How car racing came to Miami — and what happened to the speedway

Although the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix at Hard Rock Stadium now gives us a jolt of live auto racing, South Florida hosted its first major auto race more than 95 years ago.

The Fulford Speedway was a dream come true for Carl Fisher, father of the Indianapolis 500 and the local pioneer who developed much of Miami Beach. Fisher envisioned an annual winter race at his track that would draw people from all over the country and attract the sport’s top drivers.

He chose the town of Fulford, now known as North Miami Beach, because of its open fields and proximity to the ocean.

The bowl-shaped wooden track featured 50-degree banked turns, which required drivers to maintain a speed of 100 miles per hour in order to remain on the course.

On Feb. 22, 1926, more than 20,000 racing fans jammed the stands to watch driver Peter De Paolo race his Dusenberg to victory and shatter every speed record for distances up to 300 miles.

Unfortunately, one day of glory was all Fisher’s speedway would enjoy. In September 1926, the track was badly damaged by the great hurricane of that year, and repairs were long in coming.

A section of the track was taken apart, and the wood used to repair nearby homes and buildings.

What was left of the speedway later was consumed in a brush fire.