Auto Race (ride)
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Auto Race, also known as Auto Ride, is an amusement park ride that gave children their first chance to drive a
car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...
. It was conceived and designed by Harry Guy Traver of Traver Engineereing. This ride features a set of electric cars traveling through a wooden trough-like track lined with metal strips used to carry the electrical current that powers the cars. The last remaining Auto Race is still operating at
Kennywood Kennywood is an amusement park located in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, just southeast of Pittsburgh. The park opened on May 30, 1899, as a trolley park attraction at the end of the Mellon family's Monongahela Street Railway. It was purchased in 1 ...
amusement park in
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania West Mifflin is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, located southeast of downtown Pittsburgh. The population was 20,313 at the 2010 census. It is named after Thomas Mifflin, 1st Governor of Pennsylvania, signer of the Un ...
, as of July, 2021.


Kennywood's Auto Race

Built in 1930, Kennywood's Auto Race is the last of its kind. Built on the former location of the original racer, it originally featured a series of small hills in the track and jalopy-style cars. In 1948, the hills were removed due to the collisions caused by cars not making it all the way up when the track was wet and the original cars were redesigned with a more streamlined body. In 1948, the name was changed to Auto Ride and was changed back to Auto Race in 1996. Also in the 90's, the cars were painted with racing numbers and the facade of the station was given a new racing motif, painted by local artist Raphael Pantalone and his wife, Kathleen, complete with a replica of the animated neon sign that was added to the front in the 1950s.


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Kennywood''Kennywood'' by David P. Hahner, Carl O Hughes
{{Refend Kennywood Motorsport in Pennsylvania