E.R. Thomas Challenge

The theme of track racing being particularly unsafe continued when Edwin Ross "E.R." Thomas of the the Thomas Motor Company issued a challenge to Fiat and Renault for an ultimate 24 hour race on a dirt oval.
Gladys Vanderbilt's Wedding

It seems the concept of the pre-nup was alive and well in the heydays of the Vanderbilt family. In these two Indianapolis Star articles January 21 and 26 1908 the financial conditions of the wedding between Miss Gladys Vanderbilt and Count Laszio Szechenyi are discussed.
Howard Marmon in Paris

Joined by Alfred Reeves of the American Motor Car Manufacturers Association Howard Marmon of the Marmon Motor Car Company and creator of the the Marmon Wasp visited the Paris Auto Show in late 1907.
Henry Osborne Havemeyer

This article with image appeared in the December 5, 1907 Indianapolis Star and marked the passing of Henery Osborne Havemeyer whose big contribution to auto racing was employing Lewis Strang as a chauffeur and consequently introducing him to his race driving mentor, Emil Stricker.
 
Run of the Auburn

This is an interesting photo of an Auburn after completing a 2,000 mile reliability run through southern Indiana. The exhibition was presented by Finch & Freeman, and Indianapolis based dealership. The item appeared in the Indianapolis Star on March 1, 1908. This item underscores the emphasis on reliability of automobiles as a major selling point in these early days of the industry.
Auto News - March 1908

This is a digest column from the Sunday, March 8, 1908 edition of the Indianapolis Star. It sums up quick items of the week for the city's auto industry. Of special note is a reference to Frank Moore of the Fisher Automobile Company.

Fifteen articles in this collection document significant events in Carl Fisher’s life. His “palimony” suit with Gertrude Hassler is an interesting example. Another important point is the Zanesville, Ohio county fair horse track accident in September 1903 that involved his teammate Earl Kiser and resulted in the death of several spectators. Also, there is Carl’s wonderful first hand account of his balloon ride when he competed in the Speedway’s first competition – the national balloon championships of June 1909.

Stoughton Fletcher Buys From Fisher

This is a brief item mentioning that Fletcher Bank's Stoughton A. Fletcher purchased two National Motor Vehicle Company cars from the Fisher Automobile Company. The article about Fletcher is from the Indianapolis Star and is dated January 19, 1908.

This folder contains accounts of the races that occurred at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway over the Memorial Day weekend in 1910. All the stars of the day attended, including Ray Harroun, Joe Dawson, Bob Burman and Barney Oldfield. Harroun won events for Marmon and Oldfield set a new track mile record in his world land speed racer, the “Lightning Benz,” otherwise known as the “Blitzen Benz.” This race also offered an obstacle course promoted by the Overland Motors Company. This entailed wooden ramps and a route that took cars off the Speedway’s course, into the infield and through the drainage ditch in the southwest turn. Ernie Moross was the Director of Contests and was responsible for developing the program of events.

Haley's Comet!

I came across this peculiar (and poor quality, sorry) article from the May 11, 1910 Indianapolis Sun concerning a theater company whose performers requested the day off on May 18 to attend the auto races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Harroun Describes Accident

This is an interesting article in which Ray Harroun, Bill Endicott and Barney Oldfield are asked to describe their feelings at the moment of an accident.

This category for the 1908 Briarcliff Road Race currently includes four files sourced from Barney Oldfield’s scrapbook and a few from local Indianapolis newspapers. The race was won by Lewis Strang in an Italian Isotta. The field was large for the day – 22 competitors in all, including: Ralph De Palma, George Robertson, Herb Lytle, Barney Oldfield and Emanuel Cedrino. Briarcliff proved to be the final road race for the Italian ace Cedrino, who was killed in his Fiat at Pimlico the following month.

Briarcliff Threatened

This interesting article is from the Indianapolis Star, February 23, 1908 and notes that the big Briarcliff road race of that year was in jeopardy. The race, scheduled for April 24, was expected to bring commerce to the Westchester County of New York but state officials feared excessive damage to the dirt and gravel highways that made up the course.