Cadillac’s racing history dates back to 1909 when Howard Covey won the first race held in the United States National Championship series in Portland, Ore. Some thirty years later, Cadillac introduced the first mass-produced overhead-valve V8. Rated at 160 horsepower, this 331-cubic-inch (5.4-liter) engine featured high compression, a short stroke and lightweight construction; racers quickly recognized the advantages of this Cadillac powerplant.
Famed Indy driver Paul Russo won the 1949 Milwaukee 100 stock car race in a Cadillac, and Red Byron finished third in the 1950 NASCAR Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C. Gober Sosebee took the pole position and finished second in a 100-mile NASCAR Grand National race on a half-mile dirt track in Columbus, Ga., in June 1951. In 1952, Buck Baker won a 250-mile race in NASCAR’s Speedway division in a Cadillac-powered Indy-style car, and Tom Deal’s Cadillac finished second in the Carrera Panamerica road race in Mexico. Cadillac powered Cunningham sports cars and made the English-built Allard J-2 the car to beat on road courses from Watkins Glen, N.Y., to Pebble Beach, Calif.
Most recently, a return to Le Mans with the Cadillac LMP program evoked a rich history at Le Sarthe for the American marque. In 1950, Briggs Cunningham, a well-heeled sportsman and racing enthusiast, led the way to the verdant Loire Valley southwest of Paris. Cunningham’s American-based team brashly entered a pair of Cadillacs in Europe’s classic road race. The first was a virtually stock Coupe de Ville and the second a stunning rebodied chassis that was affectionately named "Le Monstre" by the astonished French fans. Cunningham’s fresh-from-the-showroom Cadillac finished 10th; his aero-bodied creation posted a respectable 11th place finish in spite of an excursion into a gravel trap. A Cadillac-Allard J2 entry, driven by Tom Cole and Sydney H. Allard, finished third overall and first in the over 8000cc class. The Cadillac LMP program competed in the American Le Mans Series and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2000 – 2002 and claimed a number of podium finishes in highlighting the brand’s renaissance amongst the world’s best. The new Cadillac program in the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT championship will compete in 10 rounds in North America.
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