After a forty year gap a US Grand Prix returned to the raod racing scene in America, this time with an event at the Riverside International Raceway in southern California. The 1958 United States Grand Prix was an unofficial non-points scoring event that wasn’t associated with, or sanctioned by, the FIA as an official Formula One World Championship event. In fact the event was for sports cars and counted as part of the USAC road-racing championship. It was won by Chuck Daigh driving a Scarab-Chevrolet. Daigh was one of the Scarab engineering crew before stepping into the drivers role. He would go on to compete in six official F1 points scoring GPs during the 1960 season. He remains the last American driver to have won a “United States Grand Prix.”

The Riverside course of the late 1950s was a fast and dangerous course that included a back straight just over a mile long.

The race that would become known as the United States Grand Prix was known for the first six years of its existence as simply “The Grand Prize.” The first race took place just over 100 years ago, on March 18th 1908,  in Savannah, GA, in front of a crowd of 5000 excited spectators. It was won by French driver Louis Wagner in a FIAT at an average speed of 65.11 mph. Wagner also holds the distinction of winning the first ever British GP

Louis Wagner crossing the finish line in Savannah to win the first American Grand Prize race.

After a year’s break the race returned to Savannah in 1910 and 1911 and on both occasions was won by American David L Bruce-Brown, first in a Benz and then in a FIAT by which time average speeds were up to 74 mph. The 1910 event holds the distinction of being the longest US GP on record with a race distance of 415.2 miles.

In 1912 the event was moved to a new home (starting what would become something of a tradition for the USGP over the next century) with the race taking place in Milwaukee. A FIAT once again lead the field, this time piloted by another American, Caleb Bragg. Two time defending champion Bruce-Brown was killed during practice for the event.

There was no 1913 race, and in 1914 the race for the Grand Prize moved to Santa Monica, CA where the streak of victories by home drivers continued with a win for Eddie Pullen in a Mercer.

1915 saw the first British winner of a US GP when Dario Resta took the win in a Peugeot. (He also went on to win the Indy 500 the following year.) This time race was held in the San Francisco area.

British driver Dario Resta – Winner of the 1915 American Grand Prize race

The race returned to Santa Monica in 1916 where Peugeot once again took the victory, this time with the car being shared by American drivers Howdy Wilcox and Johnny Aitken.

The 1916 event would be the last “Grand Prize” race and the US racing community would have to wait another 42 years before the arrival of the first true United States Grand Prix.

One thing I’ve noticed among most fans of Formula One is that they all seem to have their favorite Grand Prix. For some it’s the magic of the Monaco street circuit, for others the fast curves and history of the Italian GP at Monza, or the challenge of Spa in Belgium.

Being born, raised and sucked into the world of motor racing in England, I was lucky enough to watch F1 Grands Prix at Silverstone and Brands Hatch, as well as several European races in person; but the one race that always fascinated me was the US GP. Held at a variety of circuits each reflecting the nature and culture of different parts of the United States, it was “my race.” The one I looked forward to more than any other.

After relocating to the States I was determined to attend the US GP, the only problem, there wasn’t one. When F1 racing returned to these shores in 2000 at Indianapolis I was there. It was a culmination of two boyhood dreams in one – being at a US GP and being at Indy.

I was hoping that the US GP’s absence from this year’s F1 season would be a one off occurrence, but after the FIA issued its provisional calendar for 2009, it seems we must wait a bit longer.

To help get over my US GP blues I’ve been looking back and researching the history of the event. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting my own personal look at the story of the United States Grand Prix here on The Speed Blog.