Ennui #424 - Carrera Panamericana 1950/Miguel Aleman & Hershel McGriff

[Otto Puzzell]

For one point: Who are the two men shaking hands? What event are they celebrating? And what car, in particular, was involved?

Only a correct, complete and specific answer will earn a point; tag-on's to other guesses will not. So, be specific and complete!
 

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[Otto Puzzell]

Experts?

[mekubb]

Looks South-American, Carrera Panamericana ?

[Otto Puzzell]

Carrera Panamericana is correct.

[nicanary]

Anything to do with Ak Miller and Caballo de Hierro?

[Otto Puzzell]

No

[nicanary]

The man on the left is Jaroslav Juhan, who finished fourth overall in a Porsche 550 Spyder in 1954, and was the highest placed Mexican driver. I assume the man on the right is the President of Mexico at that time.

[Otto Puzzell]

You're 1/3 right.

[nicanary]

I'm convinced that my 1/3 is the driver. So maybe that's the president of Guatemala presenting him with the biggest cup in history for bringing great glory to their country. (He was a very useful driver and was invited to be part of the Porsche team at Le Mans).

[Otto Puzzell]

The correct 1/3 was not the driver

[nicanary]

I am very short of photos for identification - is it entrant Erwin Goldschmidt and his Ferrari 375 plus? (1954 race)

[Otto Puzzell]

No sir

[sixtee5cuda]

Driver Hershel McGriff shakes hands with Miguel Aleman, President of Mexico.  Mr. McGriff had just won the 1950 Carrera Panamericana Mexico in his 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Coupe.  The car was called The Spirit of Portland.

[Otto Puzzell]

That's the ticket

[RayTheRat]

Here's Hershel when I last saw him in 2010 at Miller Motorsports Park.  He was running in the NASCAR West series.

[Otto Puzzell]

Man - that's a long racing career!

[RayTheRat]

Yep.  Over 6 decades of racing...although he took some time to run the business.  He's definitely paid his dues.  I got one shot of him in his race car as twilight descended on the track.  It's one of my favorites, and is hanging in my living room.

He told me that the biggest challenge for him was to be able to communicate what the car needed so the pit crew could have if  ready when his entered the pits.  But I could improvement with every practice session and when it was time for his race, he definitely had his "race face" on and put up a good fight, but eventually the gravel trap stome cut down a tire, but he still put pm a very good show. 

[RayTheRat]

Yep.  Over 6 decades of racing...although he took some time to run the business.  He's definitely paid his dues.  I got one shot of him in his race car as twilight descended on the track.  It's one of my favorites, and is hanging in my living room.

He told me that the biggest challenge for him was to be able to communicate what the car needed so the pit crew could have if  ready when his entered the pits.  But I could improvement with every practice session and when it was time for his race, he definitely had his "race face" on and put up a good fight, but eventually the gravel trap stome cut down a tire, but he still put pm a very good show.