History Daytona Beach - Early Land Speed & Stock Car Racing

This thread seeks to concentrate photo documentation and eye witness accounts into one thread regarding early automotive racing ON Daytona Beach. Please do not post anything regarding Daytona International Speedway.

There is much automotive racing history associated with Daytona Beach. Much of the LSR attempts in this country occurred at Daytona before El Mirage and Bonneville became more prominent locations for such attempts. Also, a huge portion of NASCAR had it's beginning with stock car racing on the old beach course. The purpose here is to expand everyone's knowledge regarding this chapter in automotive history.





















Let's have some fun with this thread.

 

Frank Lockhart and his Stutz Black Hawk Special at Daytona, 1928.


















Lockhart's fatal failed attempt at Daytona.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0y2b7mJqhs&feature=player_embedded

 

Sir Malcolm Campbell @ Daytona, 1935 .......




Great footage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg5w71Wsgv0

 

Some random photos ........



































Betty Skelton ....

 

Great Photos

 

You could run any car on the flying mile time/speed times for Ten Dollars.. You could have a photo made with your time/speed printed on a black board.. You also got a timing slip.. Most were cars right off the road..

 

I hope your thread has a long life. It can not be overstated the importance of Ormand/Daytona Beach to hot rodding. That is where it started. The owners of the Ormand Hotel promoted racing on the beach to increase winter tourism. The picture is the Ormand Garage circa 1910s. The aerodynamic looking car was the Stanley Steamer.

 

First off, thanks for that cool photo. I also hope that enough people are interested to keep this thread going. Like you said, the subject matter is important to anyone who is interested in striving for a complete knowledge of hot rodding and auto racing.

 

Found these on another web site.

 

Don't forget Smith, the first women to race NASCAR.
Frank Lockhart should be ranked in the top 5 of all time racers.
Indy, sprint, LSR, designer, fabricator and assisted in building the unique
engine for the Blackhawk with Miller.

 

i owned a home in ormond by the sea for a while. lot's of speed history in the area. the old ormond hotel is gone but they have a museum made from from an original cupola off the hotel just over the granada bridge with many old photos and prints from the area.

volusia.org has much info on beach racing in the area. the course went 25 miles from ponce inlet north to ormond bch, they also set up oval tracks using the beach one way any hwy A1A for the return leg.

they still allow beach driving on 5 miles of beach from daytona to ormond bch, though your speed is limited to 15 mph. nothing near the 276 mph record that they did in the day.

google map of the area

 

Exactly why I had to get a picture of my car on the hallowed sand at the Turkey run many years ago now.

 

The first turn just before the course turned onto Hwy 1 ...........

 

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Today, just modern cruising where once land speed records were made and broken ....




In this photo, notice the pier to the left in the photo, then see the video above of Malcolm Campbell speeding under that same pier ....

 

Some crazy stuff that went on at Daytona ...

 

Reaching way back, 1905! ...

 

A couple of old war horses return to the "beach" .......




10 MPH? Yeah, right ......

 

Alexander Wilson in the "Bullet No. 2" at 68 MPH, ca. 1903. This photo was taken at neighboring Ormand Beach ..........

 

This one belongs here too...

 

That is Alexander Winton, not Wilson, who built the Winton automobile and brought it to Ormand Beach to kick ass.

 

^^^ Thanks for the correction, Frank ..........

 

This is the Ormand Hotel in about 1905. As you can see it had lots of rooms and the beach races had them full. It was not on the beach but several blocks away on the inland waterway. I used to go by it every year on my way to the Turkey Rod Run. It was torn down about 20 years ago. What a shame.

 

Since I work at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, even though in Florida, there is alot of history between Dawsonville and Daytona. The Ga gang first went to Daytona in 1938. The next year, Roy Hall won driving for his cousin, Raymond Parks. Believe it or not, but there's 7 people from this tiny town that have won a race at Daytona - 5 drivers and two owners. The Drivers are...

Bernard Long, who only won two races in his career in just two starts, Daytona and Lakewood, both in 1941. He then invested that money into a moonshine still and never raced again. Most people done moonshining first, then raced.

Roy Hall - he won three times on the beach in 1940, 41, and 46. He was cousins to Lloyd Seay and his car owner Raymond Parks.

Lloyd Seay, made five starts on the beach and won only once in August of 1941, just a month before his tragic death. There's a famous picture of his famous #7 39 Ford on two wheels going through the North Turn. This was the most seen, although he done this quite often.

Gober Sosebee - drove the same 39' Ford that's in the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame to three modified Nascar wins in a row in 1949,50, and 51. But initially, he was disqualified for the first one in 49'. The morning of the race, someone had sabotaged his gas tank. When green flag pit stops were coming around and the crew was trying to fill it up, they were wasting time taking rags out of the tank, that Gober just left. When he came around the next time, he motioned for his friend and fellow racer, Jack Smith, to grab a can and jump on the running boards. Jack climbed through the door and managed to fill up the car going up A1A. He stayed in the car for the remaining laps while Gober won. When Bill France said to Gober that having a rider was against the rules, Gober took out the rulebook and couldn't find that rule. So Big Bill took out a pencil, grabbed the book and wrote it in there. In later years, he was credited with the win.

Bill Elliott is the other driver to win at Daytona, but that was four times on the big track.

Then two owners - Raymond Parks with 15 wins, and Ted Chester who owned Tim Flocks Hudson.

Then I also have a cousin, Wilbur Rakestraw from near-by Dallas, who raced both on the beach and new track. Here is a picture of him the triple 9 leading Glen Wood on the last Nascar sanctioned Beach race in 58'.

I'll get more pics of older stock car stuff soon. BTW, High Speed at Low Tide is a book by Greg Fielden about ever race there was on the Beach. Get it if you can find one.

Hope you liked my history lesson
-Cody

 

Thanks, man. Good stuff!

 

Fireball Roberts (M-3) and Banjo Mathews (49) at Daytona, 1955.

 

Golden Arrow....

 

I grew up in Middletown Ohio & as a boy spent many hours at "Bobs Body Shop" where every winter they prepared a Hudson to take to the '"BEACH" . they were all vets from ww2 & after the races they went over to Cuba for a little vacation. One year the tow truck lost its engine in Georgia & they cranked up the race car & pushed the truck the rest of the way to Daytona. Being just a kid I never got to go of course but the stories on thier return was one of the things that gave me a life long passion for racing & cars.