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302 Motorsports
Today In History
December 14, 1909
Brick racetrack completed at Indy
The famous brick surface of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the "Brickyard") was finished on this day. The speedway had its grand opening three days later, when the brickwork was ceremoniously completed by Governor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana, who cemented the last "golden" brick.
December 14, 1931
Rolls-Royce acquires Bentley
Bentley Motors was taken over by Rolls-Royce on this day. Bentley Motors, a maker of luxury automobiles founded in 1920, was, like Rolls-Royce, one of the finest names in the business. As a Rolls-Royce subsidiary, Bentley was guided by the Rolls-Royce esthetic. Gradually, Bentley automobiles acquired elements of classic Rolls-Royce design until automobiles of the two marques became virtually indistinguishable.
December 14, 1947
Stock car racing organized
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was founded at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the first formal organization for stock-car racing, a sport said to have begun with souped-up bootlegger hot rods during Prohibition. Starting in 1953, the major automakers invested heavily in racing teams, producing faster cars than ever before: good results on the stock-car circuit were believed to mean better sales on the showroom floor. In 1957, however, rising costs and tightened NASCAR rules forced the factories out of the sport, and the modern era of the NASCAR superspeedway began.
December 14, 1799
George Washington dies at Mount Vernon
A major landholder and promoter of western settlement, George Washington dies on this day in 1799 at his Mount Vernon home along the banks of the Potomac.
From an early age, the future first president of the United States had a passionate interest in the vast unsettled territories of the West. Like many other aristocratic Virginians, Washington coveted land, and most ambitious young men of the eighteenth century had one way to acquire land: they went west.
As a 16-year-old in 1748, Washington made the first of several long journeys into the West, working as a skilled surveyor in the Shenandoah Valley. Unusually tall and strong, Washington loved the wild western lands of Virginia and was an excellent frontiersman. From the start, Washington's ambitions were unabashedly mercenary, and he could not gaze on any tract of pristine land without considering its potential for development and profit. To that end, Washington had little tolerance for the remaining bands of Indians he encountered during his travels, writing in his journal that he found their war dances "comical." Washington also had a strong distaste for the illegal pioneers who squatted on western lands they did not own, calling one group of Pennsylvania Germans as "Ignorant a Set of People as the Indians." Washington believed both the Indians and the illegal squatters would need to be removed if the land was to be properly settled and exploited.
After joining the colonial military to defend British interests in the West, Washington moved quickly to increase his own land holdings and develop them for profit. As a reward for his military service, Washington claimed 30,000 acres of prime agricultural land along the Kanawha and Ohio rivers west of the Appalachian Mountains (an area that lies in modern-day West Virginia and Ohio). To solidify his claim and begin generating a profit, Washington advertised for settlers and purchased indentured servants to colonize his holdings.
The outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775 and Washington's growing political responsibilities often interfered with his personal plans for western expansion during the following years, and he rarely had time to visit his distant landholdings. Not surprisingly, when he became the first president of the United States, Washington strongly endorsed the idea that the young nation must expand westward and settle the Trans-Appalachian regions of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. It remained for Washington's successors to fully realize his vision, but the first president led his countrymen in speculating on and profiting from the sale and rent of western lands.
December 14, 1939
USSR expelled from the League of Nations
On this day, the League of Nations, the international peacekeeping organization formed at the end of World War I, expels the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in response to the Soviets' invasion of Finland on October 30.
Although the League of Nations was more or less the brainchild of President Woodrow Wilson, the United States, which was to have sat on the Executive Council, never joined. Isolationists in the Senate--put off by America's intervention in World War I, which they felt was more of a European civil war than a true world war--prevented American participation. While the League was born with the exalted mission of preventing another "Great War," it proved ineffectual, being unable to protect China from a Japanese invasion or Ethiopia from an Italian one. The League was also useless in reacting to German remilitarization, which was a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the document that formally set the peace terms for the end of World War I.
Germany and Japan voluntarily withdrew from the League in 1933, and Italy left in 1937. The true imperial designs of the Soviet Union soon became apparent with its occupation of eastern Poland in September of 1939, ostensibly with the intention of protecting Russian "blood brothers," Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were supposedly menaced by the Poles. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were then terrorized into signing "mutual assistance" pacts, primarily one-sided agreements that gave the USSR air and naval bases in those countries. But the invasion of Finland, where no provocation or pact could credibly be adduced to justify the aggression, resulted in worldwide reaction. President Roosevelt, although an "ally" of the USSR, condemned the invasion, causing the Soviets to withdraw from the New York World's Fair. And finally, the League of Nations, drawing almost its last breath, expelled it.
December 14, 1900
The birth of quantum theory
German physicist Max Planck publishes his groundbreaking study of the effect of radiation on a "blackbody" substance, and the quantum theory of modern physics is born.
Through physical experiments, Planck demonstrated that energy, in certain situations, can exhibit characteristics of physical matter. According to theories of classical physics, energy is solely a continuous wave-like phenomenon, independent of the characteristics of physical matter. Planck's theory held that radiant energy is made up of particle-like components, known as "quantum." The theory helped to resolve previously unexplained natural phenomena such as the behavior of heat in solids and the nature of light absorption on an atomic level. In 1918, Planck was rewarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on blackbody radiation.
Other scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, and Paul M. Dirac, advanced Planck's theory and made possible the development of quantum mechanics--a mathematical application of the quantum theory that maintains that energy is both matter and a wave, depending on certain variables. Quantum mechanics thus takes a probabilistic view of nature, sharply contrasting with classical mechanics, in which all precise properties of objects are, in principle, calculable. Today, the combination of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of relativity is the basis of modern physics.
