Video: The 1963 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside

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king-cobraSee all the legends of the era—Clark, Foyt, Gurney, and more—and their amazing race cars in this beautiful color film of the 1963 LA Times Grand Prix. 

 

 

When you’re watching this well-produced color film from 1963, you’ll be trying not to blink. Every frame is packed with legendary cars and characters from the glory days of American road racing. Clark, Gurney, Hall, Penske, Surtees, Foyt, Ward—they’re all here, with their equally memorable race cars. The venue itself is golden, too: Riverside International Raceway, home each year to the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix, one of the great events on the U.S. motorsports calendar.

While all the stars were in attendance, the day would belong to Dave MacDonald, a California favorite son with a spectacular, dirt-tracking driving style. When Jim Hall’s Chaparral faltered, MacDonald took charge, pulling away from Roger Penske in his Zerex Special and eventually lapping the field.

Tragically, MacDonald would lose his life less than a year later in a horrific fire in the 1964 Indy 500. But at Riverside Raceway in the fall of 1963, MacDonald stood at the pinnacle of American racing. His car control at the wheel of Carroll Shelby’s mid-engine King Cobra is something to see—watch.

 

7 thoughts on “Video: The 1963 LA Times Grand Prix at Riverside”

  1. I’m Dave MacDonald’s son Rich, thank you for posting this. About this race – the ’63 LA Times GP was the biggest and richest road race in the world, elite drivers from around the globe were lured to Southern California’s Riverside Raceway by the huge purse, which included a new ’64 Pontiac Grand Prix to the winner. He ran Shelby King Cobra CM/1/63 and finished a lap ahead of the star-studded international field. He repeated the feat the following week in the Monterey Pacific GP at Laguna Seca against the same field of drivers, finishing 3+ laps ahead of everyone but 2nd place driver AJ Foyt.

  5. Heard of the bloke that ran second somewhere!
    Dave McDonald was serious with the back it in style. You could never do that today and make the tyres live.

  6. Thank you for posting this amazing piece of film. I’m restoring a 1964 Huffaker Genie Mk VII, which ran in the under 2 liter class. She spent most of her life on the west coast running in these types of races. Looking forward to bringing her back to her former glory and putting back on the track at Laguna Seca. Grateful that Huffaker Engineering is still around and will be handling the restoration duties. Look out Lotus, here we come!!!

  7. Thanks for sharing. I love these old sports racing cars. They were exciting to watch and hear.

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