Seen here following the wreck at the Lake Cliff Motordrome on October 21, 1912, are Ed Bowen, Mike Cafarello, Bert Bruggerman, Jim Trafsky, Ed Harmer, Jim Cox, Harry Swartz, “Tex” Richards, and their mangled crimson Indian’s.
On the warm autumn evening of October 21, 1912, beneath the arc lights of the Lake Cliff Motordrome in Dallas Texas, a stadium full of racing enthusiasts witnessed a miracle on the boards. The country was still in shock as the tragedy at the Valisburg Motordrome occurred only weeks before on September 8. The horrific and now infamous crash, the precursor of the “murderdrome” moniker claimed the lives of Indian racing stars Johnny Albright and local Texan hero Eddie Hasha along with 6 spectators, 5 of which being but teenaged boys. In the weeks that followed the Valisburg track shutdown, papers nationwide ran stories of the carnage, and an outcry for improved safety standards had organizers and promoters implementing new rules and infrastructure. For the riders, however, racing was their livelihood and though their friends had just perished, death was just another aspect of their daily lives so most were eager to get back onto the boards.
The majority of motordromes in operation at that time were located in northern U.S. cities, their colder climates dictating that Labor Day weekend be the typical close of the season. Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach Motordrome, Point Breeze in Philly, Tuileries in Denver, and Cleveland’s Luna Park were already winding down before the crash at Valisburg. For the riders that meant making plans to move west and south for work as the temperatures began to drop. 1912 marked the beginning of the motordrome boom in the U.S. with new a total of eight new tracks springing up throughout the year.
Valisburg was the sixth of these new tracks built in 1912 and opened in July, followed by a new 1/4 mile track in St. Louis opening at the end of August. The last to be built that year would also be the southernmost in the United States to date, located inside Dallas’s Lake Cliff Amusement Park. The Lake Cliff Motordrome would be a duplicate of the saucer recently completed in St. Louis. It was 1/4 mile circle banked at an intense 62 degrees, one of the steepest angles ever built and featured 4 levels of grandstand seating dotted with lights along the top for night races. A new guard rail and fencing were also constructed along the top of the track in front of the stands, a new safety protocol as a result of the Hasha and Albright’s crash a few weeks prior.
Despite the recent tragedy at Valisburg, construction on the Dallas track began quickly in the weeks that followed. An undertaking of promoter George Kreamer, the haste to erect the new track was his attempt to secure the license out from under motordrome pioneer Jack Prince who was also bidding for the city’s F.A.M. sanctioning franchise. He was also hoping to coordinate the opening of the new motordrome with the annual county fair dirt track races in order to draw more fans, the same fairground flat track races where Eddie Hasha himself had started competing a few years before. Kraemer’s haste resulted in a few questionable business tactics which would later lead to the Dallas track’s unstable and abbreviated lifespan. Nevertheless, he completed construction in a record two weeks after breaking ground and organized the first races.
Opening night took place on October 13th and went off without a hitch, with over 2,000 Texans packing into the stands to watch the battles between local talent and national riders, most of whom had traveled down from competing at the Tuileries Motordrome in Denver. The track was an initial success and the racers did well in the first couple of weeks. Jim Trafsky from St. Louis won $315 in the first two weeks, local newcomer Wilmur “Tex” Richards pulled in nearly $200, and Chicago’s Edward Harmer earned a respectable $185 in winnings. Jim Cox of Denver was the low man on the totem having earned only $50 since opening day, but these men were pulling in hundreds of dollars in a matter of weeks while the average reported annual salary in 1912 was only $750. These last days of the 1912 season had proven lucrative in Dallas, but trouble, however, finally found its way to the Lake Cliff Motordrome on the night of October 21st.
After another successful night of thrilling races, it was while the riders where on the approach lap of the final Free-For-All that the fracas unfurled. The pack jockeyed for a position making their way around to the far side of the saucer opposite of the judging booth and a thankfully a less densely populated section of the grandstands. Bert Bruggerman from Los Angeles had taken the lead on the approach lap, followed by Cleveland’s Mike Cafarello and Harry Swartz from Denver. As the riders dashed beneath the lights Swartz shot to the top of the track in a violent spurt attempting to pass Cafarello at 80 mph. A friend and Indian teammate of the late Eddie Hasha, Swartz misjudged the top line and shot off of the track, striking a guard rail support post, knocking him from his Indian just like in Hasha’s accident. The machine then ricocheted down the track into Cafarello, throwing him off and bringing the action to an immediate halt. Chaos, in an instant, cascaded down the boards all too eerily similar to the crash in Vailsburg.
Jim Trafsky was just behind the spill but was able to maneuver around the riders and machines. Both Cafarello and Swartz, then at the bottom of the track, simply stood up and walked away to the great relief of all in attendance. Swartz had a small cut to his head and a few injured fingers, Cafarello suffered only a few bruises. Both men’s machines were mangled and according to one article were “practically bent double.” With the pain of Valisburg still fresh in everyone's mind, coupled with the fact that Eddie Hasha was from nearby Waco, it was considered nothing short of a miracle that Swartz and Cafarello walked away that evening. This photo comes from the aftermath of the incident at Lake Cliff on October 21, though it wouldn’t be the last at the track. Just one month later on November 28, Wilmer “Tex” Richards, while running at speed, rolled both wheels over the neck of Mike Cafarello who had just taken a spill. To the shock of everyone in attendance neither men sustained any major injuries, Cafarello was reported to have only asked for a cigarette and a soda once he came to a few minutes later.