Atlanta Challenges Brickyard Speed Records

This article originally appeared in the January 9, 1910 Indianapolis Star. Brief but extremely interesting the article reports that the Atlanta Speedway officials challenged the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's veracity in reporting results of the December time trials that assert the Brickyard was home to most American records. Especially in question were the records established by Johnny Aitken who was credited with setting new marks for 10 to 20 miles for cars of 301 to 450 cubic inch engine displacement.
 
Speedway Director of Contests Ernie Moross is called out specifically as the culprit in the alleged deception. One of the issues with Moross was his reputation as the promoter of the barnstorming antics of Barney Oldfield and the less-than-reputable Will Pickens who assisted with such productions. The political environment was ripe for gaining advantage with such accusations as the American Automobile Association (AAA) was very frustrated with barnstorming and one of their stated reasons for the announcement of the "national circuit" in 1910 was to minimze such "contests." Combine all that with the competition between the Atlanta track and the Brickyard for bragging rights as America's fastest race track.
 
Moross issued the following statement in rebuttal to the charges: "Johnny Aitken did break all the world's records from ten to twenty miles for cars of his class. The Southern brother evidently went blind when he came to the words 'of his class,' for he charges that the IMS promoters permitted false records to be circulated over the land. Aitken's class, for his National car, is 301 to 450 cubic inches piston displacement. He broke all records from ten to twenty miles  in this car for his class, and, more than that, also for the class higher up, and his time was, for the twenty miles, 16:18. 41."