc (213.5 ci). This was to accommodate the huge number of participants and the diverse breeds of cars within the race.

Going into the race, Ferrari had a slender championship lead of just two points over Jaguar. Although neither manufacturer had sent work entries to Mexico, the title could still be snatched by the Coventry marque, despite the Italian marque having more cars in the event.

Both Lancia and Lincoln 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 and Gino Bronzoni of Italy in a Lancia D24 Pininfarina, Small Sports Cars by José Herrarte Ariano and Carlos González from Guatemala in a Porsche 550 Coupé. Large Stock Cars was won by Chuck Stevenson and Clay Smith of the United States in a Lincoln Capri and Small Stock Cars by C.D. Evans and Walter Krause, Jr., also of the U.S., in a six-cylinder Chevrolet 210. Stevenson has the distinction of being the only person to ever win twice in the original race.

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