Automobile

1910 · 51591 — Elgin IL & Chicago IL: American Motors Racing Picture Co. 1910. One leaf two-side printed broadside on green-tinted paper photo illustration of Ralph Mulford on front two views of the race from the film on verso framed in printed text very minor sunning to fore-edges very slight chipping to right margin light creasing still a VG- exemplar. First edition of this exceedingly scarce silent movie theatre broadside promoting performances of the now-lost pioneering sporting event motion picture of the Elgin National Road Races held in 1910. The broadside asserts that the film was the “clearest and most life-like moving pictures ever taken of an athletic or sporting event.†The Elgin National Road Races were first proposed by Elgin IL auto dealer Frank Wood who convinced the Chicago Motor Club that they should hold their races on a race course in Elgin because there were no crossroads railroads bad hills or towns to pass through. The racers hurtled down a rugged 8.5 mile course on the west side of the Fox River over what is now Larkin Avenue McLean Boulevard Highland Avenue and Coombs Road competing for the coveted Elgin National Watch Company Trophy -- solid silver designed by Tiffany’s of New York and valued at the time at $ 4500. The track was an oiled gravel surface with judges stands and bleachers erected alongside the track and over 125000 spectators attended the two-day race beginning on August 26 1910. These famed Brass-era races featured pioneering drivers such as Ralph Mulford Eddie Hearne Ralph De Palma Gil Anderson and Earl Cooper who were all winners of various races held through the pre-World War I years in Elgin. Henry Ford had entered two of his Model T’s in 1910 but they were disqualified due to weight requirements for competitors. Mulford won the race driving a Lozier at an average speed of 62.5 mph over the entire 36 laps with only one pit stop for gas water and oil. Mulford 1884-1973 would race in the first Indy 500 the next year in 1911 and is reputed to have actually been the winner over Ray Harroun was National Driving Champion in 1911 and 1918 and continued to compete into the 1920s. Frank Albert 1872-1920 was an active Chicago promoter and publicity man who pioneered the use of silent films for sporting events in and around Illinois before World War I. The Star Theatre in Elgin IL used Bell & Howell Co. Simplex projectors for their movie showings from 1910 to 1915. No copies located in Worldcat; See: Jeff Michel The Elgin National Road Race; Stan Kalwasinski Early Days of Chicago Area Racing -- The Turn of the Century and Beyond Chicagoland Auto Racing 2009; Mulford to Defend Title New York Times April 10 1911; Elgin Road Race Collection Special Collection The Crittenden Automotive Library 2012; The Moving Picture World Vol. 15 No. 1 1913 p. 917. American Motors Racing Picture Co., unknown