For nearly half of the Twentieth Century the top level of American auto racing was controlled - very firmly controlled - by the American Automobile Association's Contest Board. To the present generation, familiar with the AAA as a road service and travel organization, that may seem odd, but the Triple-A began as a group formed to support early motorists and local auto clubs when competition was important to the elite of the motoring world.

In 1908 racing was the plaything of the wealthy, the Vanderbilts and the Guggenheims. Willy Vanderbilt was only the best known of those rich enough to buy fast cars. It was for the upper crust that the fledgling AAA stepped in to the then chaotic field of racing to get it organized and under some semblance of control. While for a time AAA had a race committee, the first meet "sanctioned" by the AAA Contest Board was not a race as such, but a hill climb organized by the Manhattan Borough Auto Club on Fort George Hill in New York. Officially, the first race for the AAA was a four-day straightaway trial by the Florida East Coast Auto Club in March, 1909.

The first seven AAA sanctions were not given numbers; the system of numbering was adopted in 1909 with the seventh sanctioned event, an endurance run between New York and Boston. Although such non speed-competitive events as endurance runs and tours continued to dot the AAA calender, by mid-1909 races on oval tracks, roads and beaches began to dominate. By 1915 AAA events could be broken down into races and a few product tests.

Very shortly after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway began to hold 500-mile races in 1911 that track would dominate the racing scene in the U.S., and soon the Contest Board itself. Eddie Rickenbacker was both president of the Speedway and chairman of the Contest Board. In February, 1929 (eight months before the crash that started the Depression). Rickenbacker decided the costly specials, the Millers and Duesenbergs were not good for the gate at Indy and single-handedly brought into being a formula, known as the junk formula, aimed at bringing the Detroit auto companies back into racing.

Aside from minor local races, the AAA quickly came to control the best drivers and promoters of the first decade and a half of the twentieth century. Already a bit stuffy and arrogant, the Contest Board made enemies. By refusing to sanction a race at the Michigan State Fairgrounds in 1914 because an un-sanctioned cycle car race (early version of midgets) had been held there the AAA so enraged the fairground managers that they organized a revolt among their fellows that resulted in organization of the International Motor Contest Association. IMCA, which the AAA ever afterwards considered "outlaw," remained a creature of the fair boards of the midwestern states, but came to be run, in practice, by J. Alex Sloan and one or two other promoters who put on rigged races designed more for show than unbridled competition.

Throughout the twenties and thirties the Contest Board ruled championship racing absolutely, and through its power to bar recalcitrant drivers from Indianapolis, controlled much of sprint car racing. The coming of the midgets in 1933 was a challenge to the Board, but through its control of Indy, to which all ambitious drivers aspired, the AAA was able to exercise considerable influence even there.

The numbering system which began in 1909 continued through 4,064 more events until Sam Nunis' sprint races at Shelby, North Carolina on November 2, 1946. There had already come into being a "Class B" sprint car circuit (so-called, compared to the regular half-mile "big car" AAA races) and the sanctions were designated as "B" followed by that circuit's numbers or "M"for midget. Beginning in 1947 "regular" sprint car races were put under the designation "R," speed trials as "T" and championship as "C" with different numbering series. In 1949 the classifications changed again designating championship events along with the major sprint races, thus while there was continuity of AAA control, there was no unified numbering system.

In 1950 the AAA for the first time sanctioned sports car races and prodded by NASCAR's popularity, for the first time since World War I issued sanctions for true stock car events.

The official record of Contest Board sanctions ends in 1951, the cards upon which the sanctions were recorded apparently lost to history. It has been possible, however, to continue the list of sanctions in part through the surviving AAA race payoff sheets which have been preserved. The last four years of this record have been taken from those sheets, and therefore may not include every sanctioned AAA event. With those limitations, the tabulation has been made as complete as possible.

The following is a sample of the AAA sanctions, the list of sanctions for 1915:

