Automobile Racing
The race is the oldest form of sport known to mankind
, so it is not surprising that men began to race in automobiles almost as soon as they began to build them. The first automobile races were held at Narragansett, Rhode Island, before the year 1900, but automobiles would only go 10 or 12 miles an hour then, so the races were not very exciting. Race horses go more than twice that fast. However, by 1902 a man had gone faster than a mile a minute in an automobile (it was William K. Vanderbilt of New York, a very rich man who later built a fine automobile race track on Long Island). The most famous racing driver of the early automobile years was named Barney Oldfield. Henry Ford's business of selling automobiles was not making money, so Ford decided to make a fast racing car and try to win prize money in races. He built the car, which he called "Number 999," and Barney Oldfield drove it for him and won several races. In 1911 a group of automobile manufacturers built an automobile race track at Indianapolis, Indiana, so that new ideas for automobiles could be tested. The track was of hardwood, oval in shape and 2V2 miles around. Since then, every year on Memorial Day (May 30), the biggest of all automobile races has been held on this track, which is now asphalt-covered It is a 500-mile race. The average speed of the winning car has risen gradually, from 74 Vi miles per hour in 1911 to almost 131 miles per hour in 1954. Smaller races were held at fair grounds all over the United States, on the same tracks that were used for horse races. These were called "dirttrack races," and they were very dangerous. Since the 1930s, "stock-car races" have been more popular. These are also races on dirt tracks, but closed cars-sedans and coupes-are used. In the old dirt-track races, open cars were used and many drivers were killed when their cars skidded and turned over. In closed cars they are much safer. The "stock cars" are not really the same as the regular automobiles that people buy for personal use, because the engines are changed to make them faster. The speeds in stock-car races are not nearly as high as they are in the Indianapolis races, but the cars often go more than 100 miles an hour. "Midget racers" were once very popular. These are tiny open cars, just barely big enough to hold the driver. Because they are so small, they seem to be going very fast even when the speed is only 40 to 60 miles an hour. Midget races, too, are very dangerous to the driver, and stock-car races have taken their place. Some drivers have preferred to race "against time" and not against other cars. The favorite place for trying to set speed records is Bonneville, Utah, on the hard "salt flats" near the Great Salt Lake. Another favorite place is the hard sandy beach at Daytona Beach, Florida. The driver gets a start, then races a mile and is timed; he turns around and races the mile in the other direction. This is so the wind cannot help him. The average time of the two runs is his record. John R. Cobb, in 1947, set a record of a little over 394 miles an hour, at Bonneville. Before Before that, Sir Malcolm Campbell, an Englishman, had held the record. Going in one direction, Cobb went faster than 400 miles an hour.Automobile Racing
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