Road courses are now a regular occurrence in the NASCAR Cup Series but back in the 1950s, that was not the case. Back in those days, the competition was called the Grand National Series and it saw its first-ever road course race in 1954. It was called the International 100. The track was a makeshift one built at the Linden airport in New Jersey.
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NASCAR has always prided itself on being an American sport but it was a British manufacturer that won the first-ever road course race. It was a Jaguar driven by Al Keller, who went on to have an IndyCar career.
Out of the 43 entries in that race, 21 cars were from foreign manufacturers. Buck Baker and Herb Thomas qualified P1 and P2 for the event with the Jaguar of Eric Peterson in P3. Keller started the race from P7. For half of the event, Baker and Thomas battled each other for the lead but with 28 laps to go, Keller went into P1 and held on to his position to take the checkered flag.
Bill France’s attempt to give NASCAR an international feel concluded with the defeat of the American companies. Foreign manufacturers competed in a NASCAR race again in 1958 in California but that was the last time. Then Toyota came roaring into the sport in 2007 as a major foreign manufacturer. The company received a lot of flak from the traditional NASCAR at the time but it is impossible to imagine the sport without the Japanese manufacturer anymore.
For Keller, the win at the Linden airport track was a massive result as he won $1,000 for his efforts. It was a large amount of money at the time. He had won a race in March that season in Savannah, Georgia. He took part in NASCAR sporadically since then as his interest lay in IndyCar racing. However, Keller’s life tragically came to an end in 1961 when he suffered a crash at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in 1961 in an IndyCar event.
A little-known fact about Keller is that he also raced in Formula One. He started five races from 1955 to 1960 but was not able to win a single one. However, he will always be remembered as the winner of the first-ever road course race in NASCAR history.
