Indianapolis Motor Speedway Centennial

After its disastrous month of August which resulted in five deaths and several other injuries in its inaugural motorcycle and automobile race events, the newly paved Indianapolis Motor Speedway re-opened just before Christmas. Bizarre as it may sound, Speedway management decided to stage speed trials on December 17 and 18 (Friday and Saturday) 1909. As luck would have it, the weather was exceptionally cold making for a pretty miserable experience for drivers and crews.