Established by a consortium of Southern California auto dealers who sought to promote cars, buying them as well as racing them, at a time when they were rather rare in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica road races lasted for ten years.

[4] Santa Monica hosted both the Vanderbilt Cup and the American Grand Prize in 1914 and in 1916.

[1] A fatality occurred in practice for the 1914 event when a car crashed into the crowd and killed a spectator.

[5] The 1916 event was marred by a total of five deaths: After a mechanician had been fatally injured in practice,[6] driver Lewis Jackson and three people lining the road died as a result of a crash during the Grand Prix race.

[7] A record crowd of 150,000 people saw millionaire sportsman Cliff Durant drive his Chevrolet Special to victory on a shortened course in 1919.