Proposed Atlanta Speed Duel

This article was originally published in the January 30, 1910 Indianapolis Star. It describes a proposed speed duel special event at Atlanta Speedway between big foreign imports - the E.W.C. Arnold-owned Fiat for Lewis Strang and the  record-breaking Benz formerly driven by Victor Hemery at Brooklands. The Benz, managed by Jesse Froelich of New York's Benz Auto Import Company, was to be driven by George Robertson. I believe this is the same Benz that ended up in the hands of Barney Oldfield who drove it to a new world land speed record in March 1910.
 
The article reports on an offer made by Edward C. Clapp of the Atlanta track: "The Atlanta Automobile Speedway offers a purse of $5,000 for a series of races between a new Hemery Benz and Strang Fiat, the races to be run on the Atlanta Automobile Speedway the later part of February. The Atlanta Speedway holds all American track records from one to 200 miles."
 
The final sentence of the above quote is interesting as I am not sure how it is accurate given the results of the December Time Trials at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. While not all the records set at the Atlanta November race meet had been obliterated several were in December on the vitrified surface. The issue was that the Altlanta Speedway managers did believed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had falsified the records of Johnny Aitken's run with his National racer. This was reported in an earlier Indianapolis Star article on January 9, 1910.
 
The Arnold and Froelich led teams issued the following positive statement in response to the Atlanta Speedway proposal: "Strang in the Fiat and Robertson in the new Benz will race at Atlanta Speedway three heats not longer than ten miles each, the terms being $1,000 appearance money for each driver, to be deposited at once with F.J. Wagner, and a purse of $3,000 to be contested for and a cup for the owner of the winning car; minor details to be arranged later."
 
I wonder further if this event isn't an example of the Class D or E in the new American Automobile Association (AAA) 1910 rule book.