{"id":491308,"date":"2010-05-01T13:30:08","date_gmt":"2010-05-01T13:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=41222"},"modified":"2024-12-02T19:58:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T19:58:17","slug":"in-the-beginning-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Pebble Beach Races &#8211; In the Beginning&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='memberful-global-teaser-content'>\n<p>Soon after motor vehicles were invented they were raced. Initially the contests were held on open roads, often from city to city. The very first I have been able to find documented involved two steam-driven tractors chugging between Madison and Green Bay, Wisconsin, on July 16, 1878. The problems of open-road racing were that the opportunities for spectators, who saw the cars go by only once, were limited, and concerns about safety. Between WWI and WWII, most (but not all) racing in the U.S. took place on ovals. After WWII, due to growing enthusiasm for sports cars, road racing was re-established. Here\u2019s how it happened:<\/p>\n<p>As an aside, it\u2019s interesting to note that three of the premier U.S. road-racing courses\u2014Watkins Glen, Road America and Laguna Seca\u2014developed in similar fashions. Also interesting is that these three represent the three major sections of the country: east, middle and west.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n        .memberful-global-teaser-content p:last-child{\n            -webkit-mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n            mask-image: linear-gradient(180deg, #000 0%, transparent);\n        }\n    <\/style>\n<div class='memberful-global-marketing-content'>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content-wrapper\">\n<h2 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-title\">No Subscription? You&#8217;re missing out<\/h2>\n<p class=\"a07online-global-marketing-content\">Any Text Here<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"a07online-global-marketing-prompt\" href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/checkout?plan=86696\">Get Started<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">\n<h4 class=\"a07online-global-marketing-signin\">Already a Member? <a href=\"https:\/\/supercars.memberful.com\/account\">Sign in to your account here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soon after motor vehicles were invented they were raced. Initially the contests were held on open roads, often from city to city. The very first I have been able to find documented involved two steam-driven tractors chugging between Madison and Green Bay, Wisconsin, on July 16, 1878. The problems of open-road racing were that the opportunities for spectators, who saw the cars go by only once, were limited, and concerns about safety. Between WWI and WWII, most (but not all) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":583004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,11272,261,18331,18207],"tags":[17152,17140,18332,17236,17248,17143,17218],"class_list":["post-491308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-members-only","category-motorsport-racing","category-motorsport-profiles","category-special-feature","tag-car-culture","tag-members-only","tag-profiles-motorsport-all","tag-profiles-races","tag-historic-race-pebble-beach-road-race","tag-special-feature","tag-vrr-column-the-golden-age"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"484\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Natale\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steve Natale\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\"},\"headline\":\"Pebble Beach Races &#8211; In the Beginning&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1416,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/GA201005-p2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Profiles (Motorsport All)\",\"Profiles (Races - All)\",\"Race (Pebble Beach Road Race)\",\"Special Feature\",\"VRR Column (The Golden Age)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"Members Only\",\"Motorsport &amp; Racing\",\"Motorsport Profiles\",\"Special Feature\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/GA201005-p2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\"},\"description\":\"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/in-the-beginning-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/GA201005-p2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/05\\\/GA201005-p2.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":484,\"caption\":\"The very first event at Elkhart Lake on July 23, 1950 was the 10-lap Under-1500-cc Novice Race. The entries were all MGTCs except for one TD. Photo: The Joel Finn Collection\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49\",\"name\":\"Steve Natale\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Natale\"},\"description\":\"Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/stevenatale.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/steve.natale1\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/stevenatale\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/@SteveNatale\\\/videos\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/steve100530\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...","description":"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/","next":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...","og_description":"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1","article_published_time":"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":484,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Natale","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Natale","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Steve Natale","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49"},"headline":"Pebble Beach Races &#8211; In the Beginning&#8230;","datePublished":"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/"},"wordCount":1416,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg","keywords":["Car Culture","Members Only","Profiles (Motorsport All)","Profiles (Races - All)","Race (Pebble Beach Road Race)","Special Feature","VRR Column (The Golden Age)"],"articleSection":["Car Culture","Members Only","Motorsport &amp; Racing","Motorsport Profiles","Special Feature"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/","name":"Pebble Beach Races - In the Beginning...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg","datePublished":"2010-05-01T13:30:08+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-02T19:58:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49"},"description":"Art Evans transports us back to the origins of post-war American road racing at three primary venues.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/in-the-beginning-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/GA201005-p2.jpg","width":1080,"height":484,"caption":"The very first event at Elkhart Lake on July 23, 1950 was the 10-lap Under-1500-cc Novice Race. The entries were all MGTCs except for one TD. Photo: The Joel Finn Collection"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/237befa83e8e5937247db55880b8cc49","name":"Steve Natale","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Steve-Natale-100x100.png","caption":"Steve Natale"},"description":"Steve Natale has been playing with cars ever since he was old enough to first hold a matchbox car in his hand. A lifelong enthusiast of anything old with an engine in it or wheels on it, Steve has been active in the hobby for over 35 years. Currently he owns a successful marketing company with his wife Mary, is an automotive photographer, blogger and writer for several automotive magazines and regular contributor to various automotive websites. Steve has attended vintage car events and visited car museums and collections around the world.","sameAs":["https:\/\/stevenatale.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steve.natale1","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/stevenatale\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@SteveNatale\/videos"],"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/steve100530\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}