So there you are, on your way to another day in your plastic fantastic, Madison Avenue scene, when you see this over the hood of your new Edsel.

If you were driving home from the bar to church in Riverside, California on the morning of November 20, 1960, you too could have shared the road with the greats of Formula 1.  Alec Ulmann brought the 2nd United States Grand Prix to Riverside, promising an even greater spectacle than the LA Times Grand Prix for sports cars which drew over 70,000 to Riverside Raceway a few months earlier.  Otis Chandler, the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, did not take kindly to Ulmann’s boast and instituted a blackout of all pre-race coverage of the event.  The rest of Southern California’s media outlets followed suit, resulting in a sparsely attended race.  Attendance was, in fact, so low (a little under 25,000, about 1/4th what Ulmann had anticipated), that Ulmann had to reach into his own pockets to pay the prize and appearance fees.  Fortunately for Ulmann, he found a more favorable and supportive environment for the US GP the following year at Watkins Glen.

These photos, of Maurice Trintignant and his Cooper T53 and John Surtees’ Lotus 18, were taken by legendary motor sport photographer Bernard Cahier.  Are their any native Riverside County residents out there in the Hooniverse who can tell us where these photos were taken?

[photo source]