RACING TIMELINE
By Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup

1875: The Ormond Hotel built.

1880’s: Karl Benz and Gotlieb Daimler built first reliable gas-fueled cars in Germany.

1888: Refurbished Hotel Ormond, now owned by railroad tycoon Henry Flagler reopens. Flagler now owns the warm weather destination and the railroad to get his patrons there.

1893: Charles and Frank Duryea produce first gas-powered 4 wheel American automobile.

1894: 78 Mile Paris-Rouen race won by Peugeot with Daimler engine.

1895: Chicago Times-Herald sponsors 54 mile Chicago-Evanston and back race. 60 entries. 2 finishers. Frank Duryea wins at average speed of 7.5 MPH.

1896: World’s first oval track race…Cranston, Rhode Island. 5 mile race on 1 mile horse track. 8 entries. 5 gas-powered Duryeas…won by Whiting in an Electric…26.8 MPH...faster than many horses.

1897: Alexander Winton founds Winton Motor Carriage Company. Winton “was a firm believer in testing his vehicles on road and track.” He drove a 60 mile round trip “without a hitch.” (Referring to a “horseless carriage.”) He ran a one mile oval in 1:48. He drove 800 miles…Cleveland to New York City… in 78 hours 43 minutes running time…but the accomplishment went largely unreported. (Winton produced cars from 1898-1924. 22 cars in 1898 to a high of 2,100 cars in 1916. 5 cars in 1924.)

1898: Winton advertises in “Scientific American” and sells first car to Bob Allison.” The purchase was the first of an American-made standard advertised model and, could be called the beginning of the American automobile industry.” Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat runs 39.24 MPH at Acheres, France.

1899: Advertising was too slow to create results for Winton, so he hired a PR man who rode with him and sent news releases to 30 newspapers as Winton again drove from Cleveland to New York, 707.4 miles…in 47 hours 34 minutes running time. The event was covered coast to coast and Winton became a front page celebrity. Not everyone loved Wintons. James Packard bought one and constantly complained. Winton told him that if he thought he could build a better automobile he should do so. Packard did, starting his own company in 1899, taking some of Winton’s employees and investors with him.

1901: Henry Ford beats Winton in a 10 mile race at Grosse Point, MI. in Ford’s first race. The $1000 prize and positive publicity helped Ford start his own car company. The day before the race Winton offered Ford advice about his steering. “My God, Henry…you can’t drive a car with that kind of rig. You’ll kill yourself.” Winton sent Ford one of his own steering gears and Ford beat him with it.

1902: World speed record…78 MPH set by Maurice Augieres at Dourdan, France. Myth perpetuated that Winton and Olds drove to a tie at 57 MPH on Ormond Beach. Dick Punnett in “Racing on the Rim” (c. 1997) disputes this.

1903: The first “Winter Speed Carnival” is conducted at Ormond Beach, FL, promoted by William J. Morgan “ In the book, “Famous but Forgotten: The Story of Alexander Winton” by Thomas Saal and Bernard Golias (c. 1997)… “Early in 1902…marked over in pen with 3… Winton debuted his new Bullet on the hard-packed sands between Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach in Florida. He and Ransom Olds had been persuaded to put on racing exhibitions by Anderson and Price, proprietors of the Ormond Hotel, to attract the tourist trade. Olds had a spindly-looking car he called the Pirate, driven by H. T. Thomas. Although both cars were timed at speeds around 57 MPH, Winton and Olds agreed to call the contest a tie.” (confusion between 1902 and 1903 stories?)
A Winton, “The Vermont” driven by Horatio Nelson Jackson and Sewell Crocker is the first to cross the country…from San Francisco to New York in 46 days of travel. It was followed closely by a Packard driven by Tom Fetch of Jefferson, Ohio and Maurice Krarup and an Oldsmobile driven by Whitman and Hammond.
Barney Oldfield, driving Ford’s “999” (named after a famous New York Central train) was the first American to run over a mile a minute on June 20 at the Indiana Fairgrounds…59.6 seconds. Oldfield hyped… “You have the sensation of being hurtled through space. The machine is throbbing under you with its cylinders beating a drummer’s tattoo, and the air tears past you in a gale. I tell you, gentlemen, no man can drive faster and live.” Ford told Oldfield later, “You made me and I made you.” Barney replied, “I did a #### sight better for you than you did for me.”
December 17, 1903…600 miles up the coast from Daytona…the Wright Brothers make the first successful heavier than air powered flight at Kitty Hawk, NC.

