Savannah, DefunctStreet Circuit

Savannah, Georgia, holds a remarkable place in American motorsport as the birthplace of Grand Prix racing in the United States. In 1908 the city's unpaved public roads were given over to the American Grand Prize, drawing many of the world's leading drivers and crowds so large that soldiers were used as barricades; Louis Wagner won the first race in a Fiat. Further races followed on a roughly 25-mile course south of the city in 1910 and twice in 1911, the latter year pairing the Grand Prize with the prestigious Vanderbilt Cup, the first time that event ran outside Long Island. The Grand Prix contingent moved on to Milwaukee in 1912 and Savannah's racing past largely faded for decades. In the 1990s a purpose-designed road course was created on Hutchinson Island, across the Savannah River from the historic downtown, hosting a single Indy Lights race in 1997 before its promoter went bankrupt. The track was revived in 2008 as the Grand Prize of America Circuit for the Savannah Speed Classic, a historic-racing fixture tied to the Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance. That event ran each autumn until island redevelopment led organisers to cancel it permanently in 2021 on safety grounds.