Arguably one of the most exciting annual racing events in the United States- or the world- during the 1930's was the National Air Races, originally held in New York, and later made famous in Cleveland, where they became known as the Cleveland National Air Races. Aviation was coming into it's own during this decade and the races helped spur the development of aircraft design at arguably a much faster pace than would otherwise have been likely as the nation's top flyers-as well known as today's biggest celebrities- competed for the top honours among a variety of flying contests. This was considered the Golden Age of aviation and the National Air Races it's biggest showcase. The most prized of these contests was the Bendix Trophy (sponsored by the Bendix Corp and a company that would largely finance my own flying interests many years later!) which was a race across most of the USA and the Thompson Trophy Race which started in 1929 and consisted of aircraft flying at low level (not unlike today's RedBull shows) around massive pylons in a closed course. A competition for women flyers (reflecting the prevalent attitudes towards women at the time) called the "Powder Puff Derby" was also a part of the event, and limited to aircraft of horsepower "appropriate for a woman". The races were a smash hit in Cleveland, until 1949, when a pilot crashed his P-51 fighter plane into a Cleveland residence killing two occupants and creating a flurry of public protest. It's likely that the public was also no longer as fascinated with airplanes by the end of the war as they were in the early 30's, and the races in Cleveland came to an end.
It's impossible to talk about the National Air Races without reference to the Travel Air "Mystery Ships". The Travel Air Aircraft Corporation in Wichita, Kansas, was created by three of the biggest names in American aviation: Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech and Lloyd Stearman. This company enjoyed a series of successes at the National Air races with a series of aircrasft they built under great secrecy in advance of the races. Of course, the secrecy of a new airplane design being released to the public at a major national air racing event was the publicity equivalent of crashing the internet today, and to top it off, the aircraft delivered the goods, beating even the best and fastest aircraft the army could put up against them. It was a public schooling by a private company, that the government would have to step up if they wanted to keep pace with developments in the rapidly developing field of aviation. As it turned out, Howard Hughes would be the last person to design and fly a private aircraft to a world landspeed record with his H-1 Racer in 1935. Presumably the Army air Force got their act together after that since most subsequent aeronautical records were claimed by the military.
The Winners