A Thought on Revisionism

This was originally going to be a Rear View Mirror column, but with the next several columns being already "in the can" for the next saga, Karl Oakie and I decided to post it here instead.

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Some Thoughts on Revisionism: the AAA National Championship

Don Capps and Karl Oakie

News Item: 1 April 2001. This morning FIA President Max Mosley announced the official findings of an FIA Select Panel headed by Bernie Ecclestone. The Select Panel was convened in early March to examine several historical issues in Formula 1. After several weeks of deliberation, Ecclestone announced that the Select Panel had awarded the 1964 World Championship to Graham Hill since he did indeed score more points than anyone else that season and therefore should have rightfully been named the Champion that season. In addition, Ecclestone also stated that Alain Prost had been awarded the 1988 Championship, since he scored more points than Ayrton Senna and should have been awarded the Champion. Mosley confirmed that the Select Panel had also examined the historical records and determined World Champions for the 1921 through 1939 and 1947 through 1949 seasons. These were released later in the afternoon. The Select Panel also awarded Constructor Championships for all the seasons prior to 1958. Both Mosley and Ecclestone expressed regret at stripping John Surtees of his 1964 Championship and Senna of his in 1988, but the need to bring the past in line with the current system of awarding Championships dictated the action. “We simply had to do what the statistics demanded,” said Ecclestone. Ecclestone said the Select Panel will meet again in the Fall to discuss awarding the World Championships for the 1906 through 1914 seasons.

If this seems far-fetched, change the names and add some years and it could happen. In fact, something very similar has happened! If you go most reference books and look for the list of National Champions as declared by the AAA Contest Board, you will notice that many – if not the vast majority – start the list with the 1909 season and end it with the 1955 season. The United States Auto Club (USAC) then stepped up to the plate and assumed the former role of the Contest Board until the split between USAC and the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) in 1979. In some cases you find the list of National Champions starting in 1902. If you compare some lists you will that there might be different men listed as the National Champion for some season.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) was formed in March 1902, in Chicago. Although an organization offering a variety of services to its membership, one major function – as well as its major money-maker – was insurance. Racing was not a factor in the activities of the AAA in its first years. Several years after its formation a race committee was formed, but its activities were apparently only concerned with minor events on an irregular basis.

Many American automobile manufacturers were active to some extent in motor racing during this first decade of the 20th Century. As the decade was coming to an end, there was a need for some organization or administrative body to oversee racing in the United States. Apparently, a number of manufacturers reached this conclusion at about the same time. As a result, the AAA was approached by the Manufacturers Contest Association as to the possibility of assuming the role of neutral party for “motor contests” and ensuring that the rules were fairly enforced and the results certified as correct. After some deliberation, the AAA accepted the task.

In 1909, the AAA formed the Contest Board which had the mission to over the racing events that the organization agreed to sanction. The first event that the Contest Board sanctioned was not a race. It was a hill-climb conducted on Fort George Hill in New York. The sanction for the event was issued to the Manhattan Borough Auto Club. In March 1909, the Contest Board issued a sanction to the Florida East Coast Auto Club to conduct a four-day straightaway trial. The Contest then started issuing sanctions to clubs and organizers for a variety of racing events from road races, to point-to-point races, and for events on oval tracks on fairgrounds – which were often used at other times for their original purpose, horse races.

In 1916, the Contest Board decided to conduct a series of races to determine a National Champion. When the season was over, Dario Resta was the first AAA National Champion. In 1917, the United States entered the First World War – AKA the Great War –on the side of the Allies on 6 April. On 18 May 1917, the AAA Contest Board cancelled the National Championship, even though two events had been run – at Ascot, Pennsylvania and Uniontown, New Jersey. The results of the two races were rescinded and no National Champion was declared. Due to the War, there was no National Championship for 1918, and there was not one for 1919 as well.

In 1920, the National Championship was resumed. There were five events that counted towards the National Championship although – confusingly – there were 11 events that were sanctioned. The AAA declared that the National Champion for 1920 was Gaston Chevrolet, although he died in a crash during the last event of the season at the Beverly Hills board track.

In November 1926, the Secretary of the Contest Board, Val Haresnape, published a list of the AAA National Champions. The list published by Haresnape listed the 1920 National Champion as Tommy Milton. Instead of counting five events towards the National Championship, Haresnape counted 11 events and in the revised points standings, Gaston Chevrolet was not only stripped of his crown but dropped to third in the standings behind Milton and Jimmy Murphy. In 1929, the AAA restored the National Championship to Chevrolet. In 1951, Milton was “restored” as the 1920 AAA National Champion. This was the result of journalist and automotive historian Russ Catlin tinkering with the National Championship. In 1956, the National Championship for 1920 was once more restored to Gaston Chevrolet. However, many sources still list Tommy Milton as the National Champion for that year.

