Most amazing collection, or museum (might not be open to the public yet) that you've never heard of. The Price museum/collection in Salt Lake City

Just a list and a link to inform you with right now..

the Peerless Green Dragon, 1904. Owned and driven by Barney Oldfield
1903 Pope Toledo race car, Vanderbilt Cup and Daytona beach
1907 Renault race car built for William Vanderbilt to compete in his own race
1911 Mercer Raceabout, barnfind
1911 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, built for a hot air balloon professor, it carries the basket in back
1912 Hudon Mile a Minute, one of 2 known to exist
1913 Pope Hartford roadster Model 29
1914 Marmon speedster
1915 Stutz Weightman Special race car, winner in 1916 race in Wash DC
1916 Stutz Bearcat barnfind... from a barn in Cuba
1924, 1925, and 1932 Miller Indy race cars
1929 Bugatti type 35b owned by Chiron and raced in Le Mans
1931 Blower Bentley
1933 Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 Monza Spyder
1938 Mormon Meteor III land speed record holder
1951 Allard J2 race car owned by Jack Armstrong

these are only some of the most interesting, because I don't want to type all of he collection, so go see their website for more: http://pricemuseumofspeed.org/

"A rare display of the greatest representations of early racing history. Many of these rare vintage race cars either won or placed well in numerous renowned events such as the Grand Prix, Le Mans, Morris Park, Briarcliff Cup, Daytona Beach, Gordon Bennett Cup, Empire Track at Yonkers, Sheepshead Bay, Indianapolis, Mille Miglia among others.

The Mission of the Price Museum of Speed Foundation is to display unique vintage race cars and memorabilia, and provide an automobile research library for future generations of car enthusiasts to enjoy."

the Stutz race car team at the Indianapolis 500 in 1914

June 21st, 6pm, San Diego Auto Museum is having a event to share info on the History of Desert Racing

above images from http://www.gambleart.com/Barney%20Oldfield.htm

http://www.arizonaracinghistory.com/cactusderbyintro.htm has a good bit of history about the "Cactus Derby", it was 511 miles,

Briefly, when the cars were still a marvel in the US, and people raced them because it was the most incredible thing to do, faster than a horse could run, or a passenger could ride a train, all sorts of unusual events were almost commonplace to test drivers and the new contraptions called Automobiles, and a lot of people went racing in any form possible. The Paris to Peking, the New York to Paris, the New York to San Fran, the Vanderbilt Cup, beach racing at Ormond, Daytona, Bonneville and the dry lakes of So Cal... but you may not have heard of the LA to Phoenix races through the desert.

The lack of roads, lack of pre-racing course preparation, and there not being any gas stations, service stations, parts stores, helpful bystanders, mechanics, or even towns to drive through made desert races incredibly difficult.

http://sdautomuseum.org/events/desert-racing-history-michael-anthony doesn't have any details though

So I'm going to try to make it to that speech, or q and a, and learn! I did find out that the first car to win was a White car, powered by a steam engine. At that time (1908?) White was such a great car that the President got one,http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/06/presidential-limo-circa-1909.html  and Buffalo Bill did too http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/buffalo-bill-drove-white-steamer-in.html

the first 7 years of the Cactus Derby winners were driving the White steamer I mentioned, then a Buick, a Kissel Kar, something called National Baby Blue, a Franklin (aircooled was an advantage in the hot Southwest), a Locomobile, and in 1914 Barney Oldfield won in a Stutz

The race took about 30 hours, was on Nov 9th, and the desert on November has cold nights, and days in the 70's

1929 Stutz Model M, amazing instrument panel engraving

Stutz Monte Carlo, light weight, fabric over ash frame... just when you think you've heard of rare cars... I come across this

 without a metal body, they shed a lot of weight, and lowered the center of gravity

 Bodywork by masters of their craft at Weymann

1915 Stutz Bearcat

 home made parking brake?