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N0KFQ > TODAY 19.08.13 17:10l 55 Lines 2467 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 19
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 130819/1442Z 3289@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.55
Aug 19, 1909:
First race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
On this day in 1909, the first race is held at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, now the home of the world's most famous motor
racing competition, the Indianapolis 500.
Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of
Indianapolis, Indiana, the speedway was started by local
businessmen as a testing facility for Indiana's growing
automobile industry. The idea was that occasional races at the
track would pit cars from different manufacturers against each
other. After seeing what these cars could do, spectators would
presumably head down to the showroom of their choice to get a
closer look.
The rectangular two-and-a-half-mile track linked four turns, each
exactly 440 yards from start to finish, by two long and two short
straight sections. In that first five-mile race on August 19,
1909, 12,000 spectators watched Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer
win with an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track's
surface of crushed rock and tar proved a disaster, breaking up in
a number of places and causing the deaths of two drivers, two
mechanics and two spectators.
The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks,
laid in a bed of sand and fixed with mortar. Dubbed "The
Brickyard," the speedway reopened in December 1909. In 1911, low
attendance led the track's owners to make a crucial decision:
Instead of shorter races, they resolved to focus on a single,
longer event each year, for a much larger prize. That May 30
marked the debut of the Indy 500--a grueling 500-mile race that
was an immediate hit with audiences and drew press attention from
all over the country. Driver Ray Haroun won the purse of $14,250,
with an average speed of 74.59 mph and a total time of 6 hours
and 42 minutes.
Since 1911, the Indianapolis 500 has been held every year, with
the exception of 1917-18 and 1942-45, when the United States was
involved in the two world wars. With an average crowd of 400,000,
the Indy 500 is the best-attended event in U.S. sports. In 1936,
asphalt was used for the first time to cover the rougher parts of
the track, and by 1941 most of the track was paved. The last of
the speedway's original bricks were covered in 1961, except for a
three-foot line of bricks left exposed at the start-finish line
as a nostalgic reminder of the track's history.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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