May 30 - Race Morning Indianapolis Star

At last it was race day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Indianapolis 500. The morning paper, the Indianapolis Star offered up two substantive articles and an assortment of images, illustrations and a scorecard. For this race day I am breaking the articles of the morning Star into one post and the afternoon coverage of the Indianapolis News into another, separate post.
 
The first attachment (RaceCarsStar053013) contains a front page article that greeted morning readers as they sipped their coffee and contemplated what the day would bring. The headline shouted the news that 27 cars would start, an increase of three from the previous year. This was accomplished with the last two qualification runs of the Isotta cars for Teddy Tetzlaff and Harry Grant late the previous day. Practice runs did not end until 6 o'clock that evening, then track officials set to work preparing the grounds for the next day's onslaught of what was predicted to be a rush at the gates of 100,000 people.
 
Grant was the last driver to present his mount to technical inspection. American Automobile Association Tech Chief F.E. Edwards filed his report with event Referee Art Pardington with the good news that everyone passed with no issues. This morning article also reveals the distribution of the $50,000.00 purse across the first 10 finishing positions. None of the other teams would earn cash awards. The Wheeler-Schebler Trophy (400 miles), the Prest-O-Lite Trophy (300 miles) and the Remy Brassard (200 miles) were additional awards available to anyone in the field leading at those distances.
 
The attachment CaresStar053013 contains an article that describes the party atmosphere of downtown as race fans pour into Indianapolis in cars and trains to overrun hotels, cafes and just about every available space. Quoting the article, "A greater variety of sounds never was heard in Indianapolis streets, not even on circus day. Whistles, horns, musical attachments of machines added to the dion, which all but prohibited conversation."
 
This article also provides the essential information for race goers to find their way - and on time. This includes train schedules and the best roads for automobiles. Attachment ScoreCard053013 contains a scorecard that appeared on the front page of the paper.
 
Three photos highlighting events at the Speedway from the previous day were published in the morning paper. Attachment GrantStar053013 provides an image of Harry Grant and his riding mechanic shortly after qualifying for the race the previous day. CasePitsStar053013 contains an image of members of the Case team practicing a wheel change. A sense of the healthy crowd that gathered in the home stretch grandstand is portrayed in the image contained in the attachment CrowdStar053013. A wonderful editorial cartoon in attachment CartoonStar053013 is simple and powerful in its bold announcement of race day.
 
Vendors made hay over the Indianapolis 500 and so I include a couple of ads I liked - one for Duesseldorfer beer (BeerStar053013) and the other for Polarine oil (PolarineAdStar053013), a product of Standard Oil of Indiana. These caught my eye because of their pen and ink art although the artifacts are not the highest quality due to microfilm capture.