Трасса Дейтона-Бич и Дорожное Кольцо: История Автоспорта Америки

Motorsport track in the United States

The Daytona Beach and Road Course was a motorsport race track that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It originally became famous as the location where 15 world land speed records were set.

The course started on the pavement of highway A1A (at 4511 South Atlantic Avenue, Ponce Inlet ). A restaurant named "Racing's North Turn" now stands at that location. It went south 2 mile (3 km) parallel to the ocean on A1A (S. Atlantic Ave) to the end of the road, where the drivers accessed the beach at the south turn at the Beach Street approach , returned 2 mile (3 km) north on the sandy beach surface, and returned to A1A at the north turn. The lap length in early events was 3.2 mile (5 km), and it was lengthened to 4.2 mile (7 km) in the late 1940s. In the video game NASCAR Thunder 2004 by EA Sports, the course is shortened to about half its distance, but still shows how the basic course was set up.

March 29, 1927 Major Henry Segrave and his Sunbeam 1000 hp Mystery set a world land speed record on the Daytona Beach and Road Course, at , peaking at a top speed of Washington, DC resident William France, Sr. was familiar with the history of Daytona. He moved there in 1935 to escape the Great Depression and he set up a car repair shop. Daytona Beach officials asked local racer Sig Haugdahl to organize and promote an automobile race along the 3.2 mile (5 km) course in 1936. Haugdahl is credited for designing the track. The city posted a $5,000 purse. The ticket takers arrived at the event on March 8 to find thousands of fans already at the track. The sandy turns became virtually impassable, which caused numerous scoring disputes and technical protests. The event was stopped after 75 of 78 laps. Milt Marion was declared the winner by the AAA (the sanctioning body). Second place finisher Ben Shaw and third place finisher Tommy Elmore protested the results, but their appeals were overturned. France finished fifth in the event. The city lost a reported $22,000 ($ in 2016 dollars), Hotels were being constructed all along the beachfront. France Sr. knew that a permanent racetrack was needed to hold the large crowds that were gathering for races. He looked for alternatives and negotiated with the city of Daytona Beach to purchase a site near the Daytona airport. He arranged financing and in 1957, construction began on the Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 mile (4 km) tri oval circuit with steep bankings that permitted higher speeds. The Daytona Beach course hosted its last event in 1958 and, in 1959 the first Daytona 500 was held at the new superspeedway. Daytona Speed Week on the beach course continued through 1961 without using the adjoining public road, with time/distance record attempts held for the standing mile and flying mile in multiple classes. The six fastest stock cars recorded on the beach were 1960 Chrysler 300G Specials.