Racing Politics 1916

Racing Poilitics, 1916
By Sigur Whitaker
Toward the end of the 1916 racing season, race team owners and drivers met with A.A.A. Contest Board officials at their offices in New York City. The purpose was to discuss rule changes for the 1917 racing season.
 
One of the items for discussion was a proposal by Chicago investment banker David F. Reid to establish a maximum prize money of $100 a mile. After A.A.A. officials and several other team owners heartily supported the proposal, IMS co-owner James Allison rose and announced that he was strongly opposed to this proposal. He cited that there was not a speedway organization and that while the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would support a minimum payment per mile, he would not agree to the proposal. He firmly declared that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would establish the prize money offered for their races.
 
The newspaper commented that James Allison spoke in a calm and businesslike manner, but his remarks left no doubt that the Speedway would “take care of its own interests whether the controlling body liked it or not.” Since the Speedway owned through Speedway Team and Prest-O-Lite Team Company six racers participating in A.A.A. racing events, he had leverage. It would be nearly impossible to run a race without participation of these two teams.
 
Allison was not finished. He had a bone to pick with Reid who organized Speedway Park outside of Chicago in June 1914. His vision seemed to mimic that of Carl Fisher’s Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Reid had a two-mile wooden track constructed on 320 acres in Maywood, Illinois. He envisioned the sports complex to include golf, tennis, polo, aviation, a horse trotting course, and a gun club. The track opened in June 1915. IMS already had polo and aviation.
 
Speedway Park planned a 300-mile race for Saturday, June 10, 1916. The Speedway and Prest-O-Lite teams were already in Chicago with two Peugeots, two Maxwells, and two Premiers to be driven by Johnny Aitken, Charley Merz, Eddie Rickenbacher, Peter Henderson, Gil Anderson, and Howdy Wilcox. Aitken, Merz, Rickenbacher, and Henderson had already qualified for the race.
 
The race was postponed on Friday until Sunday, June 11. Management of Speedway Park attributed the postponement because of rain. Upon hearing of the postponement, Carl Fisher and Arthur Newby telegrammed Pop Myers “If Chicago race is run on Sunday, withdraw entry of all six cars.” This was a significant loss to the race which had twenty-three other entries. The Indianapolis-based cars were supposed to challenge Dario Resta and Ralph De Palma. Fisher and Newby attributed their pulling out of the race because they were opposed to racing on Sundays. The Chicago Tribune pointed out that practice had been held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday and had paid drivers a percentage of the gate receipts for appearing at the Sunday practice sessions.
 
Officials at Speedway Park believed this action was taken to control speedway racing in the United States. A feud had been brewing between Reid and Fisher et al since Speedway Park opened. Reid said, “We must stand by our guns now, or forever bow to the Hoosier syndicate.”
 
The entry blank for the 300-mile race at Speedway Park clearly indicated that in the event of a postponement, the race would be run on Saturday, June 17 or some subsequent date. Billy Chandler, who drove for the Crawford Automobile Company, said that the race could not be run without the agreement of every driver. In the trials, Johnny Aitken was the fastest followed by Eddie Rickenbacker.
 
At the September A.A.A. meeting, Allison insisted that the Chicago Speedway pay Speedway Team Company and Prest-O-Lite Team Company for their expenses for a race scheduled for Saturday, June 10 which was postponed to the next day. Allison stated that they had complied with every condition specified in the entry blank which stated that if the race was postponed, it would be another date other than Sunday. Interestingly, the Chicago paper didn’t cover this story.