Automobile Topics Calls For End of Track Racing

Thanks to auto racing historian and researcher Ken Parrotte for this important contribution.

The article you will find at the link is from an October 1908 issue of Automobile Topics. It charges that racing on horse tracks must be outlawed due to danger. That's ironic in that it was at almost the exact same time the founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were purchasing the land to build their facility.

These complaints started in August of 1905 when three of the top stars of track racing - Barney Oldfield, Webb Jay, and Earl Kiser were seriously injured in accidents. The injuries ended the careers of Kiser and Jay. Kiser, the driver of the Winton Bullett II, was injured at Cleveland's Glenville track while Jay was hurt at the Kennilworth track in Buffalo while driving the famous "Whistling Billy" steam engine racer. Only Oldfield injured at Grosse Pointe, Michigan's horse track recovered and continued racing.

The reality was that the northeastern American Automobile Association (AAA) auto racing establishment was especially critical of Oldfield for his barnstorming events at fairgrounds tracks around the country. Oldfield almost singlehandedly challenged the dominance and authority of AAA as the sanctioning body of the sport.