Vintage Cars to Celebrate 1915 Point Loma Road Race on January 12

From Press Release

On Jan. 9, 1915, AAA and Al Bahr Shrine sponsored a 300-mile road race over a 6-mile course around Point Loma on roads that still exist today. On the morning of the great race, an estimated 50,000 people spread out along the course to watch the spectacle. The San Diego Union newspaper proclaimed, “It was the greatest throng ever seen at one event in San Diego, excepting, perhaps, the opening of the exposition.”

On January 12th, 2025, our Vintage cars will be driving from the San Diego Automotive Museum in Balboa Park to Point Loma, where they will drive two laps of the original race route on Rosecrans, Lytton, Chatsworth, Catalina, Talbot, and Canon Streets.

The Point Loma drive will be from 11 AM to 12 N. We are the San Diego regions of the Horseless Carriage Club of America and we are doing this just to share our vintage autos with the public.  We expect it could be a lot of fun for kids (of all ages) to gather along the route and watch the parade of cars as old as 1907 drive by.

The Race Details

To commemorate the 110th anniversary of the 1915 Point Loma Road Race, approximately 100 vintage cars will parade through San Diego on Sunday, January 12, 2025. The event will celebrate the opening race for the Panama-California Exposition and pay homage to this historic milestone in motorsports.

The motorcade of cars from the early 1900’s will depart from the San Diego Automotive Museum at 9 a.m., traveling through the neighborhoods of Bankers Hill and Mission Hills. The route will take the cars along Laurel Street, First Avenue, Lewis Street, and Fort Stockton Drive, with spectators encouraged to line the streets and watch the cars pass by between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.

The motorcade will regroup on Shelter Island before embarking on two laps of the original race route on Point Loma starting at 11 am. Starting at Canon and Rosecrans the cars will travel down Rosecrans then turning left on Lytton St. then Chatsworth, left on Catalina, Talbot, Canon and back to the starting corner. The public is invited to line the course and cheer on the drivers as they retrace the historic path from 11 a.m. and 12 noon.

The 1915 race, which took place on January ninth, marked a pivotal moment in racing history. The fastest drivers in the world converged on San Diego to compete in a thrilling event designed to promote the Panama-California Exposition. Legendary drivers such as Barney Oldfield, Eddie Rickenbacker, Earl Cooper, and San Diego’s own “Bad Bill”; Carlson battled on a six-mile course laid on Point Loma's dirt roads. On race day, the events at Balboa Park drew little attention.

Approximately 50,000 spectators lined the course, while paid attendance at the exposition totaled 6,112. After 51 grueling laps for 305 miles and 4 hours and 41 minutes, Earl Cooper claimed victory in a Stutz with an average speed of 65.333 mph. San Diegan William Carlson, driving a Maxwell, finished close behind with an average speed of 64.961 mph.

The original racecourse, which had first seen action two years earlier in a 200-mile race won by Carlson, would now host a 305-mile contest with a grand prize of $5,000. Grandstands were erected on Rosecrans Boulevard, where drivers raced north before making a sharp left onto Lytton Street. The most challenging turn on the course was the “Roseville Turn” where drivers navigated a sharp corner coming down Canon before speeding back onto Rosecrans Boulevard. The final stretch featured a two-mile straightaway, where speeds reportedly approached 100 mph.

For those eager to see the vintage cars up close and interact with the drivers, the San Diego Automotive Museum parking lot will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., offering a unique opportunity to get an early glimpse of these historic machines before they take to the streets. Currently many of the cars to be participating in the parade are shown and described on facebook www.facebook.com/sdexcursion and on instagram www.instagram.com/sdexcursion.

Don’t miss this exciting celebration of San Diegos racing history, as vintage cars bring the past to life once more!