If you enjoy conspiracy theories, this book raises the question as to who actually won the first Indianapolis 500. The race was a full field with eight rows of five cars each lined up at the starting line. The Marmon Wasp, piloted by Ray Harroun, would cross the finish line first. Was he really the winner or was Ralph Mulford, piloting a Lozier, who officially finished second?

In the winter of 1908, Carl Fisher announced the construction of the Speedway. While today, Indianapolis is closely associated with its famous racetrack, about half of the population in 1908 was opposed to auto racing.

Fisher and his three partners had a vested interest in helping the automobile industry, particularly that in Indianapolis, to have a place to test their automobiles. Fisher owned a dealership and was part-owner of Prest-O-Lite which manufactured acetylene canisters providing the power for automobile headlights. James Allison was Fisher’s partner in Prest-O-Lite. Arthur Newby was a co-owner of automobile manufacturer National Motor Vehicle Company, and Frank Wheeler was the co-owner and president of Wheeler-Schebler Carburetor Company.

One of the leading Indianapolis automobile manufacturers was Nordyke & Marmon which, under the leadership of Howard Marmon, manufactured the Marmon automobile. Marmon had a successful racing record in 1910 when they won 25 of the 93 races they entered, finished second on 24 occasions and third thirteen times. While not one of the owners of IMS, Howard Marmon was helpful in ensuring that there were cars on the track and helping to promote the Speedway.

While the four owners were successful businessmen, many of their decisions involving the track led to issues which nearly shut the track down after the first day of auto racing. After purchasing 320 acres of Indiana farmland about five miles northwest of the town center, construction began with an ambitious schedule. The first auto races were held in August. To control the cost and get the track completed by the first races, it was constructed of crushed stones and taroid, a mixture of tar and oil.

At Fisher’s insistence, the track opened with a balloon race. While IMS charged people to watch the balloons launch, most people understood that they could see the spectacle from their home or office.  It was not the success Fisher envisioned. In early August, IMS hosted a motorcycle race. The riders, who were used to hard packed sand or wood tracks, balked at the surface. As racing began, the unstable nature of the track became apparent. Riders tumbled as they hit deep ruts in the surface with some suffering serious injuries.

Several days later, the track opened for automobile races. The night before the races, Carl Fisher told others that he wished he could postpone the races. He probably knew, given the deterioration in the track, there were going to be serious crashes. Despite his misgivings, the track opened. The results were disastrous. Over the three days of racing, five people were killed. There was a coroner’s inquest which could have resulted in the track being permanently closed and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation being sued. But that did not happen.

To salvage their investment, the owners resurfaced the track with 3.2 million bricks. The track ceremoniously reopened on a bitter cold day in December 1909. For 1910, the owners held three sets of races. They had invested a lot of money into the track and needed the track to become self-sustaining. The attendance at the races was lower than hoped and as the season went on, fewer people attended. It was partly because of the mix of races Fisher programmed. Many were short (5, or 10 miles) segregated by engine size and speed runs by individual cars with the hope of setting a new record. The audience, which was interested primarily in the featured races, found most of the program to be boring.

Timing of the races required a multitude of people armed with stopwatches trying to keep track of individual cars. This was difficult to do with the short races which usually had only a handful of cars on the track. One day in late 1909, Fisher was approached by Charles Warner who had developed the Warner Electrical Timing Device. This should, at least on paper, keep track of the various racers but it didn’t. The wires that were strung across the track kept breaking and there was the continuing problem not solved by the device of keeping track of the various racers on the track. Fisher bought this device only to discover that it really didn’t work.

As the season progressed, the owners realized that the format wasn’t viable. Allison suggested that they try one long feature race. It was possibly an idea that Fisher had floated in 1909 but he envisioned either a 24-hour or a 1,000 mile race. If the new format of 500 miles wasn’t successful, the owners could possibly shut the track down.

What could possibly go wrong with forty cars lined up for the first Indianapolis 500? The race was total mayhem. The timers couldn’t keep track of the cars as they circled the track. The Warner timing device failed on many occasions. The timers fled the pagoda when an out-of-control racer was headed toward it. It took two days and nights for Ray Harroun’s apparent victory in the Marmon Wasp to be verified. After which, Fisher ordered all the records to be destroyed. Why, if Harroun was the winner, would Fisher order the destruction of the records?

Embedded in the book is an unflattering portrait of Carl Fisher. There are several other biographies of Fisher which trace his rise from his hard-scrabble childhood in a small Indiana town to become a successful businessman. Leersham’s book unveils Fisher as an uncouth, callous man who would make crude jokes including at the suffering of others. He was impulsive and then, suddenly, would become outraged. His character flaws became more pronounced as his drinking liquor increased.  Unlike those men whom he wanted to emulate, he was a second-tier man who never reached the pinnacle of success.

The book is an entertaining read covering not only the early Speedway history but also sheds light on development of auto racing and the men such as Barney Oldfield, Ray Harroun, and Ralph De Palma, who risked life and limb. It also uncovers the possibility that politics could have influenced racing. How did Carl Fisher avoid prosecution after the coroner’s inquest and was the outcome of the race influenced by the friendship with Howard Marmon?