Daytona Beach Road Course, motorsport track in the United States
Daytona Beach Road Course was a 3.2-mile (5.1 km) circuit, later lengthened to 4.2 miles (6.8 km) in the late 1940s, that began on the asphalt of Highway A1A at 4511 South Atlantic Avenue, ran two miles south parallel to the ocean, turned onto the beach via the Beach Street approach, and returned two miles north on the sand to the north turn. The site of the north turn is now occupied by the restaurant Racing's North Turn in Ponce Inlet. The course is defunct; no racing circuit operates there today.
Speed trials on the beach began with a timed run by Ransom E. Olds; the first organized, timed race was held in 1903 under the AAA, reaching 68.198 mph. Fifteen world land speed records were set between 24 January 1905 and 7 March 1935, the last by Malcolm Campbell at 276.82 mph. In 1936 Sig Haugdahl laid out the 3.2 mi course on A1A and the beach; Bill France Sr. took over promotion in 1938, and talks at the Streamline Hotel led to NASCAR's founding on 21 February 1948.
The course no longer exists as a circuit: A1A is a public road and the beach is open sand, so there is nothing to enter or tour. Racing's North Turn restaurant at 4511 South Atlantic Avenue marks the old north turn, and the south turn stood at the Beach Street approach. The beach section ran about 2 miles north along the sand.
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