Mandy Alvarez wrote in with some photos he took as a boy in Cuba, and with stories to boot!

“On the 1954 Buick century #20: That was a brand new car owned by Vaillant Motors the Buick distributor for the complete island. Mr. Vaillant was a good friend of my father Raul Alvarez del Corral, and sold him the car right after the race. The car had simple modifications: Lowering springs, open exhaust and they removed the wheel coves. It had the “nail head” 322 cubic inch V8 engine.

It ran in one of three or four annual road rally races held every year, something very similar to La Carrera Panamericana. This one was from Sagua La Grande to La Habana (Havana) a 310 kilometers race. The Buick was victorious in the stock car category covering the distance in 2hs 13 min 14 sec averaging 136.907 kph. The field consisted of 37 cars ranging from Oldsmobile, Dodge, Lincoln,Chrysler, Hudson Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford,Mercury one Panhard and the Buick. The driver was Jose Salazar Cubillas.”

This is the grid from a support race for the 1957 Gran Premio de Cuba. Mandy says,

“This picture was taking in Havana, Cuba on the Saturday before the 1957 Cuban GP (won by Fangio). This is the start of one the four national races held. #70 a 1957 Buick Special won this particular event. The driver Albelardo Carreras.”

Mandy’s lifelong passion for motorsports started early, and he went on to race himself in SCCA, IMSA, and FIA sanctioned events, including an appearance at the Daytona 24 Hours race. Below are several other photos from the 1957 and 1958 Cuban GPs, and other Cuban races taken before he left the island in the wake of the revolution.

Thanks for sending these in, Mandy!

We’d love to share more reader photos with Chicane readers. Drop us a line at tips@thechicaneblog.com.

Asked and answered. Not only was a generous reader good enough to send in this excellent photo, but had an answer for me on my musings on the sensation of waving the checkers.

Marty wrote with this marvelous photo on himself manning the flag in 1959. He says, “I never noticed the wind as the cars went by, but that is a much younger me. Taken about 1959 in SoCal. Not sure of the track, but it was a CSCC event.”

Thanks Marty, for the marvelous shot! Anyone recognize the track? Those mountains in the background should help. Palm Springs, maybe?

Keep those old photos and film cans coming! tips@thechicaneblog.com

Just look at how closely he seems to pass the flag waver. What a thrill it must have been to have a speeding racing car pass within a couple of feet! The flag is being waved enthusistically, but I bet the air being pushed around the Jag would have been enough at that distance to give the checkers a proper dance.

Thanks for sending these in, Skullyspice! If you have a box of old photos in the attic (or on your hard drive), we’d love to share them with our readers. Drop a line to tips@thechicaneblog.com

Los Angeles based photographer Erik Jensen has dropped a set of never before seen photos of the April 1953 road races at Pebble Beach on his site. Motorsport photography will never again be as good as it was in the era that these shots were taken. No amount of telephoto lenses and levels of zoom will replace the immediacy of these photos—there’s simply no substitution for being able to get closer to the action than contemporary motorsport allows.

Among my favorites of the set is the photo above, which shows Hildebrand’s Nardi-Fiat battling K.J. Davis in his MG TD. Just look at how hard the MG’s suspension is working as Davis tries to catch up. There’s also this fun ‘staged’ shot of Ken Miles crossing the finish line in his Special. He was indeed the winner of the under-1500cc race, but apparently there was no adequate photo captured of the actual race win, so a quick photo-op was thrown together. Hilarious.

Head over to Erik’s gallery for the full set.

We towed from Pasadena on Friday and checked into the Mar Monte hotel next to the bird refuge, and I was sent to the dining room while our entourage left for the King Supper Club on upper Milpas St, where they watched a stripper while eating their steaks. At the hotel, my waiter pointed out to me Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie at the next table, there to film “Johnny Dark” at the races. In the film Curtis plays Johnny, an ambitious auto engineer who is unaware that the Brass see the sports car he is developing only as a publicity stunt. In the film Curtis’ rival for the Boss’ daughter (Laurie) wins the race in the experimental car after Hill’s Ferrari (pictured above) conks out while leading. In the real race, Hill in his 2.9 Vignale bodied car wins after Bill Stroppe spins his Kurtis into the ditch at turn two. The film car is the  Woodill Wildfire, a Glasspar bodied Willys. When we went to the film at the Crown Theatre in Pasadena, they had the car in the lobby. Woodill built and sold only a few. It had a slightly different grill and tail from the standard Glasspar body and was quite good-looking. When I entered UCSB in 1960 I found Mike Woodill, son of the builder, living in my dorm. Mike and I had some success building push carts for the then popular college sport of push cart races.

At this race only the pits were on the grass between the start/finish and the double back stretch rather than on the opposite side by the hangars. There was a little tower there, and the film has some shots of the cars from the tower, including a staged one of Hill’s car dying, and a real one of the Cannon Spl being pushed to the grid. Turn one was marked by bales and cones and was sharper than in later races; Stroppe spun there too, and Ernie McAfee in his new Siata 208s hit the hay three times on Saturday. His car was entered in the Concours at the Biltmore later in the day; after judicious hammering, he borrowed some red nail polish from my Mother to retouch it!

Most race weekends prior to this had practice on Saturday and four races on Sunday. Here, Ken Miles used his newly gained influence to have a program of six or seven shorter races each day. Hill and Jim Lowe in his new Le Mans Replica Frazer-Nash staged a good battle in the big bore production race, Lowe holding off Hill’s Ferrari for several laps. But though both models supposedly qualified for production status according to the FIA, both were disqualified for having locked rear ends! Miles, of course, won the semi-main in his first MG special R1. Dad finished seventh both days in Magnette 0878, pictured here at Palm Springs with uncle Pete Jacobsen at the wheel for the novice event.

One of my favorite lines from Grand Prix. Of course, virtually any of Françoise Hardy’s lines as Lisa are good. Why she’s wearing Pete Aron’s helmet in this shot though, I don’t know.

I came across this fantastic set of photos a few years ago, but was recently reminded of just how precious an artifact it is. I’m surprised by the size and variety of the grids for these events. Minis, Lotus, a Beetle or 2, Fiat Cincuentas—magnificent. It’s easy to focus on the famous tracks and drivers of Europe, or the grass roots glory of the American road racing scene; but these shots from Angola at the height of sports car racing is every bit as vibrant and exciting.

The track preparation shots are particularly fantastic. We don’t often get to see photos from the era building the tracks that have become sacred ground. We’ve sat in more than enough traffic jams to get they general idea of how roadways are built today, but for me these shots of a few construction vehicles creating a tarmac racing surface from nothing is just another extension of the DIY spirit of home racing car builders and garagistas that has always been at the center of what we hold so dear about classic motorsport.

Be sure to click over to Nite_Owl’s Flickr stream for the complete set. Well worth it.

“That’s what I’m countin’ on Luke”