Sunday 31st December 1950
The inaugural race at the Sebring Raceway in Florida, the 6 hour “Sam Collier Memorial”, was won by the team of Fritz Koster/Ralph Deshon driving a Crosley Hot Shot. The results were determined on a handicap basis. The duo completed 288.3 miles at an average speed of 48.05 mph. This race attracted thirty racecars from across North America. Sebring (pronounced “sea bring”) Raceway is one of the oldest continuously operating race tracks in the United States.The raceway occupies a portion of Sebring Regional Airport, an active airport for private and commercial traffic that was originally built as Hendricks Army Airfield, a World War II training base for the U.S. Army Air Forces.
The first 12 Hours of Sebring was held on March 15, 1952, and the event would grow to become a major international race. In 1959, the racetrack hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix in the United States. Due to the poor attendance and high costs, the next United States Grand Prix was held at Riverside.For much of Sebring’s history, the track followed a 5.2 miles (8.4 km) layout. In 1967, the Webster Turn between the hairpin and the top of the track was removed and replaced with the faster Green Park Chicane, which was closer to the hairpin and allowed a flat-out run through a very fast corner to the top of the track and the runway; this made the circuit 50 yards longer. The circuit was also widened. Many of these changes were prompted by the 1966 12 Hours where 5 people were killed during the race. Another dangerous section was the Warehouse straight; after a crash where a Porsche went into one of the warehouses and into a crowd, the organizers installed a chicane to move the Warehouse straight further away from the warehouses and buildings. In 1983, the track was changed to allow simultaneous use of the track and one of the runways. In 1987, more changes allowed use of another runway. Further changes in 1991 accommodated expansion of the airport’s facilities, and brought the track close to its current configuration. The entire track could now be used without interfering with normal airport operations. In 1997, the hairpin was removed due to a lack of run-off, and replaced with what became known as the “safety pin”. Gendebien Bend was also re-profiled to slow the cars’ entry to the Ullman straight.
