Jack McAfee drove Tony Parravano’s 1949 Cadillac convertible in the Main Event.
Photo: Jim Pollack from the collection of Bill Pollack
Sports car road racing started after WWII on the East Coast during the late forties. The first wheel-to-wheel event was organized by the Sports Car Club of America on October 2, 1948 at Watkins Glen, NY. Even though Southern California was a hotbed of the car-crazy culture, road racing took some time to wend its way west. The first race took place on November 20, 1949 when the San Francisco MG Car Club held a race at Buchanan Field near Concord in Northern California.
Steve White, who was at the Buchanan Field event, wrote me to say that he remembers a race held in Vallejo sometime before 1949. “It was held on hilly and curvy neighborhood streets and was contested by deuce flathead hot rods and a lone MGTC which finessed its way to victory.” Steve can’t remember the date, but says it was 1947 or 1948.
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