Racing Legends, The Duryea Brother’s

On September 20, 1893, Charles and Frank Duryea built the first successful commercial automobile, and a couple of years later, held the first automobile race in America. In November 1895, six cars took off from Chicago headed towards Evanston and back for a 54-mile race.

 While both the Duryea Brothers were competing in the race, it was little brother Frank who came away with the victory after over 10 hours of racing. Frank was able to win with an average speed of just over seven miles per hour.

 The winner of the race, Frank Duryea, received $2,000. Unfortunately, the US Inflation Calculator only goes back as far as 1913, but even then, the winnings would have been worth over $55,000.