| Pebble Beach: April
22, 1956 -- 1
Bob Norton sent me these photos from
1956, the last year sports cars raced on the narrow, pine-lined byways
of the misty, gated enclave on the Monterey Peninsula.
Carroll Shelby won the main event in
Dick Hall's 3-liter Ferrari Monza.
I grew up nearby and as a boy I heard
the cars racing. My father
asked me if I thought I was old enough to appreciate the races (I was 8).
Like a young idiot I said "No". I sure regret that childhood decision! |
 |
 |
Ernie McAfee in Bill Doheny's 6-cylinder
4.4 liter Ferrari 121LM.
McAfee lost his life when he hit one
of the many pine trees lining the narrow course.
That was the end of racing at Pebble
Beach. The next year Laguna Seca opened to con- tinue the tradition
of sports car racing in the Monterey Peninsula area. |
The changing of the guard in the "Big
production" class.
Dr.
Dick Thompson in the first of the racing V8 Corvettes leads Tony Settember
in a Mercedes- Benz 300SL "Gullwing" coupe.
Settember won, but Thompson established
the upgraded Corvette as a solid contender and a major threat to "Gullwing"
dominance. |
 |
Thanks to Michael T. Lynch & William
Edgar & Ron Parravano's "American
Sports Car
Racing
in the 1950s" for reference material!
Next: Pebble
Beach, 1956 -- 2
Back to: Bob
Norton's Photos -- Homepage
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are the property of Bob Norton and Tam McPartland and are protected under
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and the images and/or text may not be digitized, reproduced, stored, manipulated,
and/or incorporated into other works without the written permission of
the photographer, Bob Norton, or the writer, Tam McPartland. |