Indian boardtrack racing Cannon Ball Baker Morty Graves 1910 motorcycle photo

Description

A superb and extremely rare image showing the great
Boardtrack circuit in Springfield Mass.
in
1910 with two legendary racers and teammates, Cannon Ball Baker (left) and Morty Graves (right)
.
Erwin George "Cannon Ball" Baker
was an American motorcycle and automobile racing driver and organizer in the first half of the 20th century. Baker began his public career as a vaudeville performer but turned to driving and racing after winning a dirt-track motorcycle race in Crawfordsville, Indiana in about 1904.
Baker was also famous for his record-setting point-to-point drives, in which he was paid to promote the products of various motorcycle and automobile manufacturers. In all, he made 143 cross-country motorcycle speed runs totaling about 550,000 miles (890,000 km).
In 1908, Baker purchased an Indian motorcycle and began entering and winning local races. His most famous victory came in 1909 at the first race ever held at the newly built Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Baker also raced at the 1922 Indianapolis 500, placing 11th in a Frontenac. He later became the first commissioner of NASCAR. Baker was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989 and the American Motorcyclist Association Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1998.
Bicycle racing on banked, wooden velodromes was enormously popular at the turn of the 20th century. Many of the very first machines identifiable as motorcycles were built by bicycle mechanics, and were used as "pacers" to train bicycle racers. The first race probably occurred the first time that two of them happened to be on the track at the same time
Timber was cheap, labor was plentiful, and board track racing offered a level of spectacle not seen since Roman times. With the help of an engineer from
New Jersey
by the name of Jack Prince -- who sought to build a chain of large tracks from coast to coast -- board track races spread across the nation like wildfire. The Coliseum in Los Angeles, over a quarter mile long, was opened in 1909, followed immediately by a one-third mile bowl in Springfield, Mass., and in 1910 by full mile-long tracks in Playa del Rey, California (a suburb wedged between Los Angeles and the Pacific ocean) and Salt Lake City, Utah. Tracks up to two miles in length were thrown up in 1911 in
Oakland
,
Denver
,
Buffalo
,
Cleveland
,
Chicago
, and
Detroit
. 1912 brought tracks to
Milwaukee
,
Omaha
,
Houston
,
Cleveland
and
Atlantic City
. Race promoters made wads of money, with ,000 daily gate receipts a common draw. Very high speeds and a complete lack of safety precautions lead to spectacular wrecks on the board tracks in the 1910s, often killing a half-dozen competitors and spectators at a time. Controversy over safety had already caused the national sanctioning organization to switch the 1913 National Championship Races over from the boards to the safer, but less profitable, dirt ovals. True to form, racing improved the breed. Motorcycles went from able-to-keep-up-with-bicycles in 1900 to the first 100-mph average lap, turned by Lee Humiston on a "Big-Valve" Excelsior at the Playa del Rey track in 1912. Technical competition among the manufacturers was just as fierce as the racing itself. The race for prestige led famous manufacturers like Indian, Excelsior, Cyclone, Thor, and Flying Merkel to develop purpose-built racing equipment with the highest attainable horsepower they could squeeze from their motors.
We have more photos, also listed on Ebay, of other bikes, and various motorcycle and car (!) (world) champions on various kinds of machinery. Please check out our auctions and take advantage of our shipping discount! The auction selection is refreshed and changed continuously.
This is your rare chance to own this
non period
photo that reflects a very interesting and historic piece of motorcycle history. Therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm).
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