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On This Day in Automotive History: January 20

On This Day in Automotive History
January 20

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January 19 « Go to » January 21

Birthdays: George Gallup (1921), Fireball Roberts (1929), Preston Henn (1931), Giorgio Bassi (1934), Bob Herring (1939), Ralph Jones (1944), Randal Ritter (1947), David Seldon (1947), Kenny Brightbill (1948), Danny Marshall (1952), Mike Riley (1957), Jeff Wood (1957), Regina June (1961), John Shreiner (1962), Dicky Williamson (1963), Scott Maxwell (1964), Robin McCall (1964), Grady Willingham (1964), Eddie Nahir (1965), Dean Kuhn (1966), Greg Bennett (1969), Mark Dilley (1969), Ray Ciccarelli (1970), Brandon Kraus (1971), Norberto Fontana (1975), Chuck Walls Jr. (1975), Alex Yoong (1976), Alex Mueller (1979), Randy Nelson (1979), Brandon Schilling (1981), Tommy Pecaro (1983), Bobby Hodges (1990), Thomas Scott (1990), Jolyon Palmer (1991), Mauro Calamia (1992), Jonas Fors (1993), Connor Mosack (1999)

1905: The second day of the National Good Roads Association's midwinter meeting, in Jacksonville, FL, begins at 10:30 a.m. Colonel W. L. Spoon, the OPRI expert in charge of the object lesson road under construction during the convention, discusses construction of sand-clay roads, saying sand and clay make the finest roads in the world, as demonstrated by the beach road along the Florida coast. On the 21st, the delegates meet at the Board of Trade, then go to the northern part of the city where they inspect the road being built by Spoon and road expert J. H. Dodge, Director Martin Dodge's brother.

1908: OPR begins an 8-week course of theoretical and practical instruction for engineer trainees in Washington, DC (salary: $60 per month and field expenses). Lectures and laboratory work cover problems in road construction, petrography and mineralogy, dust preventatives, plotting, field notes, estimates, types of surface, and the history and development of road building.

2007: Éric Aubijoux dies during the Dakar Rally.

2013: The film Death Race: Inferno was released.