In 1904, Carl Fisher, one of the founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), was approached by P.C. Avery with a cylinder containing acetylene gas. At the end of the cylinder was a long metal tube which when lit produced a steady light.  Fisher immediately recognized that this could be the solution to one of the early automobile issues—namely that it would provide a steady source of light for driving at night. The headlights of the time were famous for going out as they were basically lanterns.

But there was a downside to the contraption—it was highly explosive. Avery had tried to market it to a variety of automobile manufacturers who considered the risk too high. Fisher’s friend, James Allison, took the contraption to the White River bridge about a mile west of downtown where he threw it against the rocks. When it did not explode, they formed Prest-O-Lite, to manufacture the lighting system. Both men were already successful businessmen, Fisher had an automobile agency (dealership) while Allison was the president of Allison Coupon Company. Prest-O-Lite made both men very rich and well known within the automobile industry. The founding of IMS followed in 1909.

On a trip in 1914 to Pennsylvania, Fisher was approached by John Andrus with what could be another significant discovery for the automobile. Just like today, gasoline was expensive. Andrus had discovered a mixture which he claimed would work as well as gasoline but at a fraction of the cost. To prove his claim, he put some of the mixture into a motorboat engine and powered it across a river in McKeesport. Fisher, a natural salesman, was impressed and brought several cans of the mixture back to Indianapolis.

While Fisher believed it was potentially a wonderful discovery because of its explosive power, he also knew that it might not be a marketable product. The mixture, consisting of 15 gallons of water and four pounds of chemicals, was tested in National and Marmon automobiles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4. Norman Gilman, foreman of Indianapolis based National Motor Vehicle Company reported that there was no noticeable difference between the solution and gasoline. The cars were driven nearly 100 miles in the test. The test was witnessed by Russell Huff, consulting engineer of the Packard Company, Howard Marmon of Indianapolis based Marmon Motor Car Company, William Guy Wall of National Motor Vehicle Company, Prest-O-Lite’s chief chemist and a chemistry professor from the University of Michigan

Suitably impressed with the results of the primary test, Fisher announced that Zoline would be manufactured in Indianapolis. Fisher and Allison already had a strong distribution channel—the 10,000 Prest-O-Lite agencies.

In November, a second, longer test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway occurred. In preparation for the test, a 200-gallon still was erected at the Speedway and a 400-gallon still was under construction at the Marmon plant. On November 21, a Marmon 41 drove 1,030 miles at an average speed of 55.95 miles per hour. This test was witnessed by F. E. Edwards, American Automobile Association technical expert, and Chester S. Ricker, the head of IMS’ technical committee, along with several prominent automobile engineers. A tear down of the car’s engine after the run showed that there was no carbon in the engine and it ran cooler than with gasoline. But the first chink in the armor was revealed. It was a cold day and the fuel line froze while the car was on the track having run about 100 miles. It took more than an hour to unfreeze the line and resume the test.

Not to be deterred, incorporation papers were filed with the State of Indiana for Zoline Company with an initial capitalization of $100,000. The board of directors included Andrus, Fisher, Allison, Howard C. Marmon, Ernest W. Bradford, Henry B. Joy, and Dr. W. H. Chambers (McKeesport, PA).

At the end of November, another test was held at IMS. A 1915 Packard traveled 62.5 miles during a one-hour run using Zoline. On the same day, a Marmon 41 established a new performance record for 1000 miles with an average speed of 55.8 miles per hour. The test was timed by an electrical timing device and witnessed by John Cox, Theodore Myers, Fred Wellman, Henry Knippenberg, F. E. Edwards and Chester Ricker.  Later, the engine was disassembled in the Marmon factory under the supervision of Edwards and Ricker who proclaimed that the engine was in perfect condition and showed less carbon build-up than would have been present with gasoline.

A month later, Howard Marmon announced that they would not produce Zoline because the cost of manufacture was approximately the same as the cost of manufacturing gasoline or about 5 cents per gallon. Zoline’s secret ingredient was naphthalene which is a by-product of coal tar and would require the company to go into its manufacture. One of the large issues was the need to dispose of the by-products of coal tar distillation.