1917 National Championship Trail

Of all places, the 18 March 1917 edition of the Atlanta Constitution lists the events for the 1917 AAA National Championship Trail:

30 May -- Indianapolis
9 June -- Chicago
4 July -- Omaha
14 July -- Des Moines
28 July -- Tacoma
3 September -- Cincinnati
16 September -- Providence
29 September -- New York

Not quite the listing most seem to take for granted....

Oh, here is the list of "Other Speedway Events for 1917" that was also in the article:

19 May -- New York
23 June -- Cincinnati
4 August -- Kansas City
6 October -- Kansas City
7 October -- New York
13 October -- Chicago

According to Phil Harms files, the revised list is as follows:

30 May -- Cincinnati
16 June -- Chicago
4 July -- Omaha
14 July -- Minneapolis
3 September -- Tacoma
3 September -- Chicago
15 September -- Providence
22 September -- New York (is it Sheepshead Bay)

October 13 Chicago race would count for championship.

Well, as it is painfully obvious, I am new to this. Is there a definitive and indisputable "official" list for the 1917 Championship Trail? And, if so, what races are included?

LaRacasse, there wasn't a AAA driving champion or races for the years 1909 to 1915, or 1917, 1918, and 1919, not until about 1927 when they awarded championship(s) retroactively. 1916 was the only legitimate early AAA championship year. 1920 was also revised after the fact.
There are a few threads here about the confusion. Don is probably the best one to direct you to them.

Don, thanks for sharing that schedule. If it wasn't for the USA going to war in April 1917(?) it would have been one heck of a racing season . Was there any sort of "Championship Forecast" in the Constitution article?

Originally posted by Kvadrat
According to Phil Harms files, the revised list is as follows:

30 May -- Cincinnati
16 June -- Chicago
4 July -- Omaha
14 July -- Minneapolis
3 September -- Tacoma
3 September -- Chicago
15 September -- Providence
22 September -- New York (is it Sheepshead Bay)

October 13 Chicago race would count for championship.

Ah, that is how things finally seemed to work out, but scarcely what was planned by the Contest Board who formally abandoned the 1917 championship on 16 May 1917 during a meeting of the Contest Board in New York City. Indeed, a motion was made by Mr. C.G. Sinsabaugh and seconded by Mr. David Beecroft, "...that the 1917 A.A.A. Championship Award be abandoned." The motion was approved.

Furthermore, on 24 November 1917, the Contest Board passed a resolution stating "that it be the sense of the Contest Board of the American Automobile Association that it will not sanction automobile contests during the period of war emergency and that during the aforesaid period the rules of the Contest Board shall be suspended." This was a motion made by Mr. Beecroft and seconded by Mr. Webb.

I haven't found anything in the Contest Board materials I have explaining why the Championship was not revived in 1919, but considering that in November 1918 there was serious consideration by the A.A.A. to drop motor racing, something the Contest Board did not support, there was a bit of a tussle going on within the A.A.A.

In his review of the 1919 season for Motor Age, Lambert Sullivan captures the season quite well with his title -- "1919 Is a 'Filler In' in Motor Car Racing."

Welly-well, guess what I found in the 15 October 1916 issue of the Chicago Tribune? A listing of events that the newly-formed American Speedway Association selected for 1917 and which Contest Board Kennerdell announced as the assigned championship events for 1917:

May 30 -- Indianapolis
June 9 -- Chicago
July 4 -- Omaha
July 14 -- Des Moines
July 28 -- Tacoma
Sept. 3 -- Cincinnati
Sept. 15 -- Providence
Sept. 29 -- New York

Events on the schedule in addition to the championship events were:

May 18 -- New York
June 28 -- Cincinatti
Aug. 4 -- Kansas City
Oct. 13 -- Chicago
Oct. 27 -- New York

Also in this article was that a championship event had to be a minimum of 100 miles, but "may be 250, 300, 350, or 500 miles" should the promoter chose to do so. The minimum cash prize was $100 per mile for each race.

More food for thought.....

Too bad I can't edit my post, but......

LA Times for 22 March 1917 lists seven sites that are to make up the 1917 speedway championship:

May 30 -- Indianapolis Speedway
July 4 -- Omaha Speeedway
July 14 -- Des Moines Speedway
September 3 -- Cincinnati Speedway
September 15 -- Providence Speedway
September 29 -- New York Speedway
October 13 -- Chicago Speedway


Sorry.....

These seven championship sites are also mentioned in the AAA motor sports calendar listed in the New York Times of 1 April 1917.

Yet, a week earlier James Allison had already called off the Indianapolis event, because “racing means taking away from the Government the services of skilled mechanics, who can be used by the Government to better advantage in time of war than by a speedway corporation as a means of entertainment”.


May 10 – Speedway, Uniontown, Penn.
May 19 – Speedway, New York
May 30 – Speedway, Indianapolis
May 30 – Track, Walla Walla, Wash.
May 30 – Speedway, Uniontown, Penn.
June 9 – Speedway, Chicago
June 16 – Speedway, (dirt) Kansas City
June 23 – Speedway, Cincinnati
July 4 – Road race, Visalla, Cal.
July 4 – Track, Spokane, Wash.
July 4 – Benton Harbor, Mich.
July 4 – Speedway, Uniontown, Penn.
July 4 – Speedway, Tacoma, Wash.
July 4 – Speedway, Omaha
July 14 – Speedway, Des Moines
July 15 – Track, Missoala, Mont.
July 17-19 – Intercity Reliability
July 22 – Track, Anaconda, Mont.
July 29 – Track, Great Falls, Mont.
Aug. 4 – Speedway, (dirt) Kanasas City
Aug. 5 – Track, Billings, Mont.
Sept. 3 – Speedway, Cincinnati
Sept. 6 – Track, Red Bank, N.J.
Sept. 8 – Hill climb, Pike's Peak, Col.
Sept. 15 – Speedway, Providence
Sept. 22 – Track, Allentown, Penn.
Sept. 23 – Track, Trenton, N.J.
Sept. 29 – Speedway, New York
Sept. 30 – Speedway, Uniontown, Penn.
Oct. 6 – Speedway, (dirt) Kanasas City
Oct. 6 – Speedway, Uniontown, Penn
Oct. 6 – Track, Danbury, Conn.
Oct. 13 – Speedway, Chicago
Oct. 13 – Track, Richmond, Va.
Oct. 27 – Speedway, New York

(bold: AAA championship award event)