Sanction	Promoter	Track	Event	Date	Fee	Remarks
794	Borderland Auto Club	Tucson, AZ	Road Race	Jan 1	$50
795	Pacific Motor Racing Assn.	Bakersfield, CA	Oldfield-Burman Match Race	Jan 3	$100
786	Al Bahr Temple MS	San Diego	Road Race	Jan 9	$300
792	Oakland Motor Co.		Certified Test-Fuel Economy	Jan 27	$25
791	BPOE	Glendale, CA	Road Race	Jan 30	$300
796	Bert Smith	Ascot Park	100 Mile Track Race	Feb 7	$100	$50 refunded by SRN
797	Sioux City Spy. Assn.		300 Mile Race	July 3	$500
798	Speedway Park Assn.	Chicago	500 Mile Race	June 19	$1000
799	Western Auto Assn.	Venice, CA	Road Race	Mar 17	$300
800	Indianapolis Motor Spy.	Indianapolis	500 Mile Race	May 29	$1000
801	Takoma Spy. Assn.	Takoma, WA	Speedway Races	Jul 4-5	$750
802	Omaha Auto Spy.	Omaha, NE	Speedway Races	July 5	$1000
803	Southwest Auto Rg. An.	Oklahoma City	Road Race	April 20	$300
804	Southwest Auto Rg. An.	Oklahoma City	Road Race	April 29	$300	Change from April 22
805	Borderland Auto Club	Tucson, AZ	Road Race	March 20	$150
806	Walter Hempel	Ascot Park	Match Race	April 4	$100
807	O. V. Matthews	Newark, NJ	Track	May 1	$100
808	Tulare Co. Auto Assn.	Visalia, CA	Road Race	July 5	$50
809	Kern Co. Fair Assn.	Bakersfield, CA	Track	May 1	$100	Postponed to May 15
810	Galesburg Dist. Fair		100 Mile Track	Jun 9	$100
811	Northwest Auto Assn.	Portland, OR	Track	May 1-2	$200
812	Inland Auto Assn.	Spokane, WA	Hill Climb	May 15	Gratis
813	Northwest Auto Assn.	Salem, OR	Track	May 8	$100
814	Northwest Auto Assn.	Portland, OR	Track	May 9	$100
815	J. A. Sloan	Dayton, OH	Track	May 8	$100
816	J.A. Sloan	Springfield, OH	Track	May 12	$100
817	Northwest Auto Assn.	Spokane, WAS	Track	May 17-18	$200	Postponed May 23-24, 24th abandoned, fee applied 824
818	Columbus Auto Club	Columbus, OH	Track	May 15-16	$100
819	Stromberg Motor Devices Co.		Certified Trial	May 11	$25
820	Chicago Auto Club	Elgin	Road Races	Aug 20-21	$300
821	Matty Matthews Auto Racing Assn	Newark, NJ	Track	May 31	$50
822	Rochester Race Track Corp.	Rochester, NY	Track	May 31	$100
823	Cleveland Auto Club	Cleveland, OH	Track	May 22-23	$100
824	Northwest Auto Assn.	N. Yakima, WA	Track	May 30-31	$100	Fee transferred from 817
825	Tri-State Fair	Burlington, IA	100 Mile Track	July 9	$100
826	Uniontown Mtrg. Assn.	Uniontown, PA	Hill Climb	June 24	$50
827	NW Auto Racing Assn.	Walla Walla, WA	Track	June 5-6	$200
828	Taylor Auto Club	Taylor, TX	Track	July 7-8	$100
829	Chicago Auto Club		Inter Club Reliability	June 11-12	$25
830	NW Auto Racing Assn.	Seattle, WA	Track	June 12-13	$150	$50 allowed from 824
831	Auto Club of Utica	Oriskany Falls	Hill Climb	July 3	Gratis
832	Kalamazoo Motor Spy.		100 Mile Track Race	Aug 28	$100
833	Eastern Racing Assn.	Lewiston, ME	Track	July 5	$100	Postponed to July 10
834	Matty Matthews Auto Rac'g Assn.	Readville, MA	Track	July 5	$100	Postponed to July 10
835	Borderland Auto Club	Tucson, AZ	Road Race	July 5	$150	Abandoned, postponed to Nov 6
836	Twin City Motor Spy.		500 Mile Race	Sept 4	$1000
837	Fresno Co. Agr. Assn.	Fresno	150 Mile Track Race	Oct 2	$100
838	Sheepshead Bay Spy. Corp.	NY	350 Mile Race	Oct 9	$1000
839	Peninsula Motor Club	Monterey, CA	Track	July 4-5	$100
840	Takoma Speedway Assn.		Speed Trials	July 2	$50
841	Frank E. Morris	Fairmont, WV	Track	July 5	$100
842	Chet Howell	Saginaw, MI	Track	July 4	$100	Postponed to July 5th
