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America's First "Victory Lane"

Savannah's 1908 Circuit

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View of Waters Avenue in 1911.  The Start/Finish Line was moved from Victory Drive to Waters Avenue in 1910 and 1911.

Illustration courtesy of the Bailey Smith Collection

track1.JPGAmerican Grand Prize - 1908

Track length: 25.13 miles
Laps: 16
Duration: 404.08 miles
Spectators: 200,000 

The Start-Finish Line and Judges Stand was located along Victory Drive - then called Estill/Dale Avenue.  The roads were re-named "Victory Drive" in honor of their significance to the Great Races. The 1908 track turned down White Bluff Road, passing by the present-day site of Hunter Army Airfield down to Montgomery Cross Road, winding through the beautiful oak trees and marshes to Ferguson Avenue where it turned back to the north travelling up to LaRoche, onto Skidaway, then east across Thunderbolt Road to what is now the Intracoastal waterway in Thunderbolt.  Finally it returned to Victory Drive (then called Dale Ave) to the Finish.

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