I have always based my History Minutes from the Greg Fielden Books "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing" and the subsequent supplements such as "Rumblin' Ragtops". I did not, however, own a copy of "High Speed at Low Tide". Greg and I discussed that fact last year and neither of us can figure out how I missed that one as I ordered all the books immediately upon their release. I have checked into purchasing a copy of "High Speed" but the only place I have seen one offered for sale was on e-bay with the then current bid of $230.00, certainly out of my price range.
To the rescue rides RacersReunion member Bill McPeek. Bill and his excellent memory recalled that I had mentioned that sometime ago so he has loaned me his copy of "High Speed" to read. I am more than half way through and have learned so much about the beach that I never knew. A truly fascinating trip back in time which leaves you almost smelling the salt air. Greg uses a "tag line" in the front of the book saying "The heritage of the past is the seed that brings forth the harvest of the future". That is certainly an eloquent way of saying that which we all believe here at RacersReunion.
The first fact I learned from my reading is that racing on the beach actually occurred in several different locations. I had never known that, but then all of my knowledge of the beach racing concerned stock car racing. I truly had no idea that Daytona Beach became forever associated with speed (not the drug) as early as 1902 when Ransom Olds made a timed speed run close to 50 mph.
It was the smoothness of the sand on the beach, some 200 feet wide and 20 miles long, when the tide was low, that made the beach such a great place to attain top speeds for early autos. Frankly, I can't imagine what it must have been like to drive at almost 50 mph is a 1902 vehicle. Didn't those cars have those narrow horse-drawn wagon wheels? Took a brave man to drive that at 50 mph. As we progress through the book in future installments of the History Minute, we will learn much more about many brave men, and some women, who tried their hands at low tide.
When Olds made his run in 1902 that began the mystique of Daytona Beach. Daytona Beach advertises its self as "The World's Most Famous Beach" and whether or not that is true worldwide, it is certainly true to anyone who has even a passing interest in speed of an automobile. Greg points out that the achievement of engineering is always measured in speed and where else, especially in 1902, could the early engineers have made such inroads.
Following the breath-taking speed of Olds' 1902 run, the events there became attempts to see how fast one could run in the "measured mile". As time passed, wildly creative "automobiles" were running right in the neighborhood of 300 mph. That's right, 300 mph in the 1930s. However, the beach would often develop those little areas where the tide did not recede smoothly and several fatalities occurred when the super fast missiles encountered such areas at speed. Finally, in 1935, the speed trials moved to Bonneville Salt Flats which still today hosts such land speed record attempts. With the main draw gone west, Daytona Beach officials thought quickly about what options they could use to draw the speed freaks to the beach each year. The first such alternative was held in 1936 and was really nothing more than a "barrel" race with hot rods trying to race each other around a series of barrels set up on the beach. These events went on for a number of years without any real organization and were not really a crowd-drawing attraction.
A man named Sig Haugdahl, a Scandanavian driver with seven consecutive dirt track titles to his credit, was consulted by the Daytona officials in an effort to find another option for speed on the beach. The first recommendation from old Sig was to have an 8 mile course, 4 miles on the beach with 4 miles on the main street through town. While that would certainly have been an interesting scenario, a British gentleman, known for speed, was on vacation in Daytona and went to talk to Sig about a shorter course, say four miles instead of 8. The British gentleman, Kaye Don, made the suggestion that perhaps they should consider running strictly stock cars on the four mile course.
In January, 1936, the work was begun to connect the beach to the highway. The North end of the connection was right in the center of town. When the most appropriate connection for the south turn was established, the actual track length came out to be 3.2 mile. Sig and Kaye went to the AAA, sanctioning body for the Indy 500, seeking sanction for their event in the hope such sanctioning would draw in some well known drivers from the AAA ranks. On January 25, 1936, the AAA agreed to sanction the event and the City workers in Daytona went to work constructing seating for the event. Daytona was going a full speed to get ready. The AAA, however, was doing very little to help out. Another trip was made to AAA headquarters in an attempt to speed things up.
Finally, the AAA came up with a rules package which did not exactly make Sig and Kaye overjoyed. One problem was that the AAA classified the field for the event by the suggested selling price, by the manufactuer, rather than speed capabilities. The four classes were established as cars not exceeding $665.00, price tag from $666.00 to $900.00, next class $901.00 to $1,300.00 and the final class, any car selling for more than $1,300.00.
The qualifying for the event was arranged so the slower the speed, the closer to the front it would start. Slow cars at the front, fast cars at the back. Set at 250 miles, it was bound to be a spectacle unlike any race ever seen in Daytona. Other limited rules were:
1. Cars had to be 1935 or 1936 models
2. Cars had to be strictly stock
3. All cars must carry at least one spare tire
4. Bumpers must be removed
5. All windshields must remain in upright position.
6. Non AAA members could compete if they applied for a temporary license
7. The starting field would be limited to 36 cars
8. Foreign cars would NOT be allowed to compete. However, a separate event may be scheduled for such vehicles if enough showed up.
Entry blanks were mailed out on February 8, 1936, to all AAA members. One of the first drivers to consider was George "Doc" MacKenzie, the 1935 AAA open wheel dirt track champion and a four-time starter in the Indy 500. It has been suggested that the $5,000.00 offered purse was the catalyst for many AAA drivers that spurred the entry in the event.
"Doc" was the son of a Doctor in Philadelphia and old Doc had worked construction on the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge. He arrived in Daytona to personally deliver his entry blank for the event and almost immediately became the ambassador for the City and the event. Doc declared "The even is sure to become a great speed classic for the simple reason that it is a stock car event and every car owner in the country wants to see how the automobile of his choice will stand up under the competition".
During his week in Daytona, Doc would make more noteworthy statements picked up by the press. For instance; "a stock car that finishes the 250 mile grind will have to stand more punishment than it would get in 75,000 miles of ordinary h ighway driving". Or, "This is the first sensible automobile race that has been brought to my attention. It will probably be of greater benefit to the automotive industry than any other race in history".
The sanctioning body had expected up to 175 of it's members to enter the event. However, entries trickled in at best and less than 10 days before the race, fewer than 20 entries had been received. Several of the AAA stars had entered, but many more of the "stars" were holding out for appearance money (imagine that). In an odd sort of way, this played into the hands of a service stationowner named William Henry Getty France (Big Bill) who had a 1935 Ford he wanted to race. He entered that race and would actually finish 5th out of 27.
The City of Daytona spared no expense to promote the event in an effort to draw attention to the continuing effort of Daytona to remain the "Birthplace of Speed". It really was drawing attention to the event as there was no football games of significance during February of 1936, nor any other sport on the scene at the time. The City of Daytona, as can always be expected from politicians, had more ideas they wished to implement which we will address in our next installment of the History Minutes from the Beach, coming soon right here in the RacersReunion Forum.
"HONOR THE PAST, EMBRACE THE PRESENT, AND DREAM FOR THE FUTURE.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: We all owe a great debt of gratitude to Greg Fielden for his tireless efforts to make the history of the sport we love available. The book "High Speed at Low Tide" is indeed just a wonderful addition to the other books Greg has written. It is through his efforts and tireless research that we can read these almost magical stories. We all know that records of stock car racing are, at best, very limited and to have chronicled all he has for us to read deserves our deepest appreciation to Greg Fielden. Thank you Greg!
--
What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.
updated by @tim-leeming: 08/06/18 05:46:07PM
