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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Paramount Ranch races 1956

Making Tracks: My Love Affair with the California Circuits of the ’50s

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Once again, I bring pixels to the screen with the hope that these images or text will tweak some memories from your bygone youth and bring a smile to your face. “I was there” is a favorite one I like to hear. Any idea of which track this is? I’ll give you a hint, it’s at Turn 5. The parties behind the wheels are: #69 Dan Gurney Ferrari 375 Plus, #59 Bob Oker Aston Martin, and #21 Hal Dolden Sparks-Bonney Special. Dan won and Bob was second. But, where?

Story and photographs by Allen R. Kuhn

In the next few months I will chronicle some of the 13 race tracks where I photographed the world of sports car racing in Southern California from 1955 to 1965. In this issue, I am featuring the wonderful world of the Paramount Ranch Race Track itself, my favorite shooting gallery. I will try and capture some of the topography of the landscape there in the following images.

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Photo Gallery 2: Allen R. Kuhn, 1956-58

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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. [Read more…] about Photo Gallery 2: Allen R. Kuhn, 1956-58

Photo Gallery: Allen R. Kuhn, 1955-56

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Paramount Ranch, November 18, 1956.

Story and photos by Allen R. Kuhn

The Editor has been so kind as to let me post a few images that are the most memorable, to me, from my early years as a photographer and sports car aficionado. Many have never been published before. We both agreed that the lead photo above exemplified what sports car racing in the 1950s was all about. Front row, is #59 Bob Oker, AC Ace Bristol, #2 Dan Gurney, Porsche 356 Speedster, and #131 Jim Parkinson (# not shown), Austin-Healey 100S. Oker won the race with Parkinson third and Gurney being a DNF with clutch problems.

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