Anyone who has been involved with the fine art of endurance racing will tell you that the only thing you can be certain of is uncertainty. The old saying of, anything that can happen will, still rings true especially in La Carrera Panamericana. As seen in this video sent to me by Jonny Olofsson the co-piloto for Lars Stugemo in the #114 Studebaker, you can never assume it's in the bag until the fat lady sings. I am proud to call both of these Swedes my friend and both are fine gentleman and racers who know how to get it done.
This first of two videos was taken on the very same stretch of road that Jon and I ran Lucky on last year. It is a very high speed section with faster cars often reaching speeds of 200 miles per hour and like so many other sections of La Carrera Panamericana, it's not a place you want anything to go wrong. After 7 days of hard racing and the final finish line in Nuevo Laredo in sight all of a sudden the windshield is covered with oil and seconds later the engine grenades. Being the true racers they are, they did what any self respecting guys would do and that was push the car across the finish line and into the history books of 5th overall and 4th in class.
This next video just shows some of the excitement, color and flavor that is nothing more than a passion, a love and a mistress of anyone of us who love La Carrera Panamericana. One observation I have noticed reminds me of an old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together." It seems Mats Hammarlund and Eva Hellsrom have the ability to attract only quality men and women team members and drivers who know not only how to drive but to show the appreciation they have for what we do. Any sucessful businessman will tell you that in order to be successful you must know how to surround yourself with the right people. Mats and Eva have done exactly that.
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