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For a few years the European drivers, working for the different manufacturers who regarded high speed as the best form of publicity for their product, held a monopoly on the mile record. But, soon, the Americans, driving cars made in this country, entered the competition and took turns with the Europeans in lowering the record.

The first mile marks were made on roads. The action later was transferred to speedways. It then was found that the straight-away along the packed sand on the beach at Daytona, Fla., permitted faster speed. Still later, Ted E. Allen of the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association, who had supervised speed tests for many years, discovered that an even faster strip was the hard-salt surface at Bonneville, Utah, which has been the testing ground for all high speed performers in recent years.

Regardless of who built the first self-propelled car and what was used to start it and keep it in motion, the French were first to take wholesale advantage of the Levassor idea. They built automobiles, each operated by "petroleum spirits," later known as gasoline, and each manufacturer made speed his particular object. Since arguments developed early in 1894 as to who was putting together the most durable and fastest car in France, an automobile race-the first in history-was arranged for June 22, 1894, the route to be from Paris to Rouen.

Perhaps the original program was Paris to Rouen and return, but there exists no detailed account of the race, the only memo being that the distance between the towns was 78 miles. It is quite likely that some cars did get to Rouen, while others failed, and that none was able to make the return trip until some extensive repairs had been completed.

However, in 1895 a "reliability run" was proposed. This resulted in a race from Paris to Bordeaux and return, a matter of 544 miles, beginning July 13. Beyond the statement that the better cars involved in the "run" averaged 15 miles an hour, details also are unknown. But the fact that cars could make such a long trip and hold together encouraged the automobile manufacturers and confounded the skeptics, who had declared a car could travel no more than a limited distance.

The success of the "run" in France resulted in the arrangements for a "run" of shorter duration in the United States, to test both the speed and the stamina of American-made cars. It was held on Nov. 28, 1895, under the auspices of the Chicago Times Herald, a newspaper. The route was from the heart of Chicago to one of the suburbs and return. The distance was 54.36 measured miles. The contest was won by J. Frank Duryea, in a Duryea car, and his speed average was 7'h miles per hour.

In 1898, when there was debate as to how fast a car could travel if the route were limited to exactly one mile, Chasseloup-Laubat of France agreed to engage in the "dangerous experiment." The test drew a considerable crowd, impelled there by the morbid idea that a car, pressed to its limit, might explode into fragments during some part of the journey. However, the car held together, and Chasseloup-Laubat became the world's first "speed demon" with an average of 39.24 miles per hour.

Automobile races and tours in Europe were infrequent until 1902, when James Gordon Bennett, an American who spent a great deal of his time in France, put up a trophy for a race to be run from Paris to Vienna and return. The winner was S.F. Edge, but the time is not a matter of record. The contest was continued for several years, Bennett always awarding the prize.

Because cars of European manufacture were heavier and rated as faster than those built in the United States, most of the early cars operated on American soil were of foreign make. Since they were costly, only persons with a good deal of money could afford them. Most of the owners liked speed and frequently raced against each other whenever they could find level stretches of road. These eventually led to the Vanderbilt (William K.) Cup races on Long Island over routes mapped out by the Cup Committee, with Vanderbilt donating the trophy.

The first Vanderbilt Cup race was on Oct. 8, 1904, and the winner was A.L. Campbell in a foreign-built Mercedes. The course measured 28.4 miles; the race called for 10 laps. There were 18 starters in that free-for-all and about 25,000 to 30,000 spectators. The cup was over 30 inches high and weighed about 500 pounds.

The time average of early cup races was about 30 m.p.h. and the carnage created by reckless drivers was too much for Vanderbilt. However, the entries increased and so did the onlookers. As improvements were made in cars the speed moved up to 70 and 80 miles an hour despite the deeply rutted and bumpy roads.