Tony De Seta, one of the great auto racing historians that frequently contributes on the Yahoo Auto Racing History Group recently posted a great link to wonderful photos of historic race cars from the early days of motor sport.

On this, the 100-year anniversary of the first time trials hosted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after it became the "Brickyard" by being paved with 3.2 million bricks, I thought it was a great time to return to the wonderful ABC-TV introduction to the 2009 Indianapolis 500 broadcast. The graphics are excellent and Powers Boothe was a great choice for voice over.

After its disastrous month of August which resulted in five deaths and several other injuries in its inaugural motorcycle and automobile race events, the newly paved Indianapolis Motor Speedway re-opened just before Christmas. Bizarre as it may sound, Speedway management decided to stage speed trials on December 17 and 18 (Friday and Saturday) 1909. As luck would have it, the weather was exceptionally cold making for a pretty miserable experience for drivers and crews.
 

The old New York horse racing facility Morris Park attempted to reinvent itself in 1905 after being dumped by the Belmont Stakes  for the newly constructed Belmont Park. Claiming to be the first track designed for auto racing, the facilities managers sought to off-set their lost revenue by staging auto races beginning May 21, 1905. That year Morris Park hosted three auto racing race meets in May, June and July. Deadly accidents in August nearly put an end to the sport, dampening its viability as a revenue generator.