Meet Charles Coey in 1906

As Carl Fisher considered promotions for the upcoming 1906 Decoration Day auto races at the Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt horse track he knew he needed the drama of competition - and confrontation. He keyed on the best known name among drivers in America, Barney Oldfield, a grassroots hero literally born in an Ohio log cabin in 1878 - really the 20th Century's answer to frontiersman Davy Crockett.
 
Fisher reasoned that the appearance of even the people's hero Oldfield would not be enough. He needed challengers, and that was harder come by. Best known at least in Indianapolis was hometown favorite son W.F. "Jap" Clemens who had joined with teen wonder boy Charlie Merz to set a new 24 hour distance record on the very same track the previous November. Clemens had also won a 100-mile grind again at the State Fairgrounds earlier just two weeks before the round-the-clock go.
 
Another, less credible, challenger came from across the Ohio River in the form of Kentuckian William T. Muir. Thin as his resume was Fisher and company leapt on a title Muir had allegedly earned at Morris Park in New York: "amateur champion."
 
More meaningful, Muir had given Oldfield a run for his money the first week in May down in Lexington. The two had a nice dice and that was good enough for Fisher to proclaim a fearsome rivalry sure to spark an awesome duel. From there Muir embraced the label, "Kentucky Champion."
 
Pictured here is a third rival, Charles "C.A." Coey, billed as a "crack" driver whom, the story went, had raced his massive Thomas Torpedo to fourth place in the renowned Vanderbilt Cup the previous autumn. In the parlance of the day, the term "crack" was an abbreviation for Cracker Jack, the original tasty junk food introduced to the market just nine years earlier. More to the point, it also became code for someone with exceptional skill and pluck. I also want to note here that the newspaper mis-labeled the car, calling it the "White Streak." The White Streak was the name of another entry from the Peerless Company.
 
It's hard to know if Coey really deserved such exalted praise but we do know he never raced in the Vanderbilt Cup. What's more his car, the Thomas Torpedo, didn't either. It may have raced in the 1905 American Elimination Trial for that year's Vanderbilt Cup with Montague Roberts, a serious talent, at the wheel. Roberts finished fifth in that contest which was a qualifying race to select the five representatives of the United States in the international event.
 
In the politics of the day Roberts and the Thomas were ruled out by officials in a controversial decision. To what extent Chicago's Coey was involved with that effort by the Buffalo-based Thomas Motor Company is unclear. We do know he was the Chicago sales agent for the company and owned a dealership or garage for the company to service that important market. What is clear is that he did not drive in the Vanderbilt Cup and the car never raced in that very important contest.
 
Never mind the details. There was a race to promote. Oldfield needed competition and with the thinnest shred of evidence guys like Coey - billed as a "Chicago Millionaire" - rose to the surface. Coey may well have been a millionaire - he was certainly very wealthy. He was also a man of adventure. His appearance in competition years later at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came as an entrant in the national championships balloon races of June 1909. Coey owned and piloted the largest balloon in the race dubbed, "The Chicago." His young wife, the former Carrie Hume Lewis, became the first woman to ascend from the Speedway in a balloon, albeit as passenger not pilot.
 
Coey always did things in a big way. He lived large, larger than his means and frequently flirted with bankruptcy. Buoyant, by all reports no one could guess by his energy whether the cash was flowing or creditors were pounding. A kindred spirit for Fisher.
 
All the promotion worked as an impressive crowd amassed to take in the show when at last it happened May 30, 1906. Unfortunately one no-show was the Thomas Torpedo. Rail service took the blame but this was an era notorious for sleight-of-hand so feel free to speculate.
 
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