THE DUST
McGriff Drove His Neighbor's Oldsmobile Down and Won Mexico
A 22-year-old from Oregon borrowed an Oldsmobile 88, drove it to the border, and won the first Carrera Panamericana in 1950 by 76 seconds.
Updated October 25, 2026
May 1950. Mexico has just finished its section of the Pan-American Highway, and the government wants the world to notice. So it throws a race. Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, all the way south to El Ocotal on the Guatemala border.
There are no classes and no rules worth mentioning. 132 cars sign up. NASCAR people, Formula 1 drivers, Europeans in sports cars, and a lot of big American sedans.
Hershel McGriff is 22. He drives a borrowed Oldsmobile 88, his neighbor's car, all the way down from Oregon. Ray Elliott rides with him. Neither of them is much of a mechanic.
The road climbs from near sea level to over 10,000 feet. Fresh asphalt turns to narrow dirt. Crowds line both sides with nothing in between.
The Cadillacs and Lincolns have more power. They also eat brakes, and their crews reshoe them every night. The lighter Olds stops on its original shoes the whole way.
On the last day, on the gravel in Chiapas, McGriff finally gets past the leading Cadillac. After nine stages he beats Tom Deal by 76 seconds.
Then he drives the winner back home to Oregon.
Would you have driven the winner home?
True races. Still kicking.