I am the Director of this years Anchorage Fur Rondy Grand Prix It started in 1960. Also the President of the Alaska Sports Car Club. http://www.aksportscarclub.org/TOC.htm Question is do you know of any races older that take place on the streets?
TJ
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March 5, 2009 10:28 a.m. TJ_Clark None
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March 5, 2009 10:37 a.m. Tom Heath Production Editor
Watkins Glen comes to mind. The first Watkins Glen Grand Prix was in 1948.
The Fur Rondy sounds like a lot of fun!
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March 5, 2009 10:38 a.m. friedgreencorrado Reader
If you mean continually running, I don't know. The stopped going wheel-to-wheel at Ponca City years ago, didn't they?
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March 5, 2009 10:55 a.m. jrw1621 HalfDork
The Long Beach Grand Prix is on city streets. This April is the 35th year so I guess that makes it since 1974.
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March 5, 2009 11:18 a.m. Keith UberDork
Monaco started in 1929.
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March 5, 2009 11:33 a.m. 914Driver Dork
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March 5, 2009 11:58 a.m. spitfirebill HalfDork
Savannah, GA had a street race somewhere like 1907.
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March 5, 2009 11:58 a.m. rl48mini New Reader
Watkins Glen and Elkhart Lake both started out as street races but have been on dedicated race tracks for many years. LeMans is still run on public roads not sure of the start of that venue and Monaco looks like a winner.
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March 5, 2009 12:01 p.m. fiat22turbo SuperDork
I was looking for info on da Google and ran across this page on the history of my local track:
http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/pirbrackets/history/history.htm
Very, very interesting reading. I think Dad still has his reel to reel audio recordings of the original Can-Am cars he recorded at Portland and Seattle back in the day. Big Blocks, no mufflers, what's not to like? Not too mention he has tons of stories about his own sports car and formula car racing.
I only bring it up since PIR is built on the ruins of VanPort, which flooded out in 1948. So the racers started running on the abandoned streets shortly thereafter, but officially it didn't start until 1961 apparently.
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March 5, 2009 12:43 p.m. RossD New Reader
Yeah, Road American (Elkhart Lake) started out as street racing in 1950, or at least thats what wiki tells me.
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March 5, 2009 12:45 p.m. aeronca65t Reader
G'luck with the Ronday...sounds like fun! There plenty of randy folks here!
I'd guess that the Vanderbilt Cup is the oldest in the USA. In 1904, it was run on the road that is now the Long Island Expressway.
Later, it was moved to Savannah, GA and called the American Grand Prize (1908 to 1916). They also ran follow-up Vanderbilt street events in San Francisco and Milwakee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanderbilt_Cup
There was an informal street event run in in France in 1887 (the first street race?). But the first regular auto racing venue was Nice, France, run in March 1897
Bridghampton (my first track to run) was started on public roads in 1957
By the way, I've run the The Sandy Lane Motorcycle Enduro, which was started in 1934 and has always been run on public land. It's still going strong today.
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March 5, 2009 12:54 p.m. 96DXCivic Reader
The 24 hours of Le Mans was first run in 1923 making it older the Monaco
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March 5, 2009 1:08 p.m. jgp1843 HalfDork
Well, it's not a street in an town, but the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb runs on the same public toll road it has used since the first race in 1916. It's mostly paved these days, and will be all paved soon (sob). 12.4 miles, about 156 turns depending on who you ask, around 4600 foot elevation gain.
I remember Satch Carlson describing the Rondy races many years ago in Rallye Magazine and AutoWeek.
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March 5, 2009 2:03 p.m. Keith UberDork
I never thought of Le Mans as a street race, but you're right.
The Isle of Man TT started in 1907.
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March 5, 2009 3:52 p.m. Jensenman MegaDork
What was the single car against the clock race that was run in the area of what is now the Pennsylvania Turnpike? I want to say that one started way back in the oughts too.
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March 5, 2009 5:44 p.m. JFX001 HalfDork
100th Anniversary.
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March 5, 2009 6:17 p.m. mel_horn HalfDork
Jensenman wrote:
What was the single car against the clock race that was run in the area of what is now the Pennsylvania Turnpike? I want to say that one started way back in the oughts too.
Sometime in the late 1940's, IIRC.
The Giants' Despair Hillclimb started in 1906.
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March 5, 2009 6:24 p.m. willy19592 New Reader
Ive gone to the party in honor of this once or twice, top down in an mg.. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/duryea.htm
