Prior to World War I, auto racing featured expensive machines and teams financed by auto factories. The teams toured the country, and most of the races were held in large cities, so the vast majority of Americans never saw a race. All this changed after World War I, though, and in the 1920s and 1930s there were approximately 1,000 dirt tracks in the United States and Canada. The dirt tracks offered small-time racing--little prize money and minimal publicity--but people loved it. This pictorial history documents dirt track racing, with what are today called sprint cars, around the United States from 1919 to 1941. Information on dirt track racing in Canada during this time is also provided. Regionally divided chapters detail the drivers, tracks, and specific races of each area of the country. Some of the drivers went on to win fame and fortune while others faded into obscurity. Tracks included well known facilities as well as out-of-the-way sites few people had ever heard of. The cars ranged from state of the art machines to the more common home built specials based on Model T or Model A Ford parts. Taken together, the drivers, tracks, and races of this era were instrumental in making auto racing the popular sport it is today.

The first organized, sanctioned American stock car race took place in 1908 on a road course around Briarcliff, New York--staged by one of America's early speed mavens, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. A veteran of the early Ormond-Daytona Beach speed trials, Vanderbilt brought the Grand Prize races to Savannah, Georgia, the same year. What began as a rich man's sport eventually became the working man's sport, finding a home in the South with the infusion of moonshiners and their souped-up cars. Based in large part on statements of drivers, car owners and others garnered from archived newspaper articles, this history details the development of stock car racing into a megasport, chronicling each season through 1974. It examines the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing's 1948 incorporation documents and how they differ from the agreements adopted at NASCAR's organization meeting two months earlier. The meeting's participants soon realized that their sport was actually owned by William H.G. "Bill" France, and its consequential growth turned his family into billionaires. The book traces the transition from dirt to asphalt to superspeedways, the painfully slow advance of safety measures and the shadowy economics of the sport.

As soon as there were automobiles, there was racing. The first recorded race, an over road event from Paris to Rouen, France, was organized by the French newspaper Le Petit Journal in 1894. Seeing an opportunity for a similar event, Hermann H. Kohlsaat--publisher of the Chicago Times-Herald--sponsored what was hailed as the "Race of the Century," a 54-mile race from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois, and back. Frank Duryea won in a time of 10 hours and 23 minutes, of which 7 hours and 53 minutes were actually spent on the road. Race cars and competition have progressed continuously since that time, and today's 200 mph races bear little resemblance to the event Duryea won. This work traces American auto racing through the 20th century, covering its significant milestones, developments and personalities. Subjects included are: Bill Elliott, dirt track racing, board track racing, Henry Ford, Grand Prix races, Dale Earnhardt, the Vanderbilt Cup, Bill France, Gordon Bennett, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Mercer, the Stutz, Duesenberg, Frank Lockhart, drag racing, the Trans Am, Paul Newman, vintage racing, land speed records, Al Unser, Wilbur Shaw, the Corvette, the Cobra, Richard Petty, NASCAR, Can Am, Mickey Thompson, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti, Jeff Gordon, and Formula One. Through interviews with participants and track records, this text shows where, when and how racing changed. It describes the growth of each different form of auto racing as well as the people and technologies that made it ever faster.

This book covers Joan Newton Cuneo's life, and her roles (from 1905 to 1915) as the premier female racer in the United States and spokeswoman for women drivers and good roads. Beginning with her family history and marriage to Andrew Cuneo, it traces her life in New York society, the birth of her children, and Joan's growing interest in automobile touring and racing and partnership with Louis Disbrow, her racing mechanic. The book covers Joan's experiences in three Glidden Tours, including her notes on the 1907 tour, her first races, and her rivals. It also looks at the growth and change of automobile culture and the battles for control of racing among the American Automobile Association, the Automobile Club of America, and the American Automobile Manufacturers Association--which ended in banishing women racers shortly after Joan's greatest racing victories at New Orleans (in 1909). The book then follows Joan's attempts to continue racing, the end of her marriage, her move to the Upper Peninsula, and her remarriage and death. The book also includes a chapter on her female rivals in racing and touring.

A best seller and winner of the Antique Automobile Club of America's prestigious Thomas McKean Award.The Golden Age of the American Racing Car emphasizes the human side of racing history, offering insight into the men who shaped the golden age. Covering a period of time from the 1910s through the 1930s, the book describes the historical development of race car technology and presents fascinating information on race courses, designers, builders, drivers, and events. Racing pioneers covered include: Fred Duesenberg, Louis Chevrolet, Harry Miller, Leo Goossen, and Fred Offenhauser.

A great little sports car race took place on an island in Lake Erie, offshore of Sandusky, Ohio. The drivers came on ferry boats to compete for silver cups in an age when there were no sponsors and no prize money. The drivers were car salesmen, stock brokers, engineers, printers, etc. Often, the cars they raced were those they drove as daily transportation: MGs, Porsches, Triumphs, Alfas and others. In this well-illustrated history (full color throughout the ebook edition), drivers, officials, mechanics and spectators share their stories. The text paints a vivid picture of the sports car racing scene in post-war America.

For the Old World caught up in the traumas of a bitter conflict, Americas Indianapolis 500-mile race was a New-World beacon of auto-racing speed and excitement during the 1940s. While racing stopped in Europe in 1939, the Indy 500 raced on in 1940 and 41, bringing victories in both years for Wilbur Shaws Maserati. Racing resumed in 1946 with Shaw in charge of the Speedway, now owned by Tony Hulman. The post-war fields were full of exotic machinery from Fageols twin-engined four-wheel-drive car and the front-drive Blue Crowns-1947-48-49 winners-to the rear-engined Tucker Millers and Rounds Rocket plus the imported 1939 Mercedes-Benz of Don Lee and numerous Alfa Romeos and Maseratis. The first Kurtis racers made their debut, as did the awesome Novi. The six-cylinder Thorne Special won in 1946 and Indys only six-wheeled car competed as well. This new Ludvigsen Library book brings to dramatic life the spectacle and excitement of the 1940-1949 era at the Speedway.

A look at the tumultuous early years of American's oldest continuously operated road racecourse. Lime Rock Park in Connecticut--American's oldest continuously operated road course--came about more by accident than design. Construction of the course began in 1955, when open road racing had been banned in many states, and the use of military and civil airport runways for racing was losing favor with audiences. Dubbed "the Road Racing Center of the East," the park has a turbulent history bedeviled by financial crises, discord with racing organizers, and extensive legal troubles, but it managed to prevail against steep odds. Terry O'Neil's book details this history of mixed fortunes during the first twenty years of the park's existence. Containing more than a thousand images, hundreds of race results, and a wealth of previously unseen material, Lime Rock Park is a thorough deep dive into the rocky beginnings of a crucial site in the history of American automobile racing.