A celebration of the 100th anniversary of the San Diego Exposition Road Race will be held in conjunction with the Coronado Speed Festival on the weekend of September 19-20. On January 9, 1915, the Automobile Club of Southern California and Al Bahr Shrine sponsored a 300-mile road race over a six-mile course around San Diego’s Point Loma district. The race was planned as one of the opening events of the 1915 Panama California Exposition in Balboa Park, with victory taken by Earl Cooper in Stutz #8 averaging more than 65 mph as only five of the 18 starters finished the grueling 51-lap grind. Other notable drivers were Barney Oldfield, Eddie Rickenbacker and Bob Burman. On the morning of the great race, an estimated 50,000 people spread out along the course to watch the spectacle. The San Diego Union newspaper proclaimed, “It was the greatest throng ever seen at one event in San Diego”
A dozen authentic racecars built prior to WWI are expected to participate in the 2015 Celebration, including at least one of the cars that ran in the original race in 1915. An authentic 1915 paddock display will be set up and the cars will take to the track each day for a “Race Exhibition” with drivers and mechanics wearing period clothing to give spectators a taste of what racing was like 100 years ago. The 1915 Centennial Celebration will be part of the 2015 Coronado Speed Festival, the only vintage race conducted on an active military base. Coronado Island is just across the bay from the original 1915 race at Point Loma.
For more information about participating in the Centennial Celebration contact Brian Blain at (559) 730-3471 or BrianBlain@BlainFarms.com. To enter a car in the Coronado Speed Festival vintage races, visit the SVRA website at: SVRA.com