1904: On January 12, Henry Ford in “999” goes 91.37 MPH for a new world record on frozen Lake St. Claire in MI. Willie K. Vanderbilt goes to a World Record 92.308 MPH in his Mercedes on January 27 at Ormond/Daytona. Barney Oldfield, driving for Winton, beats Vanderbilt in the finals…the “common man” beats the aristocrat. 11 world records and 4 American records broken during the Ormond/Daytona Winter Speed Carnival. Flagler builds the Ormond Garage and a dormitory for mechanics. Running between the two buildings is “Gasoline Alley.” Louis Rigolly runs 103.56 at Ostend, Belgium.

1905: Frank Croker and his riding mechanic Alexander Raoul are killed when they avoid a motorcyclist that veers into their path on the beach…the first fatalities at Daytona.

1906: Fred Marriott in the Stanley Steamer, “Rocket” sets a world land speed record at Daytona of 127.660 MPH.

1907: Marriott crashes his Stanley Steamer at over 150 MPH…the impact caused an eye to come out of its socket. A doctor put it back in with a spoon. Marriott survived but it was the death knell for steamers as the gasoline set started rumors that the boiler exploded and even damaged buildings in Ormond. Poppycock! The Stanleys retire from racing. They would still sell steamers into the 20’s but the damage to the steamer reputation proved fatal.

1908: Morgan turned to distance racing for the Speed Carnival. Only 9 cars showed. The US economy goes into recession. Interest went overseas. Hemery wins the Paris to Moscow race.

1909: Speed Carnival tries airplanes and dirigibles to renew interest. Only one airplane shows and doesn’t fly. The dirigible doesn’t come.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is built. William Henry Getty France is born on September 26.

1910: The Florida East Coast Automobile Association actually cancels the Winter Carnival of Speed but relents at the last minute.  Barney Oldfield goes 131.723 in his “Lightning Benz” at Daytona. He says, “It is the sensation of riding a rocket through space. A speed of 131 miles an hour is as near to the limit of speed as humanity will ever travel.” Winter Speed Carnival ends.

1911:”Wild Bob” Burman, who would later that year drive in the First Indy 500, runs 141.732 at Daytona in Oldfield’s ride from the year before, with its name restored to “Blitzen Benz.” Burman’s goggle lenses kept blowing out at speed…so during a break he riveted them in place. He drove in a suit and tie with his cap reversed.(Curtis Turner would later drive NASCAR races in a suit.) He had been a driver for Buick’s founder, W.C. Durant, who believed “the best way to sell cars is to race them.” (NASCAR’s “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” may have been lifted from this era.) Durant had also hired brothers Louis and Arthur Chevrolet and it is estimated that Buick won 500 races between 1908-1911. Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500, averaging 74.602 MPH.. (He had fielded a car at Ormond/Daytona in 1907.) Titanic is built.

1914-18: World War I.

1919: Ralph DePalma, who served as a captain in the Air Corps, returns from the war to Daytona in a 12 cylinder airplane engined Packard and flies it down the beach at a world record 149.87 MPH. Rene Thomas is first to qualify on pole at Indy at over 100MPH…104.78 MPH. 18th amendment (Prohibition) ratified.

