Jeffries at IMS Aerodrome

This image ran in association with a November 27, 1909 Indianapolis Star article about former heavyweight world boxing champion Jim Jeffries visiting Indianapolis. Jeffries was performing at Tomlinson Hall - primarially a three-round sparring match with a fighter named Sam Berger.
 
Earlier in the day Jeffries was hosted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by track Founder and President Carl Fisher. Fisher drove them around the newly paved brick oval in partner James Allison's Stoddard-Dayton touring car. The boxer also visited the track's aerodrome in the infield - where he is pictured here, sitting in Joseph "J.W." Curzon's Farman airplane. Another photo ran with this one showing the boxer at the wheel of the Stoddard-Dayton.
 
The caption that ran in support of both photos read as follows:
 
"Jeffries took a spin out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday afternoon, and with Carl Fisher tried out the new brick track in J.A. Allison's Stoddard-Dayton car. The big fellow was in fine spirits and showed a keen interest in automobiling and aviation, and was so pleased with the Curzon-Farman flying machine in the aerodrome that he mounted the pilot's seat and took an imaginary flight through the air. As he started down the ladder from the seat to the ground he remarked: 'Suppose I should take a tumble?' No sooner had he spoken the words than the frail ladder broke under his great weight and he crashed through the three steps to the floor. The descent, however, was only a few inches and the fall from the flying machine did not even jar Jeffries."