Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 1910

This folder contains accounts of the races that occurred at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the Memorial Day weekend in 1910. All the stars of the day attended, including Ray Harroun, Joe Dawson, Bob Burman and Barney Oldfield. Harroun won events for Marmon and Oldfield set a new track mile record in his world land speed racer, the “Lightning Benz,” otherwise known as the “Blitzen Benz.” This race also offered an obstacle course promoted by the Overland Motors Company. This entailed wooden ramps and a route that took cars off the Speedway’s course, into the infield and through the drainage ditch in the southwest turn. Ernie Moross was the Director of Contests and was responsible for developing the program of events.

Buick Ad with Louis Chevrolet

This is an ad ran by Buick on May 28, 1910. It promotes the marque's victory during the Indianapolis Motor Speedway May race meet.
Michelin Ad for Kincaid's Prest-O-Lite Trophy Win

This is an ad from the Michelin Tire Company bragging about their success in the Prest-O-Lite Trophy 100-mile race. This is a nice summary of the top finishers and their speeds. Tom Kincaid won the event. The ad ran May 28, 1910.
Wheeler-Schebler Trophy Start

This is a poor quality image of the line-up of cars at the starting line for the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This article was published May 30, 1910.
May Race Meet Well Attended

This article reviews the events of the first day of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's May 1910 race meet. Despite ideal weather conditions, only one speed record was set when Tommy Kincaid won a five mile sprint for National. This was the official christening for the newly brick paved track as the only previous event at the Brickyard was a series of time trials with relatively few cars held in bitter cold the previous December. An excerpt from the article says, "The new brick track was as smooth and clean as a model houswife's floor.
Roy Beall Flips Knox in Practice Drive

This article appeared the morning of the first day of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's May 1910 races. There is much anticipation for the newly paved brick track. Also, there is an item on millionaire "amateur" Caleb Bragg and a table with the card of events for the day. The report includes an item on how Director of Speedway Contests Ernie Moross had completed the card of events only the night before the meet. One of his brainstorms was to create an obstacle course using wooden ramps. An image in this package illustrates that event.
Harroun Wins Remy Brassard

This is a huge collection of articles that ran in Indianapolis newspapers on May 30, 1910. Aside from Ray Harroun's Remy Brassard, this 28 PDF page collection summarizes the three-day May 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway overall, with particular focus on the final day one interesting piece summarizes the attendance over the three days, estimating a total of 100,000 people passed through the turnstyles.
Practice for May 1910 Meet

These articles are well worth the read. They report on Tuesday, May 24 practice leading up to the May 27, 28 and 30 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This is another collection of briefs that spotlight developments of interest surrounding the organization and events leading up to the first full-fledged auto race meet since the track was paved with brick. Yes, it was already known as "the Brickyard."
Race Day Morning at the Brickyard - May 1910

This is a nice package that describes practice leading up to the first day of the May 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It also includes a column of "pit pass-like" shorts that give you a nice briefing about what was going on among the drivers and teams. Keep in mind that, aside from the December 1909 time tirals, this was the very first day that races were conducted on the newly paved brick surface of the Speedway.
Oldfield, Dawson Wreck in Wheeler-Schebler

This collection was published the morning of the final day of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's important May 1910 race meet.
Oldfield Sets Records on Final Day of May 1910 Meet

These attachments contain articles that originally appeared in Indianapolis newspapers on May 31, 1910. Even though the first attachment's name (star053110) refers to the Indianapolis Star, I am embarrassed to admit I am not certain this is true. It may well have appeared in the Indianapolis News. The second attachment (IMSrecordsSun053110) is from the May 31 Indianapolis Sun.