1920: Tommy Milton shows up at Daytona with his mechanic Jimmy Murphy in a dual engined Duesenberg. (The expression, “It’s a real Duesey,” comes from the car’s famous reputation.) Milton left to race in Cuba, and asked Murphy to do a test run in the car. Timers “just happened” to set up and record Murphy’s “World Record Practice Run.” Milton returned and was outraged. He fired Murphy and had to set up a tent to rebuild both engines which had sucked up sand in Murphy’s practice run. On April 27 Milton built up speed for four miles then entered the measured mile…his car caught fire but Milton did not stop until he had set a new record of 156.046 MPH. He used the ocean to douse the flames. On August 18th, the 19th Amendment ratified. (Women’s Vote)

1921: Jimmy Murphy becomes the first American to win a European race and also wins the French Grand Prix at Le Mans. Tommy Milton wins the Indy 500…Ralph DePalma leads 109 of first 110 laps and holds a 3 lap lead when he throws a rod.

1922: K.L. Guiness runs 129.17 MPH at Brooklands, England. Jimmy Murphy wins the Indy 500…the first to win from the pole…the first to compete with brakes on all four wheels and the first with a Miller engine. Sig Haugdahl on April 6 runs 180.27 MPH in his airplane engined “Wisconsin Special,” at Daytona. He was the first to go three miles a minute. When Malcolm Campbell left for Bonneville after his 1935 world record at Daytona…Haugdahl would design and promote the first Beach/Road Course in 1936 to keep racing…and tourist dollars in Daytona.

1923: Tommy Milton wins his second Indy 500…from the pole. His pole speed is 108.17 MPH.

1925: Malcolm Campbell runs 150.86 at Pendine Sands, Wales.

1927: Charles Lindberg flies solo across the Atlantic. Babe Ruth hits 60 Home Runs. Parry Thomas, land speed record rival of Malcolm Campbell and Henry Segrave is killed at Pendine Sands in Wales. His race car, “Babs” is buried in the sand. Campbell and Segrave look for a safer place to run…Daytona. Segrave, the first to wear a crash helmet, runs 203.79 MPH at Daytona in his Sunbeam “Mystery S” nicknamed “The Slug.”.

1928: The “High Noon” Showdown at Daytona…1926 Indy 500 winner Frank Lockhart in his Stutz Blackhawk…Malcolm Campbell in Bluebird and Ray Keech in the three airplane engined monster called Triplex….perhaps the largest race car ever driven…10,000 pounds..36 cylinders…5,000 cubic inches. On February 19 Campbell runs 206.95 in Bluebird. Frank Lockhart goes out three days later and encounters rain, fog and ruts from Campbell’s run, loses control at about 200 MPH…does a Mario Andretti-like double somersault and is trapped in the car in the ocean. Onlookers keep him from drowning and drag his car back onto the beach. Ray Keech in Triplex was running close to 200MPH but a fire ended his day. Campbell won the day and visited President Calvin Coolidge in the White House. On April 22 Keech returned to Daytona and set a new World Record of 207.55 MPH. On April 25 Lockhart elected NOT to change tires on his return run in the Blackhawk. The right rear blew…somersaulted three times throwing him to his death. Daytona residents took up a fund to ship his body home to California…but his widow kept the money. A second collection sent him back to California for burial, five months after the accident.

1929: Segrave runs 231.44 at Daytona, in his Napier Golden Arrow...with a gunsight mounted on the hood to aim the beast. Ray Keech was asked to try to win back the title in Triplex. He declined, “There’s not enough money to get me back in that hot seat.” Ray Keech wins Indy 500, then killed in a race in PA. Lee Bible tries for a record in Triplex…hits a photographer, crashes the car and dies. Segrave was still in Daytona and badly shaken by the accident. He vowed to not race on land…but try to set a record on the water. He died trying to set a water record in England the next year. October 29th…”Black Tuesday”…”Wall Street Lays An Egg”…Stock Market Crash…Great Depression starts, and lasts for 12 YEARS! Until December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. 10,000 banks fail and $140 Billion of depositor money vanishes. The Dow Jones doesn’t surpass its 1929 pre-crash high until 1955…26 years later!

1931: Campbell runs 246.09 at Daytona. The Empire State Building is dedicated. Al Capone sentenced to prison for tax evasion.

1932: Campbell, knighted for his efforts, runs 253.97 MPH at Daytona…17 MPH faster than the aviation record. On May 20th, Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. On August 24 she flies non-stop across the USA in just over 19 hours. Lindberg baby is kidnapped. “Grand Hotel” wins Oscar for Best Picture.

