The “Carnival of Speed” and the Indianapolis 500

Industrial America: The “Carnival of Speed” and the Indianapolis 500

Photo shows Joe Dawson, winner of the 1912 Indianapolis 500 automobile race. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008 (LC)

While many early 20^thcentury Americans held frugality and financial stewardship dear, they saw no inconsistency in their having an obsession with speed. Industrial America shaped auto racing and capitalist America cast the sport into a “Carnival of Speed.” To alleviate the risk to spectators and to ensure a paying audience, automobile racing transitioned from open road courses to closed tracks. This new phase was inaugurated in 1909, when the American Automobile Association took on organizational responsibility for the sport. At the same time, entrepreneur Carl Graham Fischer and partner James A. Allison had a 2.5-mile oval constructed 4 miles from downtown Indianapolis using crushed stone as a surface. Racing began at Indy in 1909, but the problem of thrown rocks and injured drivers and mechanics resulted in later paving the track with bricks.⁸⁴In 1911 the first 500 mile race took place on Decoration (later Memorial) day, with driver Ray Harroun winning the inaugural race without a riding mechanic and using a rear view mirror.  

Drivers speed into the first turn on the Brickyard during the first Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1911. The drivers, from left, are Will Jones (9) driving a Case; Joe Jagersberger (8) in a Case; and Louis Disbrow (5) in a Pope-Hartford.

 Photo shows driver Ralph DePalma and his riding mechanic, Rupert Jeffkins, pushing their car towards the finish line at the 1912 Indianapolis 500 automobile race. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008 (LC)

1912 --Photo shows Joe Dawson crossing the finish line as the winner of the Indianapolis 500 automobile race. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2008) (LC)

1913 Indianapolis 500 (LC)

Photograph shows French race car driver Jules Goux (1885-1965) winning the Indianapolis 500 on May 30, 1913. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2013) (LC)

Photo shows Georges Louis Frederic Boillot (1884-1916), a French Grand Prix motor racing driver sitting in a Peugot EX3, possibly ca. June 1914 when he set a new speed record at the Indianapolis 500. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2011) (LC)

At the time critics were calling for an end to racing due to the high death toll. Even driver Barney Oldfield got into the debate, stating  “I was never famous until I went through the fence at St. Louis and killed two spectators. Promoters fell over one another to sign me up.” In addition to the major races sanctioned by the AAA, there were hundreds of other events held at state fairs and by “circus” barnstormers. Randall L. Hall characterized the early sport as one linked to manufacturers with the vague promise that the mayhem was somehow connected to technical progress, while in fact in reality it was a commercial spectacle.

Year            Winner                       Car                                Average Speed
1911             Ray Harroun             Marmon                           74.602
1912              Joe Dawson               National                          78.719
1913              Jules Goux                 Peugeot                           75.933
1914              Rene Thomas             Delage                            82.47
1915              Ralph DePalma         Mercedes                       89.84
1916               Dario Resta               Peugeot                          84.001

By 1913 with the entrance of three French Peugeots in the Indianapolis 500 field, the race became a battle of nations.⁸⁵The French reigned supreme at Indianapolis between 1913 and 1916. But with World War I and the coming of the Duesenberg brothers and Harry Miller, the winds of racing supremacy between Europe and America soon shifted. In 1916 Miller rebuilt a Peugeot engine for driver Bob Burman, and in the process began designing and building power plants superior to the pre-war Peugeot twin cam, 4 valve per cylinder engines. Such was the transition that in 1921, driver Jimmy Murphy, piloting a Miller-powered Duesenberg, was the first American to win the French Grand Prix. Thus, at the opening of the Roaring Twenties, Americans not only made fast cars that were more than competitive on the world stage, they also made inexpensive cars for the masses, thanks to Henry Ford.

Photograph shows Belgian engineer, racecar driver and aviator Josef Christiaens (1879-1919) who competed at the Indianapolis 500 in 1914. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2011) (LC)

         

Photograph shows French racecar driver and aviator René Thomas (1886-1975) who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1914 driving a Delage automobile. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2011) (LC)

Photograph shows racecar driver Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (1878-1946), probably at the 1914 Indianapolis 500. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2011 (LC)

Photograph shows Dario Resta (1882-1924), an Italian-British racecar driver who came in a close second at the 1915 Indianapolis 500. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2013) (LC)

• Photograph shows Ralph DePalma (1882-1956) who won the 1915 Indianapolis 500. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2013) (LC)

The complexities of the Ford story reflect the inherent inconsistencies of American life itself. At times, history turned on the elusive factor of personality, and clearly strong personalities – including Henry Ford – made a difference. Yet, the success of the Model T was also the consequence of American social values, social structure, and geography. The Model T is ultimately integral to the twentieth century story of the common man, but the Model T is also about technology. The emergence of mass production at the Ford Motor Company represented the accumulation of techniques rooted in the nineteenth century, refined and focused with unprecedented power. When all these strands came together, however, what resulted was more than just wealth creation; the Machine Age transformed the habits and everyday lives of virtually every American. Whatever America was prior to 1908, it now was on a different pace, and with a different sense of space.