A famous car race was held in Point Loma in 1915. A historical display at the San Diego Automotive Museum recalls how the San Diego Exposition Auto Road Race involved many famous race car drivers of the era and received nationwide attention.
The race promoted the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. It is estimated 50,000 people watched the 305 mile race as it looped through Point Loma’s rather rough-appearing streets. The winning purse was a whopping (for 1915) $5,000. Only five of the eighteen drivers would finish the race.
The race winner would be Earl Cooper in Stutz No. 8. His average speed was a nail-biting 65.3 miles per hour!
A vintage car accompanies the museum display. The 1932 Morgan Super Sports, as much as it resembles some of the earlier race cars, debuted 17 years after the San Diego Exposition Auto Road Race was held. It can go 100 miles per hour–much faster.
When I saw this historical display, I immediately remembered my experience of the 1915 Road Race vintage car show. That amazing event was held in the parking lot by the San Diego Automotive Museum during Balboa Park’s centennial in 2015. See those photos here.
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Nice coverage of a virtually forgotten event. I grew up on Point Loma, and never knew anything about this. The race course looks something like a running horse. The baseline is Rosecrans Ave. A right turn at the west end takes the racers up Canon St., which is still pretty undeveloped. A right turn at the end of Canon forms the end of the horse’s face which runs for two blocks up Talbot St. Another right on Catalina, near the crest, takes you about a quarter mile to the right fork onto Chatsworth Blvd. which winds back down to Rosecrans, near sea level. My childhood home was just NE of the turn from Canon onto Talbot. I had friends everywhere on this map, and attended two schools on Chatsworth. Believe me when I tell you that 65 MPH would be a nail-biting experience on most of Point Loma’s steep, narrow, and often winding streets today!
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Come to think of it, 65 mph would be pretty fast for some of those turns!
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nice article, can’t believe they raced 300 miles, must have taken a few hours at least – we’re just wondering about that 1932 car, maybe the Cooley museum has an older car that would be better for the display?
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Now that you mention it, I need to revisit the Cooley museum. Been some years. Thanks for the comment! Yeah, the race took hours!
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oh, my dad noticed the car make is missing a g, Morgan, he didn’t want to be nit picky but let’s face it, we’re nit picky
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