18 year old Ray Seymour, the California Wonder with his Reading-Standard factory racing twin at the opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, August 1909.
On 328 acres of farmland just north of Indianapolis and at the cost of an estimated $350,000, America gained its first closed circuit raceway, the 2.5-mile-long Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in the late summer of 1909. Rushed to completion for the Federation of American Motorcyclist's National Meet that August, the imposing speedway was like nothing seen before, with massive grandstands capable of seating 10,000, bleacher seating at the turns to accommodate even more spectators, concessions buildings, a state-of-the-art garage paddock, and medical facilities. The pace required to complete such a compound proved to be a bit too hasty, and reports from its first observers likened it to a dirt road sprinkled with a loose layer of crushed stone. Today, the IMS holds a reputation as one of the preeminent auto racing tracks in the world, but upon its unveiling, the first competition to take place at Indianapolis was a motorcycle race, and 18-year-old Ray Seymour, the California Wonder arrived to unleash his Reading-Standard racing special.
On August 14, 1909, in front of a crowd of 8,500, two dozen motorcycle racers took to the line of the intimidatingly large and roughly surfaced track. After several hair-raising practice laps, the riders held a meeting over which pioneer motorcycle manufacturer and avid racing enthusiast Joseph Merkel presided. The result was a protest signed by the majority of competitors, including Seymour, given the conditions of the track, which called for, at the very least, limiting the races to the smaller displacement machines for safety reasons. The track commissioner quickly shot down the proposal, warning that any racer who refused to compete would be suspended for two months. Eight races were scheduled for the first day and another series the following day, so Seymour and a handful of other intrepid racers straddled their machines. However, having established himself as a dominant force on the dirt tracks and wooden motordromes on the West Coast, Seymour struggled with the hazardous track conditions at Indianapolis. Onboard his Reading Standard factory special V-twin, the young crack managed to podium only once at the inaugural events at Indy, taking 3rd place in the 1 Mile FAM National Amateur Championship race behind Indian's Freddie Huyck.
Speeds were drastically reduced from their standard and lofty heights at the time, with the high marks at Indianapolis topping out only around 60 mph. As the day progressed, it was clear that limiting conditions and the practicality of such an immense venue would need to be reevaluated for future motorcycle events. In hopes of drumming up more excitement, a match race was hastily thrown together mid-day between Indian's star rider Jake DeRosier and Salt Lake's Ed Lingenfelder, who was mounted on a beastly NSU racing special. During that event, DeRosier lost control at full clip, violently hurling him into the ditch, a terrible spill anticipated by the competitors all day. DeRosier was rushed to the hospital, and the second day's racing schedule was canceled. Two days later, the inaugural auto races were held to even more calamitous results, with six people, racers, mechanics, and spectators losing their lives, thus abruptly ending the tumultuous beginnings of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The track's founder, Carl Fischer, promptly closed the venue and resurfaced it with over 3 million bricks, thus granting the venue its now beloved nickname of the "Brickyard."
The races at Indianapolis were a disaster, but Seymour was among the few to make the podium amid the chaos. He and several other competitors then piled back onto the train, continuing their travels eastward to compete for the remainder of the season. DeRosier was hospitalized for nearly two weeks before returning to Springfield to recover. With the season ending in the northeast, the west coast riders, Seymour included, returned to Los Angeles to begin the new season at the Coliseum in November. Recovered, DeRosier also returned to LA, keeping a close eye on youngsters like Merkel's Charlie Balke and Reading Standard's Ray Seymour for Indian boss Oscar Hedstrom, who aimed to expand the company's factory program as the sport grew increasingly lucrative. Seymour returned to form once back in California, winning races and setting new record times as the new year saw the sport of motorcycle racing surge in popularity.
However, as the sport's popularity exploded, some companies grew uneasy with its dangerous nature, which consistently maimed or killed young, aspirational riders. Indian had long since been at the center of the sport, being a company built from the sporting world by racing champions like Oscar Hedstrom. Merkel and Thor remained competitive, though without the deep pockets of Indian, and new contenders emerged out of Chicago with the Excelsior marquee, spearheaded by the immensely talented pioneer racer "Farmer" Joe Wolters. In Milwaukee, brands like Harley-Davidson famously resisted the publicity of competition success, focusing on its business model of production at scale and cultivating a lifestyle of motorcycling through its recreationally focused advertisements and expansive parts and accessories department. Seymour's sponsor had been another pioneering brand in the earliest days of competition. Still, with the increased capabilities of the machines, the scale and danger inherent in the new craze of motordrome racing, and the need to put more resources into its production efforts rather than its racing department, Reading-Standard decided to pull back from the sport. This left Seymour in need of a new ride by the summer of 1910, but with the opening of Jack Prince's latest board track, The Wandamere Motordrome in Salt Lake City, a new opportunity was placed into the young racers gauntlets. The world's first motorcycle racing champion, the first professional in the game, Indian's Jacob DeRosier recruited Ray Seymour, along with Merkel's Charlie Balke, to ride for the Springfield factory, taking the next generation under his wing on the boards in Salt Lake that summer.
Indian was the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer at that time, and its racing department, under the stewardship of founder Oscar Hedstrom, was the team to beat at every race on any surface. Seymour now had access to the fastest, cutting-edge racing motorcycles and the support of a company with unlimited resources. Though still a teenager, Seymour's career was soaring, and onboard his newest mount, his career as a top motorcycle racer in America provided him a comfortable living. In August 1910, a month after the opening of the Wandamere motordrome, the Wigwam transported its squad of fierce factory riders to Philadelphia to compete in the FAM's first National Championship races at the Point Breeze dirt track. There, onboard his mentor Jake DeRosier's famed No. 21 factory twin, Seymour decimated his competition in the amateur ranks. The moment marked Seymour's arrival as he became America's first FAM Amateur National Champion. Having conquered all he could as an amateur, Seymour would soon join DeRosier in the professional class. Oscar Hedstrom would then send his newest professional talent, a new breed of racing motorcycle, to ride on the boards of the country's infamous motordromes. The machine Hedstrom sent to Seymour was the first Indian Big Base 8-Valve, the most iconic board track racer of all time, and with it, Ray Seymour would soon become a legend.