The Importance of Prest-O-Lite

Tom Kincaid won the 100-mile Prest-O-Lite Trophy race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 27, 1910. The event saw only seven starters as the field was decimated not by mechanical maladies or a failure to attract interest but by official edict. American Automobile Association (AAA) officials invoked their authority, waving their rulebook over the definition of a stock car.
 
Most manufacturers - of which their were dozens in the United States - wanted to race. Many, though, despised the idea of purpose-built racecars, deprecating them as "freaks" and insisting that contests involving them were pointless. The reasoning had merit in that such equipment was not for the market and therefore did not provide consumers with meaningful data in purchase decisions. The obvious counter was that the whole point of the sport was to test new ideas and technology to assess their viability for eventual inclusion in showroom product.
 
More bluntly, the real reason a lot of manufacturers balked is simple: racing is expensive and the companies simply did not want the added cost of specialized equipment. As an academic discussion the concept of stock car racing had merit. Putting it into practice in the context a racer's mentality was fraught with challenges.
 
Racers then, as now and always, relentlessly search for a competitive advantage. If that means taking a lawyer's aggressive approach to interpreting the rules, well, so be it. In this case the AAA - with the counsel of the Manufacturers' Contest Association, a committee of factory delegates - had established a production threshold of 25 cars of any given model for the general market in order for a designed to be deemed a stock car.
 
The day before the Prest-O-Lite Trophy the AAA handed down a ruling that eliminated a number of quality entries, most notably from the much-revered Buick team with lead drivers Louis Chevrolet and Bob Burman. Others affected included Jackson and the new Westcott. Did they, especially Buick under the direction William "Billy" Crapo Durant, "press the envelope" and get caught? Almost certainly.
 
The race proved an exercise of attrition. National star Johnny Aitken stormed into the early lead but was slowed and eventually retired with transmission trouble. Ray Harroun soared to the front in his Marmon but a broken valve dashed his chances by the 30th mile. His teammate Joe Dawson was next in line but a misfire opened the door for Kincaid.
 
Even Kincaid's drive was not without incident. At one point a rear tire exploded and the tread flipped around like a whip and slapped the driver on his left arm. The limb was temporarily stunned to a useless state. With the help of riding mechanic Don Herr the two men were able to bring the machine to a halt and allow Kincaid time to recover. National driver Charlie Merz finished second to seal a comeback from a devastating accident that claimed three lives at IMS the previous August.
 
While the particulars of this race are interesting, the more impactful, longer lasting implications stemmed from the event's sponsor - Prest-O-Lite. There is every reason to believe that without Prest-O-Lite, originally a product of the Concentrated Acetylene Company, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would never have been constructed.
 
The company was founded by Carl Fisher, James Allison and P.C. Avery in 1904. Avery was able to get to the future founders of the Speedway and pitch them on the viability of the highly explosive gas as an energy source to cast light with ample candle power for headlights that effectively illuminated roads at night. The men were able to develop a product that brought to market the first truly potent car headlights. Prior to that drivers suffered with lanterns which mitigated the speed advantages of automobiles over horse-drawn conveyances during night hours.
 
Avery was an elderly man but held the patent for the product. Young, ambitious and energetic Fisher and Allison were good partners for him. The older man soon retired while Fisher and Allison, already wealthy men, became millionaires. They were in the stratosphere of the financial elite. Suddenly they had access to capital probably beyond their original expectations.
 
Still, constructing a mega-plant like IMS was a daunting, risky task. It had long been an ambition of Fisher to improve American roads and, in lieu of that, build a massive testing facility with lengthy stretches of roadway that allowed engines to unwind. He wasn't interested in taking on debt and sought the investment of other successful and interested parties. In addition to Allison, Fisher recruited National Motor Vehicle Company executive Art Newby, Frank Wheeler and banking scion Stoughton A. Fletcher. Fletcher, under pressure from his family and social circle, backed out. They thought interest in such a sketchy venture was too far afield from their conservative values.
 
Fisher saw himself as a man who could affect change on a large scale. He took it upon himself to create an environment to give the American automobile industry the best opportunities to grow and fend off the invasion of foreign product. He was frustrated over the state of American roads and worked long hours to build highways. The Speedway was a result of his ambition to make sure American companies - and especially Indianapolis manufacturers - had a place to test and develop product.
 
The vision of the track's founders was fulfilled, despite a rocky start. Through subsequent decades it met and even exceeded the objectives of its original mission to provide a proving ground for the automobile. Prest-O-Lite, in no small way, lit the way.
 
There's a lot more to learn. Fisher and Allison sold their company to Union Carbide and scored a level of wealth probably beyond their original imaginings. The compressed gas company Praxair thrives on the grounds of the old Prest-O-Lite factory across the street from IMS and its genealogy can be traced to Fisher and Allison. The Prest-O-Lite brand survives today, you can Google it.
 
You can also click the link in the first sentence of this piece and read about Tom Kincaid's big win. There you will find links to more content that reveals the Prest-O-Lite story, an oh-so-much more.