1933: An assassination attempt on President-elect Roosevelt kills Chicago mayor Anton Cermak in Miami. FDR’s first “Fireside Chat” is broadcast on the radio. CCC, TVA and a host of other relief and works programs are created. Prohibition ends.

1934: Bonnie and Clyde killed. Clyde had written Henry Ford praising his vehicles as reliable getaway cars. John Dillinger killed in Chicago. He is reputed to have attended the Indy 500…and even autographed a fan’s ticket stub in 1934. “L’il Abner” debuts.

1935: Campbell runs 276.82 at Daytona. On one leg he ran 330. 1935 was
Campbell’s last visit to Daytona Beach…which he called his second home. “When he left, city leaders realized he took the tourist industry with him” (“The Sands of Time.”) Bill France witnesses the event, and would soon become Daytona’s “Saviour”. WPA created. On September 2nd a Category 5 hurricane hits the Florida Keys, killing over 400 people. “Monopoly” game released.

1936: Campbell breaks 300 MPH…at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Sig Haugdahl, the first to go 180 MPH…won seven consecutive Midwest dirt track titles…had worked with Lockhart on the Blackhawk…with Segrave on Miss England…and had talked with Bill France about creating some sort of beach/road course…was asked by the city to construct a race course. AAA came on board to sanction the event…the city put up a $5,000 purse. Only 27 cars showed up for the race but the drivers HAD credentials…1934 Indy 500 winner “Wild Bill” Cummings, dirt track champs Bob Sall, George “Doc” Mackenzie and Ben Shaw. Midget Champ Bill Schindler…and Sam and Miles Collier who would promote sports car races at Watkins Glen and Sebring. Bill France entered a 1935 Ford and was a mechanic on Canadian dirt track champ Milt Marion’s car. The race was a disaster. The slower cars started first with the pole sitter’s car launched more than 30 minutes later. Cars got stuck in the sand. Every car was towed at least twice…eventual winner Milt Marion FIVE times. France finished fifth. The city lost $22,000. This could have been the end of racing in Daytona.

1937: On January 24, 1937, 86 motorcycle riders took the green flag for the first Daytona 200. Truck loads of “marl” were added to the sand in the corners to keep the track from breaking up. A huge crowd of 12-20,000 watched Ed Kretz win on an Indian. The Elks Club sponsored the beach/road automobile race, added marl to the turns and put up a $100 purse and still lost money. Hindenburg disaster.

1938: The city contacted Bill France to promote the 1938 race. France, unsure if he had the experience placed a collect call to veteran promoter Ralph Hankinson for help. Hankinson refused the 25 cent call…so France and his friend Charlie Reese (a successful night club owner who supplied the cash) put on the first successful race, scheduled for July 4th…moved to July 10, due to rain and split a $200 profit. Danny Murphy, an Ormond Beach fireman, won. France was second. Success led to scheduling a second race on Labor Day weekend. Smokey Purser won, but was disqualified for using illegal heads. Bill France was second…and should have inherited the win. Being the promoter, he gave the winnings to third place finisher, Lloyd Moody. France and Reese split $2,000 profit after the second 1938 race. “That was more money than I had ever seen at one time before,” France said. October 30th, Orson Welles’ broadcast of “War of the Worlds” on radio causes thousands to believe that Martians had invaded the United States. On November 1st, 40 million radio listeners hear Seabiscuit beat War Admiral by four lengths in 1:56 for the mile and three sixteenths.

1939: New York World’s Fair opens. Albert Einstein urges FDR to start atomic weapons research program. Germany invades Poland. World War Two begins in Europe. “Grapes of Wrath” is published. “Gone With the Wind” wins “Best Picture.”

1941-45 Racing stops as United States takes part in World War II.

1947: December 14-17. Bill France and 35 others meet in the “Ebony Room” of the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, FL to create NASCAR.

1948: NASCAR incorporated. Harry Truman elected President.

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