Auto Racing 2: The Bennett Trophy
Meanwhile, the James Gordon Bennett Trophy races presented a challenge to the French. Established by the publisher of the New York Herald in 1900, the annual races were competitions among national automobile clubs, each of which was allowed to enter three cars.
French manufacturers weren't happy with the three-car limit, but the ACF agreed to organize the first race, 353 miles from Paris to Lyons on June 14, 1900. There were three entries from France, two from the United States, and one each from Belgium and Germany. The German entry and one of the U. S. cars pulled out before the start, however. The race was won by Fernand Charron, driving a French Panhard.
In 1901, only a single British entry, a Napier driven by Selwyn Edge, challenged the three French cars. Again, a Panhard won, with Leonce Girardot at the wheel. The 1902 race was held in conjunction with the ACF's Paris to Vienna race, but the finish point was at Innsbruck. This time, Edge's Napier won, handing the French their first defeat in a major race.
As the winning country, Great Britain hosted the 1903 Bennett Trophy race at Athy, in Ireland. Camille Jenatzy drove a German Mercedes to victory over Rene de Knyff's Panhard.
The two successive defeats for the French helped to attract a field of 19 entries from seven countries at Homburg, Germany, in 1904. Jenatzy's Mercedes was in contention all the way, but he finished second to Leon Thery of France, driving a Richard-Brasier.
The ACF wanted to get rid of the Bennett Trophy race in 1905 in favor of its own inaugural Grand Prix, which was to be open to manufacturers' teams rather than nations. The other countries refused to go along with that idea, though, so the ACF upstaged the trophy race by holding a qualifying race to decide which three cars would represent France. The qualifying race was more exciting than the final, which was again won by Thery, while Italian cars finished second and third.
In 1906, the ACF simply declined to host the Bennett Trophy race. Italy also turned it down, and the series ended. Before the year was over, though, both France and Italy had staged major competition of their own that marked the beginning of Grand Prix racing.