December 14, 1909
Brick racetrack completed at Indy
The famous brick surface of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the "Brickyard") was finished on this day. The speedway had its grand opening three days later, when the brickwork was ceremoniously completed by Governor Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana, who cemented the last "golden" brick.
December 14, 1931
Rolls-Royce acquires Bentley
Bentley Motors was taken over by Rolls-Royce on this day. Bentley Motors, a maker of luxury automobiles founded in 1920, was, like Rolls-Royce, one of the finest names in the business. As a Rolls-Royce subsidiary, Bentley was guided by the Rolls-Royce esthetic. Gradually, Bentley automobiles acquired elements of classic Rolls-Royce design until automobiles of the two marques became virtually indistinguishable.
December 14, 1947
Stock car racing organized
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was founded at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the first formal organization for stock-car racing, a sport said to have begun with souped-up bootlegger hot rods during Prohibition. Starting in 1953, the major automakers invested heavily in racing teams, producing faster cars than ever before: good results on the stock-car circuit were believed to mean better sales on the showroom floor. In 1957, however, rising costs and tightened NASCAR rules forced the factories out of the sport, and the modern era of the NASCAR superspeedway began.
December 14, 1799
George Washington dies at Mount Vernon
A major landholder and promoter of western settlement, George Washington dies on this day in 1799 at his Mount Vernon home along the banks of the Potomac.
From an early age, the future first president of the United States had a passionate interest in the vast unsettled territories of the West. Like many other aristocratic Virginians, Washington coveted land, and most ambitious young men of the eighteenth century had one way to acquire land: they went west.
As a 16-year-old in 1748, Washington made the first of several long journeys into the West, working as a skilled surveyor in the Shenandoah Valley. Unusually tall and strong, Washington loved the wild western lands of Virginia and was an excellent frontiersman. From the start, Washington's ambitions were unabashedly mercenary, and he could not gaze on any tract of pristine land without considering its potential for development and profit. To that end, Washington had little tolerance for the remaining bands of Indians he encountered during his travels, writing in his journal that he found their war dances "comical." Washington also had a strong distaste for the illegal pioneers who squatted on western lands they did not own, calling one group of Pennsylvania Germans as "Ignorant a Set of People as the Indians." Washington believed both the Indians and the illegal squatters would need to be removed if the land was to be properly settled and exploited.
After joining the colonial military to defend British interests in the West, Washington moved quickly to increase his own land holdings and develop them for profit. As a reward for his military service, Washington claimed 30,000 acres of prime agricultural land along the Kanawha and Ohio rivers west of the Appalachian Mountains (an area that lies in modern-day West Virginia and Ohio). To solidify his claim and begin generating a profit, Washington advertised for settlers and purchased indentured servants to colonize his holdings.
The outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775 and Washington's growing political responsibilities often interfered with his personal plans for western expansion during the following years, and he rarely had time to visit his distant landholdings. Not surprisingly, when he became the first president of the United States, Washington strongly endorsed the idea that the young nation must expand westward and settle the Trans-Appalachian regions of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. It remained for Washington's successors to fully realize his vision, but the first president led his countrymen in speculating on and profiting from the sale and rent of western lands.
December 14, 1939
USSR expelled from the League of Nations
On this day, the League of Nations, the international peacekeeping organization formed at the end of World War I, expels the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in response to the Soviets' invasion of Finland on October 30.
Although the League of Nations was more or less the brainchild of President Woodrow Wilson, the United States, which was to have sat on the Executive Council, never joined. Isolationists in the Senate--put off by America's intervention in World War I, which they felt was more of a European civil war than a true world war--prevented American participation. While the League was born with the exalted mission of preventing another "Great War," it proved ineffectual, being unable to protect China from a Japanese invasion or Ethiopia from an Italian one. The League was also useless in reacting to German remilitarization, which was a violation of the Treaty of Versailles, the document that formally set the peace terms for the end of World War I.
Germany and Japan voluntarily withdrew from the League in 1933, and Italy left in 1937. The true imperial designs of the Soviet Union soon became apparent with its occupation of eastern Poland in September of 1939, ostensibly with the intention of protecting Russian "blood brothers," Ukrainians and Byelorussians, who were supposedly menaced by the Poles. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were then terrorized into signing "mutual assistance" pacts, primarily one-sided agreements that gave the USSR air and naval bases in those countries. But the invasion of Finland, where no provocation or pact could credibly be adduced to justify the aggression, resulted in worldwide reaction. President Roosevelt, although an "ally" of the USSR, condemned the invasion, causing the Soviets to withdraw from the New York World's Fair. And finally, the League of Nations, drawing almost its last breath, expelled it.
December 14, 1900
The birth of quantum theory
German physicist Max Planck publishes his groundbreaking study of the effect of radiation on a "blackbody" substance, and the quantum theory of modern physics is born.
Through physical experiments, Planck demonstrated that energy, in certain situations, can exhibit characteristics of physical matter. According to theories of classical physics, energy is solely a continuous wave-like phenomenon, independent of the characteristics of physical matter. Planck's theory held that radiant energy is made up of particle-like components, known as "quantum." The theory helped to resolve previously unexplained natural phenomena such as the behavior of heat in solids and the nature of light absorption on an atomic level. In 1918, Planck was rewarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work on blackbody radiation.
Other scientists, such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Louis de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, and Paul M. Dirac, advanced Planck's theory and made possible the development of quantum mechanics--a mathematical application of the quantum theory that maintains that energy is both matter and a wave, depending on certain variables. Quantum mechanics thus takes a probabilistic view of nature, sharply contrasting with classical mechanics, in which all precise properties of objects are, in principle, calculable. Today, the combination of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of relativity is the basis of modern physics.