WINGMAN ONE MAN'S QUEST TO REUNITE A 300SL WITH ITS PAST AT THE 12 HOURS OF SEBRING.

GOOSE BUMPS. “I couldn’t believe I was sitting in this seat, in this car, about to throttle onto the track at Sebring,” says Juan J. Escalante.

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“Knowing what this car meant to the people who drove it decades ago, the things they had accomplished, the connection this car gave me to my father, to the country where I was born—it was overwhelming.”

Escalante was in the driver’s seat of a 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL. He and his business partner spent four years restoring the Gullwing, bringing it back to the condition it was in when it raced at Sebring from 1955 to 1957. It won its class here in ’57. As it did then, the car sports Venezuelan flags on both rear quarter-windows. To add to the time-capsule sensation, Escalante wore a replica Fifties helmet built for him by Pacto. Under the Florida sun, the car’s red paint seemed to scream as loud as its inline-six as Escalante toed the gas pedal.

→ TRIPPING Ace the Motorcycle Cannonball The owner of a California RV-rental business, Todd Cameron had long wanted to compete in the Motorcycle Cannonball, a cross-country antique-motorcycle rally race. He rebuilt a 1909 Indian and, in 2023, MacGyvered his way across the U.S. with its 3.5-hp single-cylinder. After 16 days of stage racing and about 3800 miles in the saddle, Cameron didn't just run the Motorcycle Cannonball—he won.

A flagman gave the signal. Escalante engaged the clutch, shifted into first, and began to roll. The date was March 15, 2025—70 years almost to the day when this Gullwing first raced at Sebring. Escalante roared out onto the track and back in time.