843	J.F. Flanders	San Jose, CA	Track	July 4	$100
844	Narragansett Park Spy.	Providence	100 Mile Race	Sept 18	$250
845	Matthews Auto Rcng Assn.	Flemington, NJ	Track	Aug 13	$100
846	Matthews Auto Rcng Assn.	Allentown, PA	Track	July 31	$50
847	Pan-Pacific Intn'l Exp.	San Francisco	Track	July 10	$100
848	Packard Motor Car Co.	Chicago Spy.	Certified Trials	July 10th	$50	Economy, Acceleration & Speed Tests
849	Newport Motor Club	Newport, IN	Hill Climb	Aug 25-26	$50
850	DesMoines Auto Spy.		300 Mile Race	July 31	$1000	Postponed to Aug 7
851	NW Auto Assn.	Portland, OR	Track	July 24-25	$50
852	D. E. Francis	Santa Rosa, CA	Track	Aug 1st	$100
853	Automobile Racing Assn.	Clarksburg, WV	Track	July 31st	$50
854	Barney Oldfield	Cleveland, OH	Time Trials	July 31-Aug 1st	Gratis
855	Speedway Park Assn.	Chicago	Match Race	Aug 7th	$125
856	Speedway Park Assn.	Chicago	300 Mile Race	Oct 16th	$500	Abandoned
857	NW Auto Assn.	Boise, ID	Track	July 31st	$100
858	Automobile Racing Assn.	Altoona, PA	Track	Aug 6th - 7th	$100
859	H.A. McLinden & W. L. Claiborne	Tanforan, CA	150 Mile Race	Sep 6th	$100	Postponed
860	Rochester Race Track Corp.	Crittenden Park		Aug 7th	$100
861	Trails & Towns		Reliability-Economy Tour	Sep 7-12	$80	Abandoned
862	Automobile Racing Assn.	Johnstown, PA		Aug 14th	$50
863	Inland Auto Assn.	Spokane, WA	Track	Sep 13-14	$100
864	Interstate Fair	Trenton, NJ	Track	Oct 1st	$100
865	Auto Racing Assn.	Belle Vernon, PA	Track	Aug 27-28th	$200	28 Postponed to Sep 6th
866	O.V. Matthews	Newark, NJ	Track	Sep 6th	$100
867	H.A. McLinden & W. L. Claiborne	Tanforan, CA	Track	Sep 5th	$100	Postponed
868	M. J. Crell	Marshall, MI	Track	Sep 3rd	$50
869	M. J. Crell	Ithaca, MI	Track	Sep 6th	$50
870	M. J. Crell	Bay City, MI	Track	Sep 9	$50
871	Washington Race Assn.	Arden, PA	Track	Oct 2nd	$50
872	Chicago Auto Club Chicago Athletic Assn South Shore Country Club		Fall Inter-Club Reliability	Sep 22	$25
873	Auto Racing Assn.	Morgantown, WV	Track	Sep 17	$100	Postponed to Sep 25
874	Auto Racing Assn.	Fairmont, WV	Track	Sep 18	$100	Rebate 853 & 862
875	Sheepshead Bay Spy. Corp.		Time Trial 10 Miles	Sep 18	Gratis
876	Columbus Spy Assn.	Columbus, OH	100 Mile Race	Oct 10	$100
877	Auto Club of St. Louis		8th Annual Owners Reliability Tour	Oct 15-16	$25
878	Maricopa Auto Club	Phoenix, AZ	Track	Nov 30	$50
879	S. L. Boukard	San Francisco	Track	Oct 16-17	$200
880	Matthews Auto Rcg Assn.	Allentown, PA	Track	Oct 9		Abandoned
881	Chicago Auto Club		Master Drivers Reliability	Oct 21-23	$15
882	Waterville Auto Rcg. Assn.	Waterville, WA	Track	Oct 21-22	$50
883	Sheepshead Bay Speedway		Invitation Match Race	Nov 2	$125
884	Ohio Valley Auto Club	Wheeling, WV	Track	Oct 23	$50
885	National Carburetor Co.	Chicago	Certified Trial	Oct 28	$25	Edwards Carburetor Tested on Buick
886	Utica Auto Racing Assn.	Utica, NY	Track	Oct 16	$25
887	Clarence Bennett	San Francisco	Track	Nov 25	$100
888	Lord Motor Car Co.	Los Angeles	Maxwell Non-Stop Trial	Nov 22 on	$100	16,106.4 miles
889	Hudson Motor Car Co.	Sheepshead Bay	Speed Trials	Nov 18-24-25-29	$100
890	NJ Auto & Motor Club		Reliability Tour	Nov 26-27	$15
891	Fresno Motor Car Dealers	Fresno, CA	Track	Nov 28	$50
892	Ascot Speedway Assn.	Los Angeles	Speedway	Dec 26	$50
893	Clarence Bennett	San Francisco	Track	Dec 4	$100	Abandoned - Fee transferred to 903