April 28, 1887 – Auto racing has its humble beginnings. French toymaker and engineer, Georges Bouton won what many consider to be the world’s very first car race. Bouton’s steam-powered quadricycle. Georges was not only the winner but the only competitor in the “test run” that was organized by French newspaper Le Velocipede. Bouton and fellow French countryman Jules-Albert de Dion founded the De Dion-Bouton company in 1883.
These two first worked together in 1882 to produce a self-propelled steam vehicle. The result gave birth to the company which, at the time, went under the name de Dion. Georges became the victor in the first race when he drove a de Dion-Bouton vehicle 2 kilometers from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne.
Bouton’s concept of a steam-powered road machine was inspired by an instance as a child when he saw a steam-powered toy locomotive in a Paris storefront window. The shopmaker, when asked, made another of the toy trains and Georges was hooked, eventually going into a meager business of making scientific activities and toys for children along with fellow engineer, Charles Trépardoux.
Charles and Georges dreamed of making a steam-powered automobile but didn’t have the funding until de Dion stepped in with financing. The 1887 race was somewhat of a publicity stunt by the local newspaper so that they could get a scoop on the auto manufacturer’s newest product. De Dion-Bouton was at the time the largest carmaker in the world. They went out of business in 1932.
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