Daytona – The Birthplace of Speed – Pt 1
When you get to Daytona International Speedway, you will see some seating sections identified by these names:: Oldfield, DePalma,Weatherly, Earnhardt, Campbell, Segrave, Petty, Roberts, Lockhart, Keech. We can imagine where Earnhardt came from, but who are all of the others??
Long ago, in the 1900-1907 era the Ormond Hotel in Ormond Beach Florida was the winter home or favorite vacation haunt to some of this country’s early automotive pioneers. John D.Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Loius Chevrolet and Horace Dodge to name a few. In those days, roads were not constructed as they are today, the roads then were little more than horse trails, they were rutted and created problems for “auto-mobiles” that were being constructed at that time. The sand of the Daytona – Ormond area was smooth and compacted, perfect for testing of new automobiles. The auto makers and local area business leaders began to sponsor winter speed events which became races that broke existing land speed records from 1903 until 1935.
1902: The earliest timed run was a solo by Ransom E Olds
1903: The American Automotive Association was formed – they sanctioned and timed races
1903: One of the earliest races was organized by Alexander Winton racing his 4 cylinder “Bullet” against the Ransom Olds single cylinder “Pirate” (Winton by .2 sec)
1904: Wm K Vanderbilt Mercedes to 92 mph
1905: Arthur McDonald in a Napier6 LSR at 104mph
1906: Fred Mariott in a Stanley Steamer LSR at 127mph
1907: Glenn Curtiss in a Curtiss V8 40hp motorcycle LSR at 124.09 mph
1919: Ralph DePalma in a Packard 905 LSR at 149.8 mph
1926: Frank Lockhart (at Muroc Dry Lakes) in a Stutz “Black Hawk Special” at 198.29
1927: Henry Segrave in a Sunbeam 100 hp LSR at 202.98 mph
1928: Sir Malcolm Campbell Campbell-Napier “Bluebird”LSR at 206.95 mph
1928: Ray Keech White Triplex “Spirit of Elkdom”LSR at 207.55 mph
1929: Henry Segrave in Irving-Napier Golden Arrow LSR at 231.56 mph
1931: Sir Malcolm Campbell Campbell-Napier “Bluebird”LSR at 246.08 mph
1932: Sir Malcolm Campbell Campbell-Napier “Bluebird”LSR at 251.34 mph
1933: Sir Malcolm Campbell Campbell-RollsRoyce “Bluebird” LSR at 272.46 mph
1935: Sir Malcolm Campbell in a 2500 hp 12 cylinder “Bluebird II” to 276 mph
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