The Santa Monica road race course was an American race track consisting of public roads. Established by a consortium of Southern California auto dealers who sought to promote cars, buying them as well as racing them, at a time when they were rather rare in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica road races lasted for ten years.[3]
Inaugural event
An estimated 50,000 people attended the 1909 Santa Monica road races. Harris Hanshue was the winner of the heavy-car division in an Apperson Jackrabbit and Bert Dingley won the lightweight division in a Chalmers-Detroit Forty.[3]
1912 races
The free-for-all race of the 1912 event was won by Teddy Tetzlaff in a Fiat.[2] He was awarded a medal for the win.[4]
Vanderbilt Cup and American Grand Prize
Santa Monica hosted both the Vanderbilt Cup and the American Grand Prize in 1914 and in 1916.[1] A fatality occurred in practice for the 1914 event when a car crashed into the crowd and killed a spectator.[5] The 1916 event was marred by a total of five deaths: After a mechanician had been fatally injured in practice,[6] driver Lewis Jackson and three people lining the road died as a result of a crash during the Grand Prix race.[7]
Final race
A record crowd of 150,000 people saw millionaire sportsman Cliff Durant drive his Chevrolet Special to victory on a shortened course in 1919.[3][8] Walter Melcher sustained fatal injuries when his car overturned.[8]
Further reading
- Osmer, Harold L.; Harms, Phil E. (April 16, 1999). Real Road Racing: The Santa Monica Road Races. Chatsworth, California: Harold L. Osmer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9659533-1-3. Book on the history of the Santa Monica road races.
References
- ^ a b "Santa Monica Road Race Course". ChampCarStats.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31.
- ^ a b "Santa Monica road race 1912". First Super Speedway. Archived from the original on 2020-12-10.
- ^ a b c Solomon, Charles (January 31, 2001). "Racing down Santa Monica's Ocean Avenue, way back when". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2020-12-10.
- ^ "Santa Monica road race souviner". First Super Speedway. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05.
- ^ "One killed and five hurt at practice spin". San Francisco Chronicle. February 17, 1914. Archived from the original on 2022-01-31.
- ^ "Auto road race practice written in blood". Santa Monica Bay Outlook. November 10, 1916.
- ^ "Racing auto leaps track; four killed" (PDF). The New York Times. November 19, 1916. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-10-01.
- ^ a b "Auto racer is killed when car upsets". The Gazette Times. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Associated Press. March 16, 1919.