30 Amazing Vintage Photos of American Car Races from the Late 19th to Early 20th Centuries

Here are 30 amazing vintage photos in early days of American car races.

The first U.S. oval track events took place in early September 1896 at Narragansett Park, Rhode Island

The first U.S. oval track events took place in early September 1896 at Narragansett Park, Rhode Island

The Sioux City Speedway race, July 4, 1914

The start of the Elgin National Road races, Aug. 23, 1919

Twin City Motor Speedway, 1916

Twin City Motor Speedway, 1915

Vanderbilt race, 1910

Waiting for start, Ascot Park, 1908

1908 Long Island Motor Parkway Sweepstakes

1914 American Grand Prize

1914 American Grand Prize

Agricultural Park race, 1903

Ascot Park, 1917

Auto races, Abilene, Kansas, ca. 1910s

Auto races, Minneapolis, Kansas, August 1917

Car racing at the old wooden race track in north Omaha, 1915

Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee, 1911

First auto race at Orange County Fair, Middletown, NY, 1915

George Hill and his mechanician in car, a Stutz, on the new Tacoma Speedway track, 1915

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, September 9, 1916

Metropolitan trophy race, Sheepshead Bay, May 13, 1916

Vanderbilt Cup races at Motor Parkway Sweepstakes, 1908

Narragansett Park Speedway in Providence, Rhode Island on a sunny fall afternoon, 1915

Racing at the Readville racetrack in Boston, Massachusetts, 1909

Racing came to Arizona early as evidenced in this cartoon from the November 2, 1908 edition of the Los Angeles Times

Sioux City Iowa racetrack, 1914

Sioux City Mini Indy, July 4, 1914

Golden Potlatch race, Tacoma, July 5, 1915

Earl Cooper approaches the checkered flag in his Stutz racing car at the Tacoma Speedway, July 4, 1915

The first auto race in Rush County, Kansas, 1911

(Photos from clamshack)