First Indy 500 Pace Car

The year was 1911, and the traditional start for auto races was from a standing start. However, unlike the normal field of perhaps five to eight cars, the field of 40 was too great to have a standing start. Carl Fisher thought back to his days of bicycle racing, when they always had a rolling start rather than a standing start. He thought this might work, and the decision was made.
 
The day before the race, Fisher, accompanied by Jim Allison, tested a rolling start at various speeds. They started with 12 cars, gradually increasing to 18 cars and then to 25 racers. In between attempts, Fisher and Allison discussed the results, and it was finally decided that the speed would be between 40 and 45 mph.
 
On race day, Fisher in a Stoddard-Dayton, led the field of 40 autos at approximately 40 mph around the track.  Fisher maintained the speed as the car was equipped with a speedometer. A speedometer was first patented in 1888, but Arthur Warner was the first to develop one for an automobile in 1901. They became standard equipment on automobiles around 1910.
 
Fisher owned an auto agency [dealership] that sold Stoddard-Dayton, among other brands. The Dayton Motor Car Company in Dayton, Ohio built the Stoddard-Dayton automobile. Its roots returned to the Stoddard Manufacturing Company, which began producing farm implements in 1875. In the late 1890s, Charles Stoddard started experimenting with autos. British engineer H. J. Edwards joined the firm as its lead engineer. The first production automobile was announced in April of 1904. The Stoddard-Dayton was an upscale car whose slogan was “As Good As It Looks. The company produced a 4-cylinder, valve-in-head engine, which was advanced engineering compared to the t-head engines of other marquis.
 
The company was successful in auto racing. In 1907, a Model K participated in the Glidden tour with a perfect score. A 1908 Stoddard-Dayton roadster established a new record in a hill climb at Los Angeles, previously held by a six-cylinder Stevens-Duryea.  A Stoddard-Dayton, piloted by Louis Schweitzer, won the first race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909 with an average speed of 57.31 mph. Stoddard-Dayton had chartered a train for its 1200 employees to cheer Schweitzer to victory,
 
Facing financial issues, the company and approximately 130 other small firms were sold to Benjamin Briscoe, Jr., who started the Maxwell-Briscoe company in 1903. Briscoe convinced the Stoddards to merge with Maxwell and formed the United States Motor Company. However, this company was undercapitalized and failed within a couple of years.
 
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