AS THE SUMMER driving season gets in gear, high gas prices are making a long road trip seem more like a privation than a pleasure. It might help to consider the hardships endured by the five entrants in the first coast-to-coast auto race, which started in New York this week in 1909. There were few paved roads, no motels, no cupholders even. The two-man crews had to contend with spring mud, one case of “la grippe” and, as the Tribune reported without elaboration, “the character of the roads around Toledo.” And that was before they reached the still-pretty-wild West. The first car to cross the finish line in Seattle, in 22 days and 55 minutes, was a humble 15-horsepower Model T. But the trip must not have been all bad. After a couple of weeks’ rest, crew B.W. Scott and C.J. Smith climbed into the Ford again and headed back the way they came.
– Other notable event in auto racing in 1909: CONSTRUCTION OF THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY.
– Amount the average family of four could expect to spend per day on vacation food and lodging in 1950: $13. Amount in 2006: $261, PLUS 52 CENTS A MILE IN DRIVING COSTS.
– Average gas mileage on a Model T: 17 M.P.G. Average gas mileage on a 2006 Ford Explorer: 17 M.P.G.
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“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.”
–Jerry Seinfeld
Sources: Tribune archives, news reports, AAA, EPA.
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nwatkins@tribune.com
