The Portland Automobile Club organised the first road races on the Pacific Coast on a 14.6-mile temporary road course to the east of Portland, Oregon in 1908 and 1909. The anti-clockwise rectangular course of oiled roads had its grandstand and startline on Base Line Road (now Stark Street) before turning left onto 96th Avenue at Russellville. The return leg on Section Line Road (now Division Street) led to the township of Gresham and another 90-degree left onto 223rd Avenue, which concluded with the final corner at Twelve Mile House Turn. The headline Henry Wemme Cup was won by Harry Bell in 1908 and Bert Dingley a year later. The 1909 race was the first meeting to be sanctioned by the American Automobile Association and was later recognised as the first races in the organisation's retrospective National Championship.
