THE STREET RACE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF
In the early days of motor racing, competitive events were frequently held in towns. On the streets. Few of these survived safety-related regulation changes, however, with the notable exception of the Monaco Grand Prix, held for the first time in 1929. Yet there was another city race, described by drivers of the era as more difficult than Monaco and born just one year later. And it was in Poland.
That mystery race was held in Lwów, then the third largest city in the country. Poland had regained independence in 1918, in part thanks to the efforts of the American president Woodrow Wilson, and it immediately had to defend itself, as some neighbours failed to respect the reemergence of the Polish state after 123 years. The City of Lwów was in jeopardy, and its heroic defence became a symbol of the Polish fight for independence. To most Poles, Lwów was more a symbol of Polish patriotism than Warsaw or Kraków (it had been a part of Poland between 1387 and 1772).
Poland developed rapidly during the 1920s, and the advent of motor racing was a natural consequence of
