Del Mar Road Races

Del Mar is not only the site for Horse Racing and the IMSA races in the early nineties, but also early 60's sports car races with the SCCA. These races were held in the large parking area just west of Jimmy Durante Blvd. It was a 1.9 mile road circuit run clockwise with the boundaries laid out with cones and hay bales. One of the Pacific Coast Championship races was held there in 1962. Early TV star Steve McQueen even put his Porsche Speedster away to run a faster Cooper Junior at this event.

An image of the program cover for the fall 1964 event. This was the 6th running of this event and I believe the last.

You can see the pit area and the track layout as well as spectator parking around the outside of the parking lot in this image.
This Santee Race Car leading a Lotus was built in Santee. Two and a half cars were built, one is owned by one of our blog followers. Image via, Tams Old Race Car Site at.
The first lap of the Big Bore Mod. Race with Corvettes, Healeys, RSKs and some small bore Lotus cars. Pictured is Bob Harris in his rear-engined Campbell Special leading Dave Mac Donald in a Corvette. Image via, Bill Marsh and Toby Palmieri.
Jack Sutherland in his Triumph TR leads a Lotus Elite.
This was the Small Bore Race with MG's and Austin Healey Sprites. Image via, Bill Marsh and Toby Palmieri.
Ronnie Bucknum in a Big Healey leads the Porsche Roadster of Ed Barber and the Speedster of Alan Johnson. Alan would eventually go on the open a Porsche/Audi dealership in San Diego. Image via, Bill Marsh and Toby Palmieri.
George Follmer nerfed Dave Jordon out of the lead, but would later spin and turn the lead back over to Jordon. You can see the battle scares on the doors of both cars. Image via, Bill Marsh and Toby Palmieri.

The Del Mar races ran in '62, '63, and '64. The SCCA would next go to San Diego Stadium, Holtville, and Carlsbad Raceway to put on local events.

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