Smoke hound and the 9E

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Fireman McGrew of the East Point Georgia Fire Department sits in the drivers seat of the company's first engine, a 1911 American LaFrance Type 10 Combo circa 1913. McGrew was the only paid fireman at the time but he is joined in the rig by his friend Lewis F. Little and a very photogenic hound up front. Also in the frame is a nicely appointed 8HP, 61ci Harley-Davidson model 9E, which due to the popularity of Harley's v-twin the year before came with a substantially higher price tag of $350.

Countless more exclusive photos and stories from motorcycling's earliest days can be found in the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History: The First 60 years 1899-1959 available HERE

She Who Flirts With Death

The ever so handsome CeDora, a pioneer female stunt rider from the turn of the century. The toast of the Vaudeville circuit, the young CeDora thrilled audiences across the country as she gracefully piloted her specially modified Indian motorcycle around the inside of a giant 3-ton steel ball known as The Globe of Death.

First reports of CeDora’s amazing act surfaced in April of 1909 when she appeared on the cover of The Motorcycle News magazine. At that time she was performing in New York City’s Hippodrome theatre, the largest theatre of its type in the world. 1909 was still a very early time in the motorcycle’s development, iconic manufacturers like Harley-Davidson and Excelsior were still getting their feet underneath them and the sport of professional racing was just beginning to take shape. As such it wasn’t the most common occurrence to see a woman riding a motorcycle, much less one performing death-defying stunts. A pioneer in every sense, CeDora’s attire in that first photograph was quite possibly the most shocking thing about her, high cut shorts and a short sleeved shirt were downright shocking in 1909.

CeDora traveled all over North America throughout the teens, her show not making across the Atlantic due to World War I. Thrill shows like the Globe of Death, Whirl of Death, Silodromes, and later the Wall of Death became a staple of the American carnival culture and still to this day audacious men and women alike risk their own health and safety to delight crowds across the country with their spectacular, death-defying shows. CeDora was most likely the first of her kind and was certainly a pioneer in American motorcycle culture. Here she poses for a snapshot in early 1917 onboard her prized Indian “Globe” machine, the same machine she rode her entire career. It should be noted that in the world of rare early Indian one-offs and unique modified motorcycles, CeDora’s bike, though it has been restored is one of the few that is accounted for and can be seen if searched for on the web.

www.ArchiveMoto.com

Harry Glenn, Atlanta Motordrome 1913

The American Motordrome, bygone cathedrals of enthusiastic risk, triumph, and tragedy. It was inside these large wooden saucers that a new breed of professional, the restless gentlemen of a newly dawned 20th century put their lives on the line every week to the delight of the enraptured masses.

For those few daring enough to compete on these steeply banked, and often times roughly constructed board tracks a good life awaited, one full of adrenaline, accolades, and prosperity, but not all crossed the finish line. For many of these young men, most with young families to support, a more gruesome fate would greet them as their throttle’s dilated. Still many skirted death, piloting their raw and untethered purebred motorcycles to victory and becoming American icons as they traveled the country to battle inside the motordromes.

Twenty six stadium motordromes were built between 1909 and 1914, the majority of which were a 1/4 mile long with banking ranging from a soft 20 degrees to a nearly vertical 62 degrees. The Great War hastened the inevitable end to what had been the intense and tumultuous 5 year boom of the American motordrome. The inherent danger of increasingly capable machines, frequent weather disruptions, an exceedingly high cost of maintenance, and a growing public distaste for the tragic gore that resulted after all-too frequent accidents made for the saucer’s abbreviated life span. Though the motordrome moniker would live on in the larger wooden speedways and smaller traveling thrill shows that were to come, the circular wooden bowls that spawned the name and helped create a new American industry disappeared, officially being banned in 1919.

A southern pioneer and lifelong ambassador, Georgia’s Harry James Glenn was one of this new breed, a man of exceptional grit who questioned all limits inside America’s motordromes. A glint in his eye and a half smile, Harry is seen here with his factory Indian racer in front of the 56 degree track of the Atlanta Motordrome in the summer of 1913, his first season on the boards.

Read more about Harry’s incredible life story and the Atlanta Motordrome, as well as countless other tales from the beginning of American motorcycle culture inside the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History, available exclusively HERE

St. Louis Motordrome, August 1912

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A quick glimpse inside the 1/4 mile board track motordrome in St. Louis from its opening weekend, August 1912. With a banking of 62 degrees it was the steepest ever constructed.