In 1894, a Paris newspaper staged the first race "of mechanically propelled vehicles." Run between Paris and Rouen, France, the race saw 15 of 21 starting vehicles complete the 50-mile course, with the winner averaging 14 miles per hour.

Ever since, racing has played a major role in automobile development. In America, great races have helped in the evolution of safety and performance features in everyday cars, while treating millions of fans to some of sports' most dramatic moments.

The first organized American auto race was held in Chicago Nov. 28, 1895 (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). A test of the endurance and speed of early cars, it was staged by the Chicago Times Herald newspaper. The race was won by J. Frank Duryea, a pioneering automaker, in his Duryea automobile. His winning speed: 7 1/2 m.p.h.

"It was run on Thanksgiving day under really extreme weather conditions," said Mark Patrick, curator of the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library.

"There were two guys in each car. One of the participants, Charles Brady King, started out trailing his car in a sleigh. The mechanic suffered from exposure in the blizzard, and he took over as mechanic. Then the driver succumbed to the weather, and King drove the car to the finish line. I think he came in second."

Besides the Duryea, other racing machines in that first race included a Mueller-Benz and a Macy-Benz, Patrick said.

America's first track race was held the following year at Narragansett Park, R.I. Seven vehicles entered the Sept. 7, 1896, race: two electrics and five Duryeas.

"The average speed was 26.8 m.p.h.," said Patrick. "The race was so dull that spectators yelled `Get a horse!' That's where that expression came from."

Among other great early races were the Ormond-Daytona races, held from 1903 to 1906 in Daytona Beach, Fla. "They were held on the hard sand beaches at Daytona and a lot of speed records were established there," said Patrick. "There were some foreign racers at Daytona. They pushed the limits of speed (achieving a then phenomenal 127 miles per hour on the straight course in 1906)."

About the same time, the Vanderbilt Cup races were inaugurated on Long Island. The brainchild of New York sportsman William K. Vanderbilt, the races were held from 1904 until 1909. Run on roads rather than tracks, the races proved dangerous to drivers and the thousands of spectators who lined the course.

In 1909 the Vanderbilt Cup was banned from Long Island due to racer and spectator fatalities, and subsequent Vanderbilt races were run in Savannah, Ga.; Milwaukee; and Santa Monica and San Francisco, Calif., until the event was discontinued in 1916.

"The Vanderbilt races were some of the first big races," said Patrick. "They had a heavy following, reached high speeds and attracted some great racers. George Robertson won one of the Long Island races, and Bob Burman and Ralph DePalma were a couple of other great racers who participated."

In August 1909, a dirt track was unveiled in Indianapolis by a group of automakers and headed by Carl Fisher, an entrepreneur who promoted racing. The object was to test the speed and endurance of some early American-made cars. In 1910, the dirt track was bricked over for safety reasons and the first Indianapolis 500 was run on Memorial Day. The winner was Ray Harroun, who hit an average speed of 74.59 m.p.h. in a Marmon Wasp.

Another famous Indy 500 race came three years later. "The 1914 Indianapolis 500 was known for the `DePalma Push,' " said Patrick. "Ralph DePalma's car broke down just before the finish line and he pushed it across. He didn't win." But the next year, he did.

These early races set the tone for the excitement to come at the Brickyard. One who remembers many Indy races is Michael Kollins, who worked at the Indianapolis 500 from 1931 to 1985--first as a mechanic and later on the technical committee before becoming director of product certification from 1972 until his retirement 13 years later. As director of product certification, Kollins had to determine whether the products manufacturers said were used in the race actually were.

"The most interesting was in 1939," said Kollins from his Bloomfield Hills, Mich., home. "Louis Meyer was leading. He had already won three times and was on his way to a fourth. He had a failure of a wheel and came back to the pit. He changed a wheel and that failed, too. Back in the pit, he took off his helmet, hung it over the railing and made up his mind right then to retire."

The mid-1950s was also a memorable era at the Speedway. Bill Vukovich had won in 1953 and 1954, and was determined to become the first to win three in a row. "Billy was a real charger," said Kollins. "He had survived through fortunate things happening. Whenever a mishap occurred, he had always been able to clear it."

Though he led after 33 laps in 1955, his luck had run out. "Rodger Ward was driving the car that started the accident," said Kollins. "An axle failed and Billy couldn't clear it. He went over the wall." Vukovich suffered a fractured skull, and by the time ambulances arrived, he was dead.

Ten years later, Jim Clark took the spotlight in one of the most unforgettable Indy 500s. According to "Roar of the Road: The Story of Auto Racing" by Hal Butler, the Flying Scot took the lead right from the start in his Lotus-Ford and was barely challenged thereafter. He became the first foreign driver to win at Indy in almost a half century and the first to win with a rear-engine car. And he set a track record with an average speed of 150.686 m.p.h.

The Twelve Hours of Sebring sports car race, begun in 1950 in Sebring, Fla., also has seen its share of drama. In 1967, the team of Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren in a Ford Mark IV were nip and tuck all day with the pairing of Jim Hall and Mike Spence in a Chevrolet Chaparral. No other team was even close.

Just when it looked like it would go down to the wire, the Chaparral blew a differential and left the race. Andretti-McLaren won, followed by A.J. Foyt and Lloyd Ruby in a Ford Mark II.

"The Fords . . . had served notice on the racing world that they were a power to contend with. . .," Butler wrote.

Motor sports have come a long way since that Thanksgiving race from Hyde Park to Evanston in 1895. With average speeds alone going from 7 1/2 to more than 200 m.p.h., the racing fan can only imagine what the next 100 years will bring.

Not to be forgotten is the NASCAR circuit and the Daytona 500. To many fans, two Daytonas stand out. One was in 1976, when Richard Petty and David Pearson roared toward the checkered flag door-to-door, just inches apart. Coming out of turn four, they collided and both went out of control. Petty's Dodge stopped 100 yards from the finish line, its engine dead.