26 February: Today in Racing

The 26 February is remembered for some interesting records over the years. It started 1903 when Alexander Winton drove his 13-litre 4-cylinder Bullet to the first ever 68.1 mph speed record at Daytona Beach, a year after Winton famously took on Ransom Olds in the first motor race, also at Daytona. 

Sixty-two years later and again at Daytona in 1965, Lee Roy Yarbrough powered his Dodge Hemi Charger to a new 181.8 mph world closed course speed record and Italian Michele Pilia set another quaint mark by breaking the record for the driving a car for a record 230.6 miles on its side on two wheels in Cagliari this day 2009.

There was also much ado off the racetrack on this day, starting with Vincenzo Lancia and Felice Nazzaro laying the first stone in the construction of the 'the Temple of Speed’, Autodromo di Monza in 1922, only to be ordered to suspend work for reasons of 'artistic and monumental value and landscape conservation’. That sparked controversy over the need for speed but in the end, the circuit through the Parca di Monza was of course built, albeit with a little compromise on its length.  

The Sports Car Club of America — or the SCCA — was incorporated in Boston in 1944 and moving on to 2007, the Honda Formula 1 team unveiled its Earth Car that featured an image of the planet instead of typical F1 sponsorship logos. 

Honda invited people to make an online donation to an environmental charity to have their name on the car in pixel size in an early response to a greener motoring future which led to Jenson Button driving a car that resembled a salad from afar.

Formula 1 drivers meanwhile agreed to a sensible 2012 superlicense fee hike versus a draconian proposal that planned to contribute to safety improvements.

Back on track, Ralph DePalma drove his Mercedes to 1914 Vanderbilt Cup victory in Santa Monica after a thrilling dice with Barney Oldfield, Francois Picard steered his Ferrari 500 Mondial to win the 1954 Agidar sportscar race in Morocco and Alexandre Premat scored double Sprint and Feature race wins for France at the 2006 Mexican A1 Grand Prix.

 Brian Redman and Doc Bundy won the 1984 Miami IMSA GT race in a Jaguar XJR-5 and Ray Bellm and Maurizio Sandro Sala steered their Gulf McLaren F1 GTR to victory in the 1995 4 Hours of Jerez in Spain.

Marvin Panch took the lead to win the win the third Daytona 500 in 1961 from Joe Weatherly and Paul Goldsmith in a Pontiac 1-2-3 after Fireball Roberts dropped out of the lead with 13 laps left to race. Mario Andretti powered to the 1967 500 win and Kurt Busch won the Daytona epic 50 years later in 2017. In other NASCAR action, 

Tim Flock won the 1956 Daytona Grand National, Benny Parsons the ’78 Richmond 400, Ricky Rudd the ’84 Miller 400, Jeff Gordon the ’95 Goodwrench 500 and Steve Park the 2001 Dura Lube 400, while in Aussie Touring Cars, John Bowe and Peter Brock shared ’95 Symmons Plains wins and Jamie Whincup took the 2010 Desert 400 in Bahrain.