Eddie Pullen's Race Car Sets World Speed Record in "Circle City"

The town of Corona, California, is located about 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.  Corona was founded in 1886 and its nickname is “The Circle City.”  Starting with a standard grid street pattern, Corona founders created a circle street, Grand Avenue, which remains to this day.  (Find a map of Corona online and you can see the circle yourself).  In 1913, 1914 and 1916 Corona’s Grand Avenue circle hosted international road races with the world’s top competitors in infant sport or open wheel racing.  The New Times November 27, 1914, edition reported that driver Eddie Pullen’s Mercer Race Car set a world record at Corona, covering 300 miles – 109 laps – in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds – an average of 87 miles per hour.

Using data from the 1914 race news coverage, what is the circumference of Grand Avenue?  Sixth Street, a straight arterial that bisects the center point of Grand Avenue’s circle, runs east-west.  If you were a spectator at the race in 1914 on the east side of the track and decided to walk along Sixth Street to the west side of the circle, how far would you have to walk?

Historical footnote:  The last Corona race was held in 1916 where a crash killed three spectators, and driver Bob Burman.  As a result of the crash, famous driver Barney Oldfield created the roll cage to make race cars safer for drivers.

Bonus Question:  It has been over 90 years since Corona hosted its last international car race but Corona-based West Coast Customs made car history as the original supplier for what famous MTV show?

Answers are in the Teacher Only area "".