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 1909

Despite the concerns expressed over the rough course at the 1908 Briarcliff, New York race there was continued interest in having another race in 1909. News reports continued to indicate that the race would be conducted again. An article in attachment Briarcliff010309 asserted that when it was published in the Indianapolis Star on January 3, 1909 the race was a certainty.
London Times On Track Racing

This is a small item published in the Indianapolis Star on February 7, 1909 reporting on English views on track racing as expressed in the London Times. Essentially the article expressed the view that road racing - racing on public roads - was "impossible" in England.
Stoughton Fletcher - "Fifth Beatle"

Stoughton A. Fletcher was a scion of the ultra-rich Indiana banking family, the Fletchers or Fletcher National Bank. As the story goes Fletcher, the top executive at his family bank had planned to throw in with Carl Fisher and the other founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when they purchased the land in 1908.
10,000 Miles - National's Plans

This article, published February 7, 1909 in the Indianapolis Star, reveals apparent discussions within the National Motor Vehicle Company to run 1,000 miles a day for 10 consecutive days. The venue was to be the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which had not even broken ground yet on its construction at the time of this publication.
Oldfield Falls Short in Arizona

This very brief item can at best be described as a sketch. It was published in the February 1, 1909 Indianapolis Star and focuses on a dirt track meet featuring Barney Oldfield. The headline is misleading in that it says, "Oldfield Meets Defeat." The article is about a handicap race where Oldfield gave a relatively unknown local driver by the name of Will Calahan a headstart. While Oldfield closed on him he did not quite make the pass at the finish.
The Death of "Whistling Billy"

Published February 14, 1909 in the Indianapolis Star this article reports on a track race meet somewhere in Los Angeles featuring an appearance by Barney Oldfield in competition with a driver by the name of Gu

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.

Carl Fisher & His Auto Business - 1909

This attachment has two brief articles both concerning Carl Fisher. The first concerns victories racked up by Stoddard-Dayton stock cars at a hill climb event in San Antonio Texas. The article, published in the Indianapolis Star on January 17, 1909 presents of a text Fisher received notifying him of the success.

Information about the operations of the AAA as the primary sanctioning body of auto racing in the United States, especially in the earliest days of the sport.

Indiana Auto Club - 1909

This article from the Indianapolis Star was published January 30, 1909 and reported on the Indiana Auto Club's forecast for the coming year. With a reported 8,800 registered automobiles across the State's 92 counties Club officials projected that the total would exceed 10,000 by the start of the spring driving season. More car owners and drivers meant more customers.

The first competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a national championship gas filled balloon race organized by Speedway President Carl Fisher. Fisher and his co-founders James Allison, Frank Wheeler and Arthur C. Newby were anxious to recover their investments in the Speedway. Since construction of the track did not begin in earnest until April 1909 it took months to prepare the track for motorized competition. Fisher, fascinated with aviation, sought to host the national championship balloon racing competition - and generate revenue for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company. He formed the Aero Club of Indiana, became the 21st person to earn a balloon pilot's license in the United States and worked with mentor George Bumbaugh to develop balloon vehicles. Their craft was called the Indiana and together they survived a harrowing ride through turbulent wind currents. Check out a photo gallery of this great event elsewhere on First Super Speedway.

1909 Balloon Race Preparations

The following articles are from the Indianapolis Star and the topic is the first competition ever staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the Aero Club of America National Balloon Championship of 1909.
 

This is a wonderful collection of Indianapolis News, Indianapolis Sun and Indianapolis Star newspaper articles covering the August 14, 1909 Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) national championship race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was the first motorized competition at the Speedway and delivered mixed results at best. The track was simply not ready, its rough macadam and tar surface broke up during the events. Further, the nature of the surface and length of the giant track was such that the riders could attain speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour but the lightweight bikes bounced dangerously over the loose stones. Many observers called a fiasco as numerous planned events were canceled when riders refused to take any more risks. Champion rider Jake DeRosier suffered serious injuries in a spectacular fall in a match race conceived on the fly. Also see my story of this event from the 2008 Moto GP Program.

Note: I will update this section with a synopsis of each article as time permits.

IMS 1909 Motorcycle Races - Preparations

All but two of these articles appeared in the Indianapolis Star and all pertain to the preparations for the first motorized event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - the 1909 Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) race meet. I have also added two additional - and very brief - items published in the Indianapolis News. One was published on June 26, 1909, the other on July 9, 1909.