PAT ON THE BACK

PAUL O'SHEA
A 28-year-old New Yorker, Paul O'Shea, has always tinkered with cars and built the first one he ever drove by compounding a makeshift motor out of an old washing machine. He took up sports car racing casually five years ago, now enters about 10 races a year. He scored his first victory at Vero Beach, Fla. in 1951, winning a one-hour endurance race and finishing second in a 12-hour race the same day. On May 29 this year, Paul drove a Mercedes 300SL to victory at Thompson, Conn, and set a new lap speed record in the process. Earlier this year at the Sebring, Fla. 12-hour sports car race Paul piloted a tiny Porsche Spyder to victory in the Class G event.

JAMES DEAN
A 24-year-old Californian, James Dean burst into sudden prominence this year as one of Hollywood's top young movie actors with a sensitive performance in East of Eden that drew critical raves. Last March he burst equally suddenly on the sports car world as an accomplished driver. At Palm Springs, racing for the first time in his life, Jim drove a white Porsche to victory in an under-1,500-cc. race. The next day he entered the finals and further surprised racing bugs by finishing a strong second in his strictly stock Porsche, trailing a souped-up MG model. Despite the nervous objection of his studio, Dean continues to compete in' West Coast racing.

TWO PHOTOS