Remy Brassard & Trophy Preview

This attachment contains an article which orginally appeared in the May 30, 1910 Indianapolis Star. The article ran in support of the May 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The May 1910 race meet weekend included "national championships," a newly-announced distinction by the American Automobile Association (AAA) for select race meets. Car manufacturers were keen to make a great showing. Check out other articles that provide additional summaries on the results of the races staged May 27 and May 28 elsewhere on First Super Speedway.
 
The article that appears in the attachment below was first published, as stated above, on May 30, which was a Sunday. Out of respect for the Sabbath there was no racing scheduled. In fact, the track was being conditioned for the final day of running and earlier announcements indicated there were plans for a "gasoline bath." There were other articles about racing at the Brickyard that day but this one focused on the feature event, the contest for the Remy Brassard and Trophy.
 
The article brings a couple of facts to the surface that underscore how different racing then is so different from today - aside from the state of technology. The 50-mile Remy race, with a field of seven entries, is billed in the article as the only long-distance contest on the May 31 card. Certainly today a 50-mile competition would be seen as little more than a sprint race and a field of seven cars considered paultry. The race was for cars with engines of 231 to 300 cubic inch displacement.
 
Then as now the prizes the Remy Magneto Company provided were as interesting as they were unique. In particular, the silver brassard (an armband) was truly one of a kind. The trophy is described as "a magnificent silver vase-shaped cup with an intrinsic coin value of more than $2,500." While the trophy was for the manufacturer or privare owner entering the car, the brassard was for the driver.
 
They also intended the driver to revceive $50 a week - or $75 if their car used the Remy product - until the next time a competition for the award was held. There were plans for Remy to sponsor another competition at the Speedway's upcoming July race meet. That plan called for larger engine cars of 451-600 cubic inches to battle for the prize at that meet. The product was called the Remy "high tension" magneto.
 
An interesting twist was the seemingly on-again, off-again indecisiveness concerning the status of some cars as stock machines (see final paragraph at this link) - or not. The Buick team with star drivers Louis Chevrolet and Bob Burman were particularly hard hit. Both their Remy magneto-equipped entries were disqualified from the contest. Remy was based in Anderson, Indiana so that was worth noting given that Buick was a Detroit product.
 
The article reveals that original plans called for the G&J tire company to sponsor a trophy for the race but for some reason their participation was moved to July. Remy filled in "at the last minute."
 
In 1909 Barney Oldfield won the Remy Brassard in a Benz (not to be confused with the Blitzen Benz). He beat Ralph DePalma and Len Zengle to the line.
 
Entries for the short field were:

• Pope-Hartford, driver: Frank Fox.
• Jackson, driver: Schiefler (first name not provided).
• Great Western, driver: Tom Kincaid.
• Marion, drivers: Gil Andersen; Tinker (first name not provided).
• Warren-Detroit, driver: Miller (first name not provided).
• Marmon, driver: Ray Harroun.

 
The article contains a bit of information about the Remy Company which was founded and owned at the time by two brothers: Perry and Frank. The article refers to their factory as the largest and most completely equipped of its kind in the world. They are described as racing enthusiasts and strong supporters of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are described as young, enthusiastic men who had amassed a fortune through their labors. They had over 1,000 employees.
 
The article continues with a kind of correction with respect to an earlier story under the subhead, "Drives National Forty." This was in reference to the car Johnny Aitken drove to third place in the 200-mile Wheeler Schebler Trophy on Saturday. Apparently an earlier article reported that the car was a "six-sixty," an odd moniker I have not seen before. The article submits that the confusion came when National Motor Vehicle Company racer number 7, a "sixty" model was listed as the company's entry in the contest according to the event program. At the last minute the National team requested to be allowed to swap out the "sixty" for a "forty" and change the latter's number from 9 to 7. Obviously this could not be changed in the previously-published magazine-style format of the program.