Auto Club "Boosters" - 1910

The image is derived from a photograph originally published in the May 11, 1910 Indianapolis Star. The photo supported an article about the fledgling Indianapolis Auto and Aero Club, an organization designed to activate motorists in the Hoosier capital. The inclusion of "aero" in the name is odd in that the ostensibly the association was supposed to be a conduit to the Indiana Auto Club and, in turn, the American Automobile Association. Still, the reality of these times is that the engines and drive chains that powered both cars and planes were essentially the same. Also, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President and Founder Carl Fisher and his management team wanted to position the track as a multi-purpose facility as they saw great potential in the track as an aviation grounds.
 
Frank Moore, mentioned in the cutline below, was manager of Fisher's automobile business. He had accepted the task of leading the membership drive for the new association. The group had set an initial target of 1,000 members.
 
The cutline that ran with the article read as follows:
 
"At noon yesterday members of the Flat Tire Club received banners to go on the hoods of their automobiles to help boost the newly organized Indianapolis Auto and Aero Club. Frank L. Moore was the first to don the booster's sign on his Overland car. It is the plan of the members of this new club to place these pieces of canvas on about 500 automobiles. The above picture was taken in front of The Star Building and shows one of the membership clocks in the window. Every day the clocks, which are in all of the auto homes, will be moved up to indicate the progress of the membership campaign."