Miami-Fulford

Carl Fisher, who had been the driving force behind the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, decided to build a board track speedway in 1925 as part of his redevelopment of Miami Beach. With ambitions to construct the winter alternative to Indy, Fisher hired the original winner of the 500, Ray Harroun to design the finest board track in the country with 50-degree banking. A month was lost to construction before the 1.25-mile speedway was ready to hold the opening round of the 1926 AAA National Championship (now known as IndyCar Series) on 22 February. With $30,000 in prize money on offer, Ralph Hepburn set the qualifying pace at a record 141.19 mph and 20,000 spectators watched Peter de Paolo’s Duesenberg win the 300-mile Carl G. Fisher Trophy by over 90 seconds. “It’s the finest track I ever saw,” de Paolo said, “those 50-degree banks are great!” Tommy Milton raised the unofficial closed circuit record to 142.93 mph days after the race and Miami-Fulford appeared set for a healthy future. However, it was destroyed in a hurricane on 22 September 1926 and was not rebuilt.