May 1910 Race-Theme Telecom Ad

This attachment contains an image of a Central Telephone Company advertisement which orginally appeared in the Indianapolis Star during May 1910. The racing theme was spawned by the the May 1910 race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The May 1910 race meet weekend included "national championships," a newly-announced distinction by the American Automobile Association (AAA) for select race meets. Car manufacturers were keen to make a great showing. Check out other articles that provide additional summaries on the results of the races staged May 27 and May 28 elsewhere on First Super Speedway. 
Also, check out these other relevant articles:

• C.E. Shuart's report focusing on the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy.
• H.G. Deupree's report on record-breaking speed.
• May 28 Weather Report.
• Final day of racing, May 1910
• P.P. Willis on the final day.

Obviously the analogy to speed on the track and the new marvel of transmitting a person's voice at the speed of electricity (billed as 186,000 miles per second) was a device to draw the reader in. The mission of Central - part of the Bell Telephone family - was to promulgate phone service in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
 
I think it is even more interesting to understand that using motorsport as a platform for high speed communications companies is not a new idea. One might think so with NASCAR Sprint Cup, Verizon IndyCar and other related corporations such as Hewlett-Packard taking prominent roles. In my own experience as marketing vice president for Nortel's largest line of business in the 1990s, we sponsored Indy cars from 1996 through 2000 - even winning the Indianapolis 500 in 1997. High speed, leading edge technology, teamwork and innovation were brand attributes we were able to communicate through the association.