E.G. "Cannonball" Baker finished a transcontinental motorcycle ride from San Diego, California, to New York, a distance of 3378. Continue Reading →

Cannonball Baker

James Gordon Bennett Jr (77), publisher of the New York Herald and patron of pioneer automobile racing, died. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father. Among his many sports-related accomplishments he organized both the first polo match and the first tennis match in the United States, and he personally won the first trans-oceanic yacht race. Continue Reading →

James Gordon Bennett Jr

The House of Lords discussed the introduction of driving tests to curb the rise in the number of road accidents.

The 1949 British Grand Prix held over 100 laps (288.870 miles) of Silverstone was won by Emmanuel de Graffenried driving a Maserati 4CLT.

Petrol rationing, which had been in force in Britain for five months following the Suez crisis, was abolished. Rationing was brought in after Egypt's President Gamal Abdul Nasser took over the running of the Suez Canal from a Franco-British company in July 1956. He had been refused funds to build the Aswan High Dam because of his links with the USSR and nationalised the canal as a sign of Arab defiance against western powers. Continue Reading →

Cover of 1957 book of petrol coupons

Mickey Thompson, aka "Mr. Speed," broke Bernd Rosemeyer's 22-year-old record for the standing mile and standing kilometre, when he drove his "Assault" car to record speeds of 149.93 and 132. Continue Reading →

Mickey Thompson

Naples Grand Prix was a motor race, run to Formula One rules, at Posillipo Circuit, Naples. The race was run over 60 laps of the circuit, and was won by Italian driver Giancarlo Baghetti in a Ferrari 156 in only his second Formula One race, having also won his first. Baghetti went on to win his next Formula One race as well, his first World Championship race, and is the only driver to have achieved this feat.

Naples Grand Prix - 1961

The Monaco Grand Prix was held on the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. It was the first round of the 1961 World Championship of Drivers, and the first World Championship race under the new 1.5 litre engine regulations. Continue Reading →

Monaco Grand Prix - 1961

Christian F Sauereisen (81), the inventor of an improved spark plug, died in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania, US.

The 18th BRDC International Trophy, run to Formula One rules, was held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. The race was run over 35 laps of the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit, and was won by Australian Jack Brabham in the Brabham-Repco BT19. With no Race of Champions in 1966, the International Trophy formed the first major race of the European season, being run just a week before the start of the FIA World Championship in Monaco. Continue Reading →

The Subaru 1000, the first front wheel drive Subaru produced by Fuji Heavy Industries that was in the Japanese government "compact car" classification, went on sale. Previous Subaru models such as the Subaru 360 and the Sambar had been rear-engined, rear wheel drive kei cars. It was the first production Subaru to use a boxer engine. Continue Reading →

Subaru 1000 - 1966

Chuck Rodee (38) died while attempting to qualify for the 1966 Indianapolis 500. He spun on a second lap warm-up and backed the car into the wall exiting Turn 1. The impact appeared minor but the rigid chassis transferred virtually the entire force of the crash to the driver. Continue Reading →

British Leyland Motor Corporation was formed through the merger of British Motor Holdings Ltd. and Leyland Motor Corp. Ltd. Continue Reading →

The last Chevrolet Corvair produced. As the only American-designed, mass-produced passenger car to feature a rear-mounted air-cooled engine, the Corvair range included a two-door coupe, convertible, four-door sedan, and four-door station wagon body styles, as well as passenger van, commercial van, and pickup truck variants. The Corvair's legacy was affected by controversy surrounding its handling, for which it became the subject of Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed. Continue Reading →

The Monaco Grand Prix was held. This was the last race on the original Monaco circuit, before the swimming pool was installed and the tunnel was lengthened. Jean-Pierre Beltoise's victory was the only one of his Formula One World Championship career, and the last for BRM.

The Ford Motor Company adopted a worldwide metrification plan.

Pole-sitter Tom Sneva turned the first official 200-mph laps at the Indianapolis Speedway.

Ricky Rudd slipped by Bobby Allison on the last lap to score his only NASCAR Nationwide Series victory, winning the Sportsman 200 at Dover International Speedway, Delaware, US. Rudd, who only made two other starts in the series in his long NASCAR career, led 41 of the 200 laps and was .9 seconds ahead of Allison at the finish. Continue Reading →

The collision and subsequent fire involving a church bus at Carrollton, Kentucky was one of the most disastrous bus accidents in United States history. At about 11:00 pm on a Saturday night, a drunk driver travelling the wrong way on an interstate highway collided head-on with a school bus which was in use as a church bus. The initial crash was exacerbated by the bus catching fire and difficulties encountered by the occupants attempting to evacuate the crowded bus quickly in the smoke and darkness. Continue Reading →

Carrollton bus collision

General Motors ended production of the Buick Reatta, a two-seater sports car that had been introduced in 1988. As Buick's first two-seater and its first convertible since the 1985 Riviera, the Reatta was manufactured in a highly specialized assembly program at the Reatta Craft Centre (later known as the Lansing Craft Centre) in Lansing, Michigan—achieving production of over 21,000 units in four years. The presence of the Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac Fiero and Cadillac Allante at the time of the Reatta's introduction meant that with the exception of Oldsmobile, all of GM's passenger-car divisions offered two-seaters during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The Spanish Grand Prix held at the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona proved to be the final race for former champion Nigel Mansell, who quit the McLaren team after the race. Both Damon Hill and Rubens Barrichello experienced gearbox problems on the final lap, Hill dropping from 2nd (which would have kept him in the lead of the championship) and Barrichello from 6th. This gave the Benetton team their first 1-2 finish since the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix.

Nigel Mansell - McLaren MP4/10B - 1995 Spanish Grand Prix

Renault outlined a plan to become majority owned by private investors after more than 5 decades of state control.

The Ford Ka was introduced in Moscow.

NASCAR announced that North Carolina Speedway in Rocking­ham (US) would no longer host a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event in 2005, and Darlington Raceway, the nation's first superspeedway, would host only one race in '05. NASCAR also announced that the Phoenix and Texas tracks would each host a second race in '05.

The seventh Gumball 3000 rally began at Trafalgar Square and progressed 3000 miles from London to Brussels, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and onto to Dubrovnik in Croatia. The cars then were transported by ferry to Bari, Italy, followed by a transit to the Targa Florio circuit in Sicily, before heading north to Rome and Florence. The finish line was in Monaco's Casino Square prior to the Formula One Grand Prix. Continue Reading →

After six career second-place finishes, Kasey Kahne scored his first career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup victory in the Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond International Raceway, Virginia, US.

The Spanish Grand Prix (formally the XLVIII Gran Premio Telefónica de España) was held at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The race, contested over 66 laps, was the sixth round of the 2006 Formula One season, and the 48th running of the Spanish Grand Prix. Victory was taken by Renault driver, and polesitter, Fernando Alonso at his home race. Continue Reading →

European-American carmaker DaimlerChrysler, created in 1998 in a $36 billion merger, announced that it was selling 80.1 percent of the Chrysler group to the U.S. Continue Reading →

A surprisingly entertaining Spanish GP which saw plenty of overtaking up at the front as Sebastian Vettel did battle with the two Mercedes drivers. After pulling off a superb move on Valtteri Bottas, Vettel had to defend from Lewis Hamilton after making his final pit stop, which he just about managed after a bit of wheel-banging. Hamilton regrouped and completed the pass a few laps later (appropriately on lap 44) and went on to win ahead of Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo grabbing third.