An Honest Great Event

In an Indianapolis Star article from May 28, 1911 had a great line about this first Indianapolis 500, "Publicity will not make this race half as much as this race will make publicity." Today's age of everything being pumped up and oversold, to think of an event that organically captured the world's imagination is wonderful. There is a sense of "honesty" to an event that truly is news, and not just packaged information distributed through "infotainment" vehicles. The world has changed and I certainly don't expect it to ever revert to the kind of happenings as the first Indianapolis 500 - but that's what makes re-living history fun. As an extra sidelight, the article noted how newspapers were mesmerized by the historic race and how 30 telegraph operators "broadcast" the contest from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway press stand.