Manufacturers Advertise Their Success

This is a collection of ads ran in the Indianapolis Star by manufacturers to tout their success at the first automobile races at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All provide summaries of the races which are quite useful to researchers today.
 
Attachment MichelinAd092009 ran in the Indianapolis Star on August 20, 1909 and summarizes the five races of the previous day. It only neglects to mention the time trial won by Barney Oldfield who used Firestone tires. Interestingly the victory of Knox driver William Bourque who used a brand of tire other than Michelin is included but with no mention of his tire supplier.
 
Sadly Bourque lost his life in the Prest-O-Lite Trophy race won by Bob Burman later that day. Charlie Merz, who drove a National Motor Vehicle Company racer to third place in the Prest-O-Lite is also mentioned but again his tire supplier is represented only by an "X." Other than these two exceptions Michelin was dominant as their cars swept all other positions among the top three at the five events.
 
Michelin again earned bragging rights on the second day of competition and took full advantage with an ad that ran in the September 21, 1909 Star. Seven races were conducted and again they were the dominant player. They won every trophy with the exception of the prize for a 10-mile sprint won by Charlie Merz in his National. Aside from this victory the only other races where a non-Michelin shod car poked into the top three was with Merz again (he finished second) in a five-mile handicap and Lozier driver Ralph Mulford who took home third in a 10-miler.
 
The National Motor Vehicle Company was eager to brag about their success as well. Attachment NationalAd092109 contains one of their ads that promotes their top finishes for drivers Johnny Aitken, Charlie Merz and young Thomas Kincaid. The odd thing about the ad is that Johnny Aitken is credited with finishing third in the August 19 ten-mile handicap race (slower cars were given head starts in handicap races) but there is no other record of him having competed that day. Other records point to teammate Charlie Merz finishing third that day. This ad ran August 21, 1909.
 
AMOCO Oil ran a simple, even stark, ad that boldly announced Bob Burman's victory in the Prest-O-Lite Trophy. Interestingly they did not Prest-O-Lite's name in their ad, simply referring to the race as "the 250 Mile Event." Note that Burman consumed four hours, 38 minutues and 57.4 seconds in taking home the hardware.