First Lap @ IMS

This image was published in the May 22, 1909 Indianapolis Star and complemented an article reporting on the first laps taken by an automobile around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The man at the wheel was Speedway Founder and President Carl G. Fisher who drove a Stoddard-Dayton, one of the automobile brands sold at his dealership - the Fisher Automobile Company - and a future pace car of the Indianapolis 500. The article explains the circumstances and details.
 
A caption that ran with the photo appeared as follows:
 
"The world's greatest motor speedway was christened yesterday afternoon by three "pathfinding" automobiles. Carl Fisher one of the promoters of the wonderful course, gave vent to his eager desire to encircle the five-mile track, and despite rough encounters led the way for a party of twelve visitors. The stunts performed by two Overlands and one Stoddard-Dayton car as they were pushed across ditches, across streams, over steep embankments and around dangerous curves, were enough to make ordinary driving appear insignificant."
 
It is interesting to note that the Speedway was still under construction and this occasion reported on only the first tentative, low speed car laps but still the newspaper referred to the track as "the world's greatest motor speedway."