1908 NYC to Chicago FAM Road Run

The most important aspect of any culture is the coming together of like minded people to share in the experience of their enthusiasm. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the first days of a burgeoning new motorcycle industry the earliest fanatics began to band together, forming America's first motorcycle clubs. These first clubs began organizing events around their beloved machines, often times consisting of long-distance tours of their area. Naturally those first country tours grew into friendly competitions, and grew still into sanctioned endurance runs. At this time the growing pangs of the industry were centered around efficient engineering, top speed had not yet become top priority and manufacturers were still focused on improving and advertising their machine's reliability and hardiness. As such many of America's first motorcycle races were points-based, long-distance reliability runs where riders would spend days in the saddle and were responsible for any and all necessary repairs to their machines.

On July 6th, 1908 under the auspices of the western district of the FAM twenty men mounted their motorcycles for a 1,200 mile reliability run from New York to Chicago. Over 9 days the men piloted their machines over a multitude of crude American road surfaces, including sand, gravel, gouged mud, and sticky clay. Manufacturers keen on converting success in such endeavors into sales figures entered teams to compete for points. Indian, Merkel, Thor, Reading Standard, and Excelsior all fielded teams, and in typical fashion for the time period it was Indian who came out the victor. The only team to post perfect scores, the Indian boys George Holden, Bert Barrows, and Stanley Kellogg (who was the only rider entered on a twin cylinder machine) happily took the Examiner Cup back to Springfield. Worn down, beaten, and battered the men were greeted by throngs of cheering people lining the streets as they rolled into Chicago on July 15th. Of the 20 entrants 17 completed the journey with points, only the 3 member Light team failed to finish due to significant mechanical failures. It is said that the toughest 166 miles of the entire route, the leg between Cleveland and Wauseon proved to be the gauntlet where many teams lost their perfect scores. This photo, taken in Wauseon after that challenging leg captures a handful of the exhausted yet enthusiastic competitors near the end of their journey.

Archive Icon: Henry Hammond Springs

Meet Henry Hammond Springs, the teenage phenom from Augusta, Georgia who kicked up the dirt of American speedways in the late teens. Hammond was yet another remarkable young talent who dedicated his life to racing motorcycles, and like so many competitors from that time he too tragically gave his life in the pursuit of victory. Born in Augusta in 1902, Hammond's family relocated to Atlanta after his father, a firemen died in the line of duty in 1909. Once in Atlanta Hammond began racing his motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson 8-valve at the local tracks including the 1-mile dirt oval, the Lakewood Speedway. He was quickly taken in by local Indian dealer and board track racer Harry Glenn who recognized Hammond's natural abilities and helped refine his skills on the track. Due to the suspension of professional racing during World War I, Hammond was able to hone his skills on local tracks against riders who had already made a name for themselves on the national circuit. Hammond grew tremendously during this time period and by the time he was able to enter his first professional event for with his new Indian jersey on Labor Day of 1920, he found the podium in every race, winning both the 10 and 15 mile open races. Now an official member of the Indian factory team, the 17 year old Hammond began competing across the country in the major events of the day, including the premier 300 mile race at Dodge City. Over the next couple of years, the dashing young Hammond became a top rider at Indian, local hero in Atlanta, and a crowd favorite as he hurled ribbons of dust off the back fire of his Indian Daytona. Tragically though, America's youngest professional motorcycle racer would die a teenager during a race at Springbrook Park in South Bend, Indiana on May 30, 1922. News of Hammond's death hit hard in Atlanta, and when his body was returned to the city to be laid to rest in the historic Westview Cemetery he was escorted by a long procession of motorcycle's, including fellow racers, friends, and APD officers.

Find out more about the fast life of Hammond Springs in the pages of Georgia Motorcycle History

Birth of a Sensation

One of the most captivating chapters in the evolution of American motorcycle culture is the era of the Motordrome. These circular wooden tracks, typically between 1/3 of a mile and 1 mile in length, steeply banked up to 65 degrees first appeared in 1909. Though they were a natural progression from the smaller wooden bicycle tracks, or velodromes, the Motordrome provided an intense new level of excitement for spectators. 

Opened in July of 1908 the Clifton Stadium in Patterson, NJ was the first of the bicycle tracks to be constructed with consideration of motorcycle matches. Though it was considerably wider and longer than the Velodromes of the day, still only two machines could fit on the boards at one time. Clifton showed manufacturers like Indian and the track's builder Jack Prince that interest in motorcycle events was bubbling, there was money to be made. Prince then set off for Los Angeles to build the first specific motorcycle racing track in America. A 1/3 of a mile wooden oval with 45 degree banked turns and flat straights was completed in March of 1909 and named the Los Angeles Coliseum. Though the track was an immediate success, Prince learned from the riders that negotiating the incline shift from the banked turns onto the flat straights was difficult and limiting. 

Meanwhile founders of the Indian motorcycle company, George Hendee and Oscar Hedstrom were no strangers to the value of racing their motorcycles. As early as 1908 specifically engineered racing machines were being developed by Hedstrom and an official racing team was assembled. In a brilliant business move George Hendee saw to it that the next Motordrome would be built close to their headquarters in Springfield, MA. He then, in early 1909 secured a 10 year lease on a plot of land 3 miles north of downtown and contracted Prince to begin construction as soon as he completed the LA Coliseum. On July 31st 1909 Prince unveiled the most state of the art racing facility the world had ever seen. Like the LA Coliseum, the Springfield Stadium was 1/3 of a mile in length, however learning from the racers in LA Prince made the Springfield track circular, with a consistent banking. This new design made an instant impact on the speedsand when Indian's Indian's star riders like Fred Huyck and Jake DeRosier fired their machines up for the first time they smashed all existing records, some by as much as 19 seconds.

The success of the Springfield design in the summer of 1909 set the foundation for an explosion of short, circular board track Motordromes across the country. Though the extremely dangerous nature and high maintenance cost would limit the era of the circular Motordrome to less than a decade, it continues to be one of the most idolized periods in motorcycle culture. One of the aims of Archive Moto is to thoroughly document each of these remarkable tracks and the men who fearlessly competed on them, stay tuned! In the meantime enjoy this iconic shot of Morty Graves and Frank Ward thrilling the crowd at the LA Cloiseum in 1910.

A.G. Chapplle, Ormond Beach 1909

Taken during the speed trails held at Ormond Beach in 1909, this shot features New York native A.G Chapple, one of the three factory racers that accompanied Carl Oscar Hedstrom to the Daytona area to test out the latest Indian technology. Though his teammates Walter Goerke and Robert Stubbs shared the most records and wins that weekend, Chapple did take the win for the 10-mile event atop his 7hp Indian twin prototype on March 23, 1909. It appears as though this machine is one of the very elusive, seminal "bent tank", loop-framed prototypes of 1908, a machine that I find thoroughly intriguing and hope to uncover more information about.