The Deadly Month of August 1905

In a lot of ways, this Web site is a repository for my notes, research and errant thoughts for a book I am writing about American track racing in the first decade of the 20th century. If you read any of my updates on Facebook or follow me on Twitter it may interest you to know that most of my postings in those forums reflect a point in my book that I am working on. I have spent the last several weeks writing about the 1905 racing season, a pivitol point in the history of American auto racing. The month of August was particularly tragic with three serious accidents resulting in significant injuries to the sport's biggest stars: Barney Oldfield, Webb Jay and Earl Kiser. The accidents ended the careers of Jay and Kiser and triggered a newspaper campaign against the sport. The developments also convinced Indianapolis Motor Speedway founder Carl Fisher that the days of racing on horse tracks were numbered and he began to consider the construction of a giant Speedway. Check out this content I created today about Earl Kiser's accident.