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Santa Monica Road Race Course
Motorsport track in the United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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]
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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
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