June 21, 1947 – The first post war Mille Miglia
The Mille Miglia was an open road endurance race that took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957. It was on this day in 1947 the first post WWII race took place. The race was won by Italians Clemente Biondetti and Emilio Romano who drove an Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Berlinetta Touring.
The races began in 1927 when Aymo Maggi and Franco Mazzotti, along with a group of investors, established the race because they were upset about the Italian Grand Prix being moved from their home town of Brescia. The designed a figure-eight type course that ran approximately one thousand miles on public roads. One thousand miles in Italian is “Mille Miglia,” although the first race was actually 1,005 miles. The first event started with 77 racers, of which 51 made it to the finish line. Coming in first...