IMS Auto Race Entries - 1909

Here find in the attachments below two Indianapolis News articles about the entries for the first auto races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August 1909. The first article (attachment IMSNews080909ii) is from the newspaper's August 9, 1909, edition and documents the arrival in the Hoosier capital city of several top stars of the sport. 
 
Barney Oldfield, Walter Christie, and Art Greiner are the first three listed. Oldfield was entered in the National Old Glory and the Prince Henry Benz. Christie had his front-drive Christie racer. The article is not clear on which car Greiner - a top amateur driver - would drive, but notes he recently ran a "Big Six" Thomas in the Algonquin Hill Climb. Oldfield and Christie were most recently at the race event at Ft. Erie's race track near Buffalo. 
 
Christie is lauded as a record breaker at events around America. The article reports that Christie's front-wheel drive machine was designed for four-cylinder engines of 5.5-inch bore and 7-inch stroke in touring car configuration or 7.5-inch bore as an open wheel racer. Also, the article says he had started building cars in 1904 and completed seven. I believe this is seven in total, not just seven different models.
 
Interestingly, the article reports that A.D. Tripp, an Indianapolis "motor enthusiast" and driver, had departed for Rome, New York to speak with S.P. Stevens, described as a New York millionaire, about purchasing "the Durracq." This is certainly a misspelling of the name, "Darracq" and probably refers to the Darracq used at the Daytona land speed record trials once driven by Victor Hemery.
 
Attachment IMSNews081109 reports on a final entry list of 58 cars. It opens with a callout box that lists the number of entries per team:

• Marion (2)
• Marmon (3)
• National (6)
• Stoddard-Dayton (10)
• Peerless (1)
• Chalmers-Detroit (3)
• Buick (15)
• Benz (1)
• Fiat (1)
• Christie (1)
• Chadwick (1)
• Lozier (1)
• Knox (2)
• Apperson (2)
• Jackson (5)
• Velie (1)

 
The article asserts that this was the largest gathering of cars for a single race in history, but we know this is not true. The article suggests that the previous record was 45 cars for one of the French Grand Prix races beginning in 1906, we know there were larger races. For example, the ill-fated Paris-to-Madrid race of 1903 boasted a field of over 200 cars. The article also fuels speculation that "all speed records" would be broken at the upcoming race meet.
 
William Hickman Pickens, manager of the Buick team and widely known for his blustering promotional style, is mentioned as having filed 15 entries just prior to the deadline. Among them was a new, V-shaped 8-cylinder racer for Lewis Strang (name misspelled in the article). 
 
Millionaire driver Eddie Hearne is mentioned as having entered his Fiat. He was listed as an amateur driver. His most recent competition had been in the Algonquin Hill Climb. One of the Algonquin winners, Len Zengel had arrived the previous day. He was in the Chadwick entry.