Blanche Scott & Ralph DePlama - 1910

This attachment has two articles from the May 27, 1910 Indianapolis Sun. One reports on Ralph DePalma's decision to race a variety of car marques and the other that sportswoman Blanche Scott would be in town that weekend - which was the May 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The May 1910 race meet weekend included "national championships," a newly-announced distinction by the American Automobile Association (AAA) for select race meets. Car manufacturers were keen to make a great showing. Check out other articles that provide additional summaries on the results of the races staged May 27 and May 28 elsewhere on First Super Speedway.
 
Scott is described in the article about her as, "the young New York society woman who is touring the continent in an Overland automobile." Scott, then 25, was on a publicity stunt to cross the country coast-to-coast to promote Overland's ease of use and reliability. Insistent that no "mere man" would assist her, her companion for the adventure was a female journalist from New York (other sources report that her name was Gertrude Buffington Phillips) who filed regular reports by telephone or telegraph. Her arrival in Indianapolis was obviously planned around the big Brickyard race meet not only because it attracted a massive crowd of auto enthusiasts but also Overland had one of their largest factories located in the city.
 
Frank L. Moore, Carl Fisher's top manager for his Fisher Automobile Company - a dealership and garage - hosted Scott. The female driver telephoned him as she approached the Hoosier capital to help plan for her arrival. Her car was stored in Fisher's garage, which was located on North Capitol Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. The car is described as a stock model with a list price of $1,000. Scott's eventual desination was San Francisco.
 
As for the article on DePalma, the article is curious in that it states that he would "freelance," or make himself available to race cars from a variety of manufacturers.  DePalma was just coming back from his devestating accident at Danbury, Connecticut in the autumn of 1909 where he suffered a broken thigh. This injury forced him to miss the Vanderbilt Cup and the inaugural November Atlanta Speedway meet. DePalma had most recently been affiliated with the Fiat "Cyclone" racer and the 200-horsepower "Mephistopheles" Fiat of importer E.W.C. Arnold. According to the article DePalma was interested in trying his hand at stock cars from a variety of manufacturers.
 
The article also reported that DePalma would forego entry in the Memorial Day Brickyard race meet. There is an insinuation that he was finishing his recovery from the injuries of the previous year.