Portola Road Race - 1909

This article is the story of the 250 mile Portola Road Race held October 23, 1909 near Oakland, California. Little known in auto racing history, it was won by Jack Fleming in a Pope-Hartford. This race was conducted on public roads and was criticized for inadequate crowd control as spectators were injured. The great thing about this article is that it includes a complete starting field with the names of cars, drivers and riding mechanics - very rare in such reports.