Between 1926 and 1928, Packard purchased 504 acres in Shelby Township, Michigan, for $175,846 to establish a proving ground designed to test its vehicles under a wide range of demanding conditions. The site featured a 2.5-mile concrete oval racetrack with banked turns, 12 miles of challenging test roads, an airplane hangar, an engineering garage, and a Tudor Revival gate lodge designed by Albert Kahn, which provided housing and dormitories for the superintendent, his family, and some of the onsite workers.

The grounds opened on June 14, 1928, with a race by Indy driver Leon Duray, who set a world closed-course speed record of 148.17 mph. This record made Packard’s track the fastest in the world, a title it held for 24 years until after WWII, when Italy’s Monza surpassed it.

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Packard Proving Grounds fulfilling the need for regulating testing and testers
ELMS of honor replanting the PPGs historic treeline
ELMS of honor replanting the PPGs historic treeline part 2
Albert Kahn architect of the Packard Proving Grounds
Test driving Packards at the Proving Grounds fun or work
Life and times Packards 50th Anniversary Celebration