The first American automobile race?  Jun 7th, 2011 at 12pm   | 
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Responses to “The first American automobile race?”    1. john
from Staffs says:      I would not presume to tell Americans
about the history of their country, but offer a suggestion.
By 1875 the general populace would have got used to the idea of
steam railway engines if they lived near to the places where
tracks were to be found. The first US locomotive to haul a wagon
loaded with passengers was the “Tom Thumb” built in 1831 by the
Baltimore and Ohio. The engineering necessary to build a steam
road vehicle was therefore well established by 1875, and the
Wisconsin prize offer is proof of the fact that a need was
recognised.      No doubt businessmen in a country as big as
America had also recognised by then that you could not fund a
railway branch line to every “one horse town” and were wondering
how to eliminate the need for even that horse.      • Frankly,
I’ve always approach