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A vintage 1911 Fiat S74 racing car, for which David
Bruce-Brown utilized said marque's vehicle to win the American Grand Prize.
(Image source: conceptcars.com)
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Although arguably the International Sweepstakes
race held at the Brickyard each May was the preeminent motor race in North
America beginning in 1911, two other significant races were held Stateside,
including the original version of what ultimately became known as the United
States Grand Prix...
As I'll admit I'm less than enthusiastic over
the Angie's List Grand Prix on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course,
especially since I bristle most over the usage of the term Grand Prix, which
after all is what European Formula 1 races are! Not to mention that before
there was an actual Grand Prix in America, there was the American Grand Prize
between 1908-16 instead.
1908-1916
American
Grand Prize race
(Year/Location/Winner/Country/Car
Make)
1908: Savanna, Georgia) Louis Wagoner, France; Fiat
1910: Savanna, Georgia) David Bruce-Brown, UK; Benz
1911: Savanna, Georgia) David Bruce-Brown, UK; Fiat
1912: Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Caleb Bragg, USA; Fiat
1914: Santa Monica, CA) Eddie Pullen,
USA; Mercer
1915: San Francisco, CA) Dario Resta, UK; Peugeot
1916: Santa Monica, CA) Howdy Wilcox, USA & Johnny
Aitken, USA;
Peugeot
As I've elected to leave Thy Heavy Lifting to those
who've already done so in regaling us about the American Grand Prize's history,
albeit in byte-size morsels...
As what I find funniest about the American
Grand Prize was the inaugural host
city's use of Prison Convicts to build the racecourse! Which somehow I doubt
would happen today? Whilst I also highly doubt they got to have Turkey Dinner
at the race-track - for which the inaugural race was held on!
The race wasn't held in 1909 and 1913 - with
the first time being due to Long Island deciding not to hold it in conjunction
with that year's Vanderbilt Cup race, and later Long Island's request was not
accepted while Savanna turned it down due to the event's unpopular standing
with residents.
Sadly, the Grand Prize's only repeat winner
David Bruce-Brown, who finished third in the inaugural International
Sweepstakes Race at Thy Brickyard lost his life during practice for the 1912
running at Milwaukee...
Interestingly, on a tangent regarding my Home
state of Washington, the 1914 winner, Eddie Pullen,
whom I've never heard of before - reportedly was also victorious at Tacoma
Speedway's road course where he claimed his first ever National Champ Car race
in the early 1910's, prior to the track being turned into a Boardtrack Oval,
which were all the rage culminating in the early 1920's.
Dario Resta was the only Indianapolis 500
winner to claim Thy chequered flag both at the Speedway and Santa Monica, he's
the only driver to win all three prestigious events, i.e.; the Indianapolis
500, Vanderbilt Cup and the Grand Prize, for
which he won two out-of-three both years 1915-16!
Other Indy 500 winners such as Ralph de Palma contested the Grand Prize, yet due to
mechanical failure, whilst De Palma also
won the Vanderbilt Cup twice, the Grand Prize trophy eluded him.
Meanwhile, the most winningest driver
All-time at the Brickyard, Johnny Aitken, who also holds
the record for most starts at Indianapolis has the dubious distinction of being
classified first and last place in the final Grand Prize race - having substituted
for Howdy Wilcox after his car "Done Blown Up" on Lap-1!
The race followed upon the heels of the
Gordon Benet and Vanderbilt Cup races, with the latter running in conjunction
with the American Grand Prize during its final years (1911-16) before something
known as the First Great War, aka World War One got in the way.
Ironically, the American Grand Prize's
trophy, for which I cannot find any pertinent information upon was shortly resurrected
between 1930-35 as the forbearer to some trophy fondly known as the Borg Warner
"Mug" which debuted at Mother Speedway in 1936!
While I've previously
chronicled today's IndyCar championship trophy, the Astor Cup in: INDYCAR: Thy Astor Cup runneth over...
Along with the
aforementioned Vanderbilt Cup in: INDYCAR: Thy Vanderbilt Cup runneth Over...
Hence, putting my personal feelings beside,
i.e.; Indianapolis Motor Speedway's an Oval, for which the Indy Cars should
only turn left upon. As Hey, I've been to the road course for three separate
events: Formula 1 twice and Scooters', nee MotoGP once...
Perhaps I'll actually try tunin' into Thy
race for once, if I can manage to get the ever elusive & constantly moving plus
totally NON Screen-reader friendly Indycar.com website to cooperate? Since
after all I think Eddie Cheever will still
be busy layin' Bricks' Err building thy Foundation for the Indy 500 on
ABC?
Hmm? May be
somebody could give Eddie a bag 'O Rachels potato chips to munch on during the
broadcast; Oh Never Mind!
Alas, I'll confess that my IMS Oval's only
stance is pretty funny since I'm a Twisty' devotee, yet I'll also admit that I
like the idea that the Indianapolis Grand Prix affords certain drivers a chance
to double their amount 'O seat-time at Mother Speedway - with such driver's as
Alex Tagliani, J.R.
Hildebrand, Spencer Pigot and Mathew Brabham
getting to run "The Double" at Thy Brickyard in May, as this
novel marketing sweepstakes continues growing, and it actually gives local fans
some more racing.
Since obviously it's a good thing to utilize
the infield road course, which is now in its third iteration, having been
originally built for the United States Grand Prix, when Formula 1 invaded
Mother Speedway between 2000-07.
Then the course was slightly modified to host
thee Crème de la Crème 'O Scooters', those ultra insane Knee-draggers, aka
MotoGP from 2008-2015, along with the Rolex Grand Am and Tudor United Sports
Cars series using the left & right turns road course circuit for the
Brickyard Grand Prix between 2012-14.
then there was a major makeover to the
circuit as initially Thy Knee-dragger's had complained about its bumpiness, for
which the road course was re-profiled for MotoGP and GASP! Indy Cars, with
track construction work beginning in October, 2013 after an IndyCar feasibility
test had occurred earlier that year, which ultimately led to the inaugural
Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis being held in 2014.
As this first event saw Thy Mayor 'O
Hinchtown getting knocked unconscious during an abortive Standing Start, which also saw Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard
being struck by debris!
And contrary to
popular belief! Michael Schumacher and Jeff Gordon are NOT the second most
successful winners at Mother Speedway. That honour goes to Ray Haroun who
scored a total of eight victories there - all upon Thy Oval...
Grand
Prix Winners
2000: Michael Schumacher; Ferrari
2001: Mika Hakkinen; McLaren
2002: Rubens Barrichello; Ferrari
2003: Michael Schumacher; Ferrari
2004: Michael Schumacher; Ferrari
2005: Michael Schumacher; Ferrari
2006: Michael Schumacher; Ferrari
2007: Lewis Hamilton; McLaren
2014: Simon Pagenaud; Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
2015: Will Power; Team Penske
