The Daytona 500: The Thrill and Thunder of the Great American Race
Race car drivers get ready to race across the sands of Daytona Beach in
The Birthplace of Speed he year was 1903 America's roads were courses for horses not cars NASCAR wouldn't exist for another 44 years Automotive pioneer Ransom E Olds was vacationing at Ormond Beach Florida when he discovered that the long coastline and the hard packed beaches of Daytona and Ormond were ideal for high speed driving The damp sand cooled a car's tires maximizing grip And cars didn’t kick up clouds of dust as they did on dirt roads On March 28 a match race between Ransom Olds and wealthy car owner Alex Winton was the talk of the town H T Thomas an Oldsmobile engineer drove Ransom Olds's car It was nicknamed the Pirate for its bare bones appearance Alex Winton drove his own car which he called the Bullet The Ormond Challenge Cup was to be the first official race on the beach Once the dead fish and other sea debris were cleared from a one mile stretch of sand the beach course was ready At the pop of the gun H T Thomas stomped on the gas His car reached speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour Slow off the line Winton was about 50 yards behind before he even got going But at the finish the Bullet shot by the Pirate winning by about one fifth of second a
Tragedy in Daytona The deaths of 27 year old Frank Croker and his mechanic Alexander Raoul overshadowed the Winter Speed Carnival of 1905 Croker a car owner but not a professional driver swerved into the surf when a motorcycle suddenly veered into his path The accident showed the danger of letting amateur drivers take part in the races Since then most car owners have hired professional drivers to race their cars The lure of being the fastest racer in the land attracted many drivers Soon racers from all over the world flocked to Daytona Beach to shatter speed records From 1903 to 1910 the races on the beach were called the Winter Speed Carnival By 1910 there was an official Speedweek in February at Daytona The beaches of Ormond and Daytona became known as the birthplace of speed The British Are Coming Daytona wasn't just about racing It was also about setting records In 1927 British racer Henry Segrave came to Daytona Beach to make his mark in the record books Known as the Mad Major he drove the Golden Arrow a 1 000 horsepower vehicle propelled by two V 12 airplane engines Segrave's speed of 203 miles per hour made him the first driver to exceed the 200 miles per hour mark Henry Segrave sits in his specially designed race car the Arrow Golden
Airflow features on the Bluebird racing on the sand were not found in automobiles until decades later The high stabilization fin was later copied in speedboats Modern 707 jets have air flaps similar to the ones used on the Bluebird A year later rival and fellow Brit Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the speed record in a car he called the Bluebird Over the years the two drivers went back and forth swapping records To be official the speed records had to be run in two stages The stages were run in opposite directions one mile up and one mile back The speed of the two runs was then averaged to cally the official speed record This ensured that wind was not a factor On March 5 1935 Campbell arrived from Britain He brought a team of mechanics and his latest version of the Bluebird The 28 foot teal colored car weighed just less than five tons It was fitted with air flaps and fins It was powered by a 1 343 cubic inch 22 liter Rolls Royce aircraft engine that produced 2 500 horsepower Two days later Campbell and the Bluebird reached a speed of 330 miles per hour The tires blistered sending Campbell into a slide After regaining control of his vehicle he crossed the finish line with an average speed of 276 82 miles per hour The Birthplace of Speed 9
