The Port Huron Driving Park and Test Track was a facility used for many purposes including the testing of automobiles and exhibitions.
what can i see today?
The track has long been torn down and housing is now where it once stood Address: 1718 Hancock Street, Port Huron, MI 48060(It was the approximate east side of the track)
The Port Huron Driving Park Association, which was the ruling body of the facility, once had W.P. Edison as the secretary. W.P. Edison was the brother of Thomas Edison who lived in Port Huron as a boy. Address: 229 Huron Ave., Port Huron, MI 48060
the story
Starting as an old horse racing track around 1890, the Driving Park was host to different events throughout its existence. The track was used for an event in 1905 that saw not only racing but a parade which introduced Henry Ford as "the world's champion". He proceeded to run an exhibition mile around the track...
Henry Ford most likely drove the racer pictured here and this is the small Olds "skeleton racer". Both cars were also raced in Grosse Pointe, MI also in 1905...
George Yokom was in the local race and would go on to attempt to start his own car company and become an automotive dealer. Read more about it here.
When the Northern Manufacturing Company built their factory on Elmwood Street in 1906, they needed a place to test their vehicles and did so at the track...
In 1914, two of the country's biggest celebrities known for their death-defying stunts were put together for a show to travel the country and the world. Both Barney Oldfield and Lincoln Beachey had the same agent and he put together the idea to race car against airplane. Barney Oldfield was a racer and had been driving race cars for Henry Ford and others. Among his feats were driving Henry's "999" racer to victory in Grosse Pointe to gain backing to start the Ford Motor Company, joining the Buick Race Team, and setting speed records on Ormond Beach in Florida. Oldfield is pictured here with other members of the race team including Louis Chevrolet...
Beachey was the top pilot of his day with even the great Orville Wright stating, "He is the greatest aviator of them all." He started his career performing with balloon flights in 1905 and had been part of the Curtis Aircraft's Aeronautic Team since 1910. Glenn Curtis was known as the Father of Aviation but started out breaking the speed record on a motorcycle at Ormond Beach, Florida....
Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress
In perhaps his most grand demonstration, Beachey was the first to fly over Niagara Falls on June 27th, 1911 which made him a household name...
Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress
New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles were all large cities, even for 1914-1915, and were part of the scheduled seven month tour. The only city of a smaller size was to host the duo was Port Huron...
The tour attracted more than 17 million spectators in 7 months...
Before Beachey and Oldfield made their Port Huron appearance, Beechy ran against Fred Mertz in a stripped down racing version of the Port Hiuron produced Havers. Mertz was an employee of the company...
Beachey unfortunately died in an airplane accident not long after his appearance in Port Huron at just 28 years old.. On March 14th, 1915 the plane he was flying broke apart while performing in San Francisco in front of a crowd of 250,000 spectators.
Photo Courtesy of the Library of Congress
Barney Oldfield retired from racing and went into the tire business with Harvey Firestone. It was this tire that was on the winning car from the 1920 Indianapolis 500 with driver Gaston Chevrolet. Gaston's famous brother, Louis Chevrolet, never won the 500 himself...
