I recently read that motor racing started when they built the second car. It does amaze me how quickly after its invention they were trying to beat the pants off of each other. As Americans we all know that the Indianapolis 500 started in 1911. Last year I wrote about the 100th Anniversary Race from Peking to Paris with just about as few roads as they had a 100 years before.
Ireland, not to be outdone, had the first international closed circuit race in 1903. The track can still be driven on since it is part of several roads. The series actually started in 1900 by James Gordon Bennett and it lasted for five races and in 1906 it became the French Grand Prix. The governing body of Grand Prix racing has never been anywhere else but France.. It was international in flavor right from the beginning. Like Formula One today it was hosted by different countries. The host country was that of the winning team from the year before. The English team won in 1902, but England didn’t allow racing so they decided to hold it in Ireland. I have no idea when England changed their minds about motor racing, but you can find a race there just about any weekend. They race each other to the corner to buy a newspaper.
ONE OF THE ORIGINAL WINTON RACE CARS FROM 1903
The race had nine entries including two Americans driving Wintons. One didn’t start and the other lasted about 1 1/2 laps. The race was won by a Mercedes. By the 1906 Grand Prix there were 23 entries.
JAMES GORDON BENNETT
So who was this Gordon Bennett the sponsor of the first motor races, polo matches, balloon races, yacht races, airplane races. Jesus, he looks like someone I know. That is no joke. Anyway, at the ripe old age of 26 he inherited his father's newspaper. At 26 he was quite the playboy, with plenty of bad manners. It is said that he once arrived late and drunk to a party at girlfriend's family mansion, then urinated into a fireplace, or a piano, probably both in full view of his hosts The family kissed his butt goodbye.
He knew how to sell newspapers though. In 1869–71 he financed Henry Stanley's expedition into Africa to find David Livingston, and from 1879 to 1881 he supported the ill-fated expedition of G. W. De Long to the arctic region. Didn't get married until he was 73 and married a girl from the Reuter (News Agency) family. It is said that in the time from the age of 26 until his death at 77 he spent 40 million dollars. What a ton of money that was in those days.
