I was really enjoying my Photographer Pass, especially at Paramount Ranch. The elevation changes gave you dramatic angles to catch the cars. Such as this one of Dan Gurney in Frank Arciero’s Ferrari 375 Plus on December 8, 1957. Dan won by 30 seconds over Bob Oker in an Aston Martin.
Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn
By late 1956 I was really getting into the swing of what and how to shoot, for example Ferrari, particularly the sports racers. But I didn’t know was there would still be a great interest in these cars 40 years later. If I had known that I would have had much different shooting technique. The most important change would have been to use a lot more film.
Shoot the pits on Saturday and the track on Sundays; spend the $6 for a motel room; don’t forget the backmarkers. Their families will love to see them when they were racing. A lot of drivers never took pictures when they were driving.
For example, in 2003 I got a phone call from a guy named Thomas Jones. He said he knew it would be a long shot, but he found my website, and wondered if by chance would I have a picture of him at Torrey Pines on January 15, 1956. This was my second race and I shot up a whole roll of 36 exposure B & W film. He said he drove a Kurtis Mercury with #197. Knowing the negs fairly well be then, I said that I knew I had his picture. The phone went dead for a bit, and when he came back on the line, I could hear is voice had a slight tremble. I was delighted to hear that he wanted to show his grandkids a picture of him when he raced. Makes life worth living, doesn’t it?
1956
Paramount Ranch was a perfect course of the nimble Spyders and Poopers. I imagine many of you know who laid out the course? Ken Miles, of course. Here he is in the Pooper in 1956. The name was funny but Porsche was not laughing.
I’m on the outside of Turn 3 on September 2, 1956, at Santa Barbara while Richie Ginther was working in his 550 office.
This race was the famed “Duel in the Desert” with Carroll Shelby in the John Edgar # 98 Ferrari 410S and Phil Hill in the George Tilp #2 Ferrari 857S Monza. This was their famous lead swapping duel. Shel, with his bigger 4.9 litre motor was better suited for the airport layout than Phil’s nimble 3.5 litre and finished a scant half of a second ahead of Phil. This all happened at Palm Springs on November 4, 1956.
1957
When I arrived at Pomona on January 20, 1957 the deluge of rain had ended. Must have been at least half an inch. But it did leave massive pools of water that Phil Hill in John von Neumann’s Ferrari 750 Monza and many others found more challenging than expected. So much more challenging for Phil that after several close encounters with cars and hay bales that he pulled into the pits. A friend of mine overheard a conversation between Phil and his mechanic, Henry Pickett. Henry asked Phil if there was a mechanical problem with the car? Phil said, “No, I’m just tired of making an ass of myself out there.” Phil had spun out three times at the same corner.
This is one brute of a Ferrari. It looks mean and sounds ferocious with its 4.9 litre motor – one of my favorite cars. It was owned at the time by John Edgar. Phil Hill had promised him he would race the 410 Sport at Santa Barbara on May 19, 1957. Phil was driving for Scuderia Ferrari and they wanted him at the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometres. However, it was too close to the date of Santa Barbara so it would be difficult to do both. Phil kept his promise to John.
My quintessential racing image came on December 8, 1957, at Paramount Ranch in the green (OK, so mostly brown) rolling hills in Agoura Hills, California. The Ranch was once owned by Paramount Studios and now is run by the National Parks Service, that is what is left of it. The Woolsey fire of 2018 destroyed 1,600 structures in all, and covered over 97,000 acres. The Western Town situated in the center of the course was completely destroyed, except for the little white church. A lot of the original asphalt of the track is still intact, albeit a little the worse for wear. Paramount was a Porsche Spyder-friendly circuit due to its eleven tight turns and short ¾ or ½ mile straight, depending on who you talk to. It also had its signature “Bridge” with an underpass between Turn 2 and 3, again depending on who is laying out the turn numbers.
Paramount Ranch on December 8, 1957. Lest we not forget the women’s side of road racing, here are two of the best who ran. Betty Shutes was one of them, here in a Porsche 550 Spyder, finishing 4th in the Ladies Race. She is leading one of the others, Mary Davis, who finished 2nd, in Joe Lubin’s Formula 2 Cooper. Sometimes the best of them were allowed to run in the other genders category, but not too often, as the guys hated to be beaten by the distaff side. I doubt either one of them would want to be called distaff. Both were independent, no-nonsense women, and equal to the task on the track. I belong to “The Fabulous Fifties”, a “Non-Organization of Guys and Gals” who are passionate about sports car racing in, what else, the fifties. Through it, I did have the pleasure of meeting both of them, along with many others, over the years.
1958
Steering wheel at arm’s length is what they said at driver’s school. You learned very well Mr. Ginther, showing it here at Santa Barbara, CA on June 1, 1958. But this day it was the big horses that lead the stampede. Reventlow winning in his most beautiful B Modified Scarab, with Max Balchowsky in second place also B Modified in his ahhh, what did I call it in Gallery 1, oh yea, Junk Yard Dog. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ginther took show in the John von Neumann Ferrari 250 TR and first in D Modified. As an aside; I do believe Mr. Ginther could be held accountable the my developing “tinnitus”, in both ears, on that delightful day. It seams that if you run your tach to 7 or 8 thousand RPM it seems to reach a pitch that can burn the zillion hair cells in the cochlea thingies. One of the most ear-splitting sounds I ever heard, but beautiful.
Two raving beauties duke it out at Santa Barbara on June 1, 1958. Lance Reventlow took home the hardware for the first win by one of his Mk I Scarabs. Ahead of him but not for long is John von Neumann’s Ferrari 500TRC which ended up 4th, along with von Neumann, of course. This race date was also memorable in the under 1500cc Main. Hard to believe but Ken Miles was beaten on Saturday and again on Sunday by another great Spyder chauffeur, Jack McAfee. I have heard, although have not confirmed, That Mr. McAfee has more wins than Mr. Miles. Good topic for some bench racing. Is that still done?
Should you be interested in obtaining any of these images or looking at our website with 350 more images, check it out: www.vintage-sportscar-photos.com.
Thank you for another wonderful article about Allen’s years taking photos at races. The photos are lovely and the text is fun to read.
Great pictures and comments Allen. Must feel mighty good to bring your past to the present. It was obvious you enjoyed yourself.
A lot of history would have been lost without Allen. Little did he know that as a young man, he would create a wonderful legacy by allowing future generations to learn from his efforts in capturing important moments in history.