New Old News

Over the past couple of months I have published a significant amount of material from the Indianapolis Star, the Indianapolis News and the Indianapolis Sun on motorsport from 1905 through 1910. This represents about 20 percent of the total material I have gathered. Here are some of the highlights.
 

• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) was almost paved with concrete instead of bricks in 1909.
• A lap around the IMS with Louis Chevrolet in 1909.
• Speedway founder Frank Wheeler was once cited for assault & battery.
• The Briarcliff, New York road race was assessed a $15,000 fee by a state engineer later indicted for fraud.
• 1911 Indy 500 winner Ray Harroun describes the sensations of an accident.
• An Indianapolis Theater Company's employees used Haley's Comet as a reason they should get the day off to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• Frank Moore was IMS founder Carl Fisher's right hand man at his auto dealership.
• An image of an Auburn automobile after completeing a 2,000 test drive.
• Ruthless sugar monopolist Henry Osborne Havemeyer's relevance to early auto racing.
• A note on Fletcher National Bank President Stoughton Fletcher's early business dealing with Carl Fisher.
• Howard Marmon of 1911 Indy 500 winning car "Marmon Wasp" fame and his impressions of the 1907 Paris Auto Show.
• George Robertson wrecks the Apperson Jack Rabbit.
• Race morning at the Vanderbilt Cup Elimination Trial.
• Indy 500 veteran Herb Lytle in 1906.
• IMS founder Carl Fisher comments on Indiana roads.
• Red vs. Blue states in 1906 - implications for motorsport.
• A car trip over the craggy roads between Indianapolis and Brown County in 1906.
• Oldfield wins in Chicago.
• Obscure driver Ollie Savin broke Barney Oldfield speed records.
• Promoter extraordinaire Ernie Moross writes that the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway began long before the track was built - and I share that view.
• An article on what Indianapolis auto dealers called an industry boom in 1907.
• Coverage of the 1907 Glidden Tour.
• Two articles on the opening of Brooklands.
• A third explosion at the the Prest-O-Lite factory in June 1908.
• Henry Ford withdraws his cars from oval track racing, citing danager.
• The first Prest-O-Lite explosion.
• The odd vision of Count de Dion.
• Road trip from Louisville to Indianapolis.
• Charles Rolls visits the USA.
• Carload of Maxwells delivered to Fisher Automobile Company.
• Algonquin Hill Climb - 1906.
• A breakthrough article that debunks the long held erroneous information that Carl Fisher's Vanderbilt racer was only raced once.
• A 1906 race to benefit the family of a murdered police officer.
• An article substantiating that Carl Fisher conceived of IMS well before the announcement of Brooklands in England.
• The quirky Major Charles Miller and his connection to early auto racing.
• The Automobile, a major trade publication, beseeches the American auto industry to enter motorsport.
• The debate of the first decade as many decry the advent of purpose-built race cars they called, "Freaks."
• A note on Barney Oldfield and his Broadway acting career.
• Interesting article on the early days salary of auto racers.
• "Hot Rods" date back to 1906.
• Did Barney Oldfield attempt suicide?
• The 1907 French GP.
• Carl Fisher's speed boat racing trophy.
• More on Carl Fisher's love of speed boats.
• Carl Fisher also loved aeronautics - he purchase a dirigible in 1906.
• A great set of articles and links that explore the question of when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was conceived.
• Connecting the dots between Carl Fisher and Frank Wheeler.
• National Motor Vehicle Company cars dominated a 1905 race meet at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
• Plans to build the Long Island Motor Parkway.
• The 1907 Ormond Beach Speed Trials.
• Coverage of the Chicago Auto Show 1907.
• A note on a track race in Philadelphia.
• Info on the 1908 Fairmont Park Race in Philadelphia.
• Barney Oldfield's Indy "home."
• Indy auto companies - 1907.
• The Bennett Cup - Balloons!
• 1906 Vanderbilt Cup coverage.
• Spoiled brat - Mrs. Reginald Vanderbilt.
• A classic ad for Oldsmobile.
• An article on early auto laws and manufacturer production.
• The 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Elimination Trial.
• Coverage of the 1907 Chicago Auto Show.
• Advertisements by the Fisher Automobile Company.
• A challenge issued by E.R. Thomas of the Thomas Motor Company, makers of the winning stock car in the 1908 New York-to-Paris race.
• The massive explosion of IMS founder Carl Fisher's Prest-O-Lite gas company in December 1907.
• Preparations for the Briarcliff Road Race of 1908.
• More on Briarcliff...and more!
• The financial struggles of the world's first closed circuit, paved and purpose-built motor racing facility - Brooklands in England.
• The differences in the racing formulas of Europe and America, 1908.
• Now forgotten Alfred Reeves was a prominent man in motorsport in the early 20th Century.
• The American Automobile Association (AAA) and their rules for oval track racing in 1907.
• AAA officers, 1907 & 1908.
• AAA officers 1906.
• Briarcliff road race preparation - 1908.
• Stock car racing in Savannah, Georgia in 1908.
• Kokomo, Indiana's Apperson Automobile Company enters Briarcliff.
• A note on Barney Oldfield racing in Indiana in 1907.
• The second race meet at Brooklands.
• A call to stop oval track racing in 1907.
• The death of race driver Luther Smelser in 1907.
• A great set of articles on the design, construction and testing of the first car to win the Indianapolis 500.
• A note on Frank Moore, general manager of Fisher Automobile Company and IMS co-founder Frank Wheeler.
• IMS founder Carl Fisher also loved racing speed boats.
• Indiana car manufacturers lobbied for a race on Long Island, New York.
• Memorial Day weekend was established as an auto racing weekend in Indianapolis even before the Indy 500.
• A great selection of articles on the 24 hour race at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds track - 1905.
• A note on Jap Clemens, a top race driver of early days.
• Manufacturers react to a spectator death at the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup.
• Coverage of the Indianapolis Auto Show of 1907.