The Fast, Furious And Familiar

November 28, 1895, America’s first automobile race was held between Chicago and Evanston, back and forth, approx 54 miles. Automobiles were so new at the time, only produced 2 years earlier, that the race was rescheduled because of a lack of entrants. Of the 83 only 6 arrived for the actual race. Some of them were stopped by the police while driving their cars into the city, and were forced to get horses to pull the cars, as the police informed them they had no right to drive their vehicles on the city streets. The first one to finish was American inventor and manufacturer of the first commercial car, Frank Duryea in 7 hours and 53 minutes, with an average of 7 mph. He won 5,000 dollars, the 10 year salary of an avarage worker of those days. Only 1 other car finished, all the others broke down or bumped a horse. Nevertheless, it boosted the use of cars. 15 years later, cabs like in the picture above were becoming a familiar part of urban life. Image by Photobucket/mariza_049