Premier Racer - 1907

This image was derived from a photograph that was published in the June 17, 1907 Indianapolis Star. It shows a Premier Motor Manufacturing Company stock car racer at speed. Leadership at Indiana automobile companies had been working to stage a large stock car auto race for over a year - as discussed with attachments to the orignal articles elsewhere of First Super Speedway. The original cutline associated with the photo - which appears below - discussed the prospects for such a race in the autumn of 1908. This race never took place but the newspaper coverage is evidence of the considerable level of interest in motor racing during these early days of the automobile.
 
"The above photo represents a Premier car as it will look when stripped for action in the first big annual fall race for stock touring machines. This event is attracting much attention all over the country. It is of local interest because two Indiana men, H.O. Smith of the Premier Company and Edgar Apperson of the Apperson Company were the real founders of this event, which will be the supreme test of the American touring car. The rules which determine the basis of equity for the size and regulation of the machines make it such that every machine will be thoroughly tried in every point of its equipment and at the same time all sizes of cars will have an equal opportunity to capture the race."