Hershel McGriff back to racing at age 81

Hershel McGriff drove the Oldsmobile 88 ‘City of Portland’ (shown above) to victory at the inaugural 2,178 mile Mexican Road Race from Ciudad Juarez to El Ocotal.

I was a teenager living in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at that time. Since I was an ardent auto-racing fan and McGriff had grown up in Sioux Falls he was my favorite racecar driver.

McGriff (shown at right and below) also participated in NASCAR races in the southeast including Daytona when they raced on the sandy beach. The old Daytona Beach race was a hit with fans but was hard on drivers and cars.

In McGriff’s early years of racing he often drove his racecar on regular roads from race to race. Sometimes race drivers would haul their racecars on flatbed trucks in those early years of stock car racing.


McGriff is a member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame. His racing career has spanned six decades. He won four NASCAR Cup races, and 37 races on the West series.

The first link below shows a delightful video of a Hershel McGriff interview.

Link here and here.