Let’s get back to Haresnape again. In addition to stripping Gaston Chevrolet of his 1920 National Championship, Haresnape created National Champions for the 1909 through 1915 and 1917 through 1919 seasons. Why begin in 1909? That was not only the date of the formation of the AAA Contest Board, but the date that the magazine Motor Age selected a “driver-of-the-year.” The Motor Age selections were for the years 1909 through 1915 and 1919. The championships that Haresnape created often paralleled the selections of Motor Age, but not always. Here is a comparison of the Motor Age (MA) and Haresnape selections:

1909: MA & Haresnape – Bert Dingley
1910: MA – Ralph Mulford, Haresnape – Ray Harroun
1911: MA – Harvey Herrick, Haresnape – Ralph Mulford
1912: MA & Haresnape – Ralph DePalma
1913: MA & Haresnape – Earl Cooper
1914: MA & Haresnape – Ralph DePalma
1915: MA & Haresnape – Earl Cooper
1917: MA – None, Haresnape – Earl Cooper
1918: MA – None, Haresnape – Ralph Mulford
1919: MA – Eddie Hearne, Haresnape – Howard Wilcox
1920: Haresnape – Tommy Milton

In 1951, apparently having too much time on his hands, Russ Catlin created “AAA National Champions” for the years 1902 to 1908, changed the “National Champion” for 1909 – as well as the previously mentioned “reinstatement” of Tommy Milton as the 1920 National Champion. Why did Catlin choose 1902? Remember that was the year the AAA was formed in Chicago. The selections were totally at the whim of Catlin and although the AAA and USAC usually dropped any mention of them after 1955, they still pop up in more than a few places. That is, except for his 1909 and 1920 selections. Here are the Catlin “National Champions:

1902: Harry Harkness
1903: Barney Oldfield
1904: George Heath
1905: Victor Hemery
1906: Joe Tracy
1907: Eddie Baid
1908: Louis Strang
1909: George Robertson
1920: Tommy Milton

The Catlin selection of George Robertson as the 1909 “AAA National Champion” seems to have supplanted the earlier choice of Bert Dingley of Motor Age and Haresnape. Robertson appears quite often as the 1909 “National Champion.” In a very recent look at a listing of the AAA National Championship events, the listing started in 1909 with George Robertson as the “National Champion” and still listed Tommy Milton as the 1920 National Champion. This is a site that is often cited as the authority for statistics on the National Championship.

It is frustrating to deal with the results of “revisionism on a whim.” It is rare to find a source that correctly lists the AAA National Champions, a list that starts with 1916, and lists the 1920 National Champion as Gaston Chevrolet. The frustration comes from the fact that this is a horse that has been beat more than once. John Printz and Ken McMaken actually sorted all this out years ago. I happened to read a short article of theirs concerning this matter in the early 1980s. I had encountered the different listings of the AAA National Champions and was a bit confused. There was rarely any explanation as to why one list listed one person and someone else was named on another list. I corresponded with Mr. Printz for more about all this and he kindly outlined pretty much what I have outlined here.

While I applaud the fact that we have race results for races that might have otherwise not be available, the problem is that these results and point standings are for Championships that never existed! Consider yourself warned.

Originally posted by Don Capps
...John Printz and Ken McMaken actually sorted all this out years ago...

Don,

Do you know if there is any source material available from the findings of these two gentlemen? I would be delighted to find out more and add information to the few of my sources of the American races. Just their final conclusion would be a welcome addition and great help.

By the way, I think we have to thank Russ Catlin for salvaging a great deal of useful information about important proceedings of the AAA activities, which otherwise would have gone through the shredders like so many interesting documents, sadly lost forever many years ago.

Well done, Don! This is something that always bugged me, especially the stripping of Chevrolet's 1920 title. I was planning to write an article about that for my website, but as usually am slow off the marks...

Like you Don, I first saw the article by Printz and McMaken in the 80's. It was tucked away in a most unlikely place, the 1985 CART Media Guide. It was dropped from later editions, presumably because it wasn't the kind of information the media wanted. The press has never cared too much about the past or historical accuracy for that matter. Or maybe it was just too academic.

Along with the article was a list of the winners, both drivers and cars, of every 'championship' race since 1909. This served as my bible of post WW1 championship racing for many years. It wasn't until the Wallen series emerged that I was able to put that media guide on a less prominent shelf. Now we have Phil Harms' wonderful web pages, which make all other tables of results redundant.

But I would like to take you to task on one point. It is very easy to dismiss anyone in a few well chosen, scathing words. Your attack on Russ Catlin is a case in point. You describe him as 'tinkering' and 'having too much time on his hands'. Yes, he did calculate Champions from as early as 1902, but this is nothing new. Members of TNF have done precisely this.

