San Marino 1984 was the only grand prix on this day, where Alain Prost drove his McLaren TAG-Porsche to win from pole position at Imola. Rene Arnoux was second in a Ferrari with Elio de Angelis a lap down in third for Lotus Renault.
Looking further back, Herbert Lytle driving an American and Bill Endicott in a Cole each won a heat in the 1910 Atlanta AAA Champ Car Series weekend, Antonio Ascari won the 1923 Circuit of Mantua in an Alfa Romeo RLTF, Marcel Lehoux won the 1928 Algerian Grand Prix in a Staouéli Bugatti and Achille Varzi’a Alfa Romeo won the 1934 Tripoli Grand Prix
More recently, Robert Manzon won the 1956 Naples Grand Prix driving a Gordini T16 at Posillipo and Stirling Moss took the 1961 Silverstone International Trophy in a Cooper-Climax. Mario Andretti set a new 353km/h one-lap Indianapolis 500 speed record in 1987, Scott Dixon won the 2001 Lehigh Valley CART Grand Prix and Keke Rosberg’s Spyder Chevrolet won the 1979 Road Atlanta Can-Am.
In sportscar racing, Alessandro Cagno’s Itala won the inaugural 1906 Targa founded by Sicilian winemaker Vincenzo Florio, 56 years before Olivier Gendebien, Willy Mairesse and Ricardo Rodriguez drove a Ferrari Dino 246SP to 1962 Targa Florio. Derek Bell and Mike Hailwood won the 1973 Spa 1000 in their Mirage M6 Cosworth, a race perhaps better remembered for Henri Pescarolo’s Matra MS670 lapping the Francorchamps circuit at an all-time road circuit record 263km/h.
Hans Heyer, John Fitzpatrick and Bob Wollek took their Porsche 935 to ‘79 Silverstone 6 hour victory, Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin won the ’07 Valencia 1000 in a Peugeot 908 and back at Spa, Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima won the 2017 1000 in a Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Didier Auriol won WRC Rally Corsica twice on this day – driving a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth in 1988 and a Lancia Delta HF Integrale in ’92. Colin McRae was also a double WRC winner, in a Subaru Impreza in Corsica in ‘98 and driving a Ford Focus RS in Argentina 2001, where Sebastien Loeb also won in a Citroen C4 WRC in 2010
Racing birthdays today include golden era driver Rene Dreyfus and the versatile Tommy Byrne