Early Days.

Auto racing began at the end of the nineteenth century but had only a small following by the early 1900s. The first organized motor race was sponsored by the Paris newspaper Petit Journal and ran over public roads from Paris to Rouen on 22 July 1894. Inspired by the publicity from this race, H. H. Kohlsatt, publisher of the Chicago Times-Herald, sponsored the first motor race in America on Thanksgiving Day 1894. During the next ten years, there were hundreds of motorized competitions in the United States and abroad, many organized by newspapers hoping to generate publicity and create stories for reporters to cover. The most famous of these races were run in Paris, which became the center of the world automobile industry in the early days. Racing became increasingly dangerous as the speed and power of the automobiles increased.

Indy Beginnings.

In...