But to dismiss him so succinctly is to ignore all his good works. Whatever he did was born of enthusiasm for racing. And remember, he was writing in the 50's when almost no-one in America cared one jot about the history of the sport. His articles in Speed Age were the only source of oval track history at that time. OK he wasn't always accurate, but then nobody is perfect. (BTW Don, Ascot isn't in Pennsylvania and Uniontown isn't in New Jersey). He didn't have the luxury of all the information that later historians have unearthed, yet the monthly articles which he wrote covering the period from 1909 to 1916 still remain the most detailed in existence. And almost 50 years have passed since then. Without him we wouldn't have a biography of Ted Horne. If he had lived longer he might well have written the biographies of Rex Mays and Louis Meyer for instance. Nobody else in all those years has taken the trouble.

So let's not trash earlier historians. Without their work and the fire of enthusiasm that they lit in others, TNF might not exist. Was it Isaac Newton (don't castigate me if I'm wrong) who said that his achievements were only possible because he was standing on the shoulders of great men. In the lineage of American auto racing historians, Russ Catlin was a great man.

Hans, The first place I encountered the work of John Printz on this subject was in the 1981 "PPG Indy Car World Series 1981 Annual" which I got that year at the Indy Museum IIRC (relatives in Kokomo so we visit there fairly often). There was more in the 1983 and 1984 Annuals. As mentioned, I did correspond a few times with Printz, but I then had a few minor things like rotations at the National Training Center, PCS moves and so forth get in the way.

Tony, Not so fast. Until 1981, I had no idea that Russ Catlin had "created" those Championships. I was stunned. He was, in my opinion, one Good Scribe. I did not intend to "trash" him, but I do question the wisdom of what he did; as apparently others did at the time. For someone with his usual dedicaton to delivering accurate, well-written stories it just doesn't make any sense to "create" soomething like that. I think there is more to the story than meets the eye.

Amazingly enough, my HS library had many of his books when I graduated in the mid-1960s. He was definitely a far better writer and historian than about 99% of those using stubby pencils and Remington poartables in that day.

The "Ascot" and "Uniontown" should have been in quotations -- my fault since I did not catch that when I tried to proofread the work -- since that was as it was written. Last time I looked, Uniontown was still in PA and, well, there will always be an Ascot in California....

This is an excellent example of the Law of Unintended Consequencs at work: had there not been the "bogus" championships we probably would not have the wealth of information on AAA racing that we now have for those years. Who said things have to make sense?

In order to simplify a large and varied historical subjet folks will have a tendency to try and change the historical record to fit their notions on the subject usually using the current day and age as a reference point. Take for example the Superbowl. There is a vast history of NFL seasons and titles prior to the Superbowl but nowadays none of the mainstream media outlets reference that part of the NFL history. Heck there was no Superbowl I.. just an AFL-NFL Championship Game. Baseball is full of historical revisionism. Folks going back into history to count statistical records for statistics that didn't exist and had no meaning at the time.

Revisionism has already affected Grand Prix racing. The French who invented the concept of national Grands Prix fiddled with the numbering of their own race. Not being content with the inaugural French GP as long ago as 1906, they decided that the earlier Paris-to-somewhere-else races should also count as French Grands Prix. They chose one race per year so that the 1906 race became about the tenth race in the series. I don't think anyone takes it too seriously, but it just shows that nothing is immune from tinkering, as Don puts it.

But then we are all guilty of it. In the late 70's Lotus called their cars JPS Specials. They may even have given them type numbers. In their literature of the time the cars were not referred to as Lotuses, but who ever calls them JPS Specials today. While many members of the racing press went along with the charade, Jenks saw through it immediately and absolutely refused to refer to the cars as anything other than Lotuses. He was quite vitriolic about it in Motorsport.

At the same time Players paid a good deal of money for the Silverstone race to bear their name. It's official title was the John Player British Grand Prix. That's how it was titled on the program and 'John Player' is in much larger type than 'British'. Again most of the press who knew where their bread was buttered went along with it. But as soon as the race was over, it was referred to simply as the British GP. There have been many sponsored races since then, but we always end up reverting to what the race should have been called, not what it was called at the time. It makes sense to me, but it's revisionism all the same.

Back to the post-hoc Championships here in the States. Don mentioned that one set of champions was nominated by The Motor. I can't remember the name of the gentleman involved, but I think he was the racing editor or main racing columnist of the magazine, probably not the editor. At the time he was most revered in the sport, so when he chose to create champions retrospectively, no-one balked at the idea. And they accepted his choices. They may not have been the official AAA champions, but they were the official champions of The Motor. I have no problem with this as long as they are always referred to as 'The Motor Champions' and we realize that the drivers were not competing for the award at the time.

And as for two champions in one year, that has been a (woeful) feature of American sport for years. It sometimes seems that there are as many boxing champions today as there are boxers.