The 1919 Grand Prix season was the first season following the armistice that ended World War I in November 1918. European economies were struggling, and many automotive firms had to recover and retool from military production. So, there was very little racing activity as it took time for the companies and populations to recover. As the world rebuilt there were only two major races held in the year – the Indianapolis 500 and the Targa Florio.
Unsurprisingly there was a mixture of old and new in the fields and in both events, it was the pre-war machinery that was triumphant. In the Indianapolis race, Howdy Wilcox in his Peugeot saw off a competitive field including new cars from Duesenberg, Miller and Ballot. It also had the first postwar deaths at the event when Arthur Thurman, and then Louis LeCocq and his mechanic were killed in separate accidents. Wilcox went on to be awarded the year's AAA national championship.
The Targa Florio attracted a solid field but was held in November in atrocious weather. Raced on a shorter variant of the Madonie circuit, it became a contest between the new Ballot of René Thomas and the pre-war Peugeot voiturette of André Boillot (both of whom had been at Indianapolis). On the tight course and with the bad weather, the power advantage of the bigger cars was negated, and it was Boillot who got the victory after a gruelling eight hours in wind, rain and snow.