17 replies to this topic

[Flat Black 84]

Are y'all aware of any Indy 500 and/or American OW racing history archival collections? It seems logical that the IMS Museum should have a repository, but I saw no mention of any on the Museum's website. Other likely sites would be universities such as Purdue, Indiana and the Indianapolis Public Library, but I haven't yet checked there. I would appreciate any clues and tips.

Joe Yeager

[thatguy0101]

IMS has a huge library of images. The public can go upstairs at the museum and look at proof books organized by year.

Edited by thatguy0101, 20 May 2011 - 16:16.

[Flat Black 84]

Thanks, thatguy.

I'm primarily interested in textual materials, though.

[thatguy0101]

The Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen is well regarded, but I've never been.

[Flat Black 84]

My wife is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Maybe I'll veer off to The Glen next time I'm up that way.

[asapiro]

The Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen is well regarded, but I've never been.

I have. Go!

[Jim Thurman]

The IMRRC at Watkins Glen has the best repository of American racing in general. In the past, I've heard of researchers toiling away at the Ford Museum and Detroit Public Library, but I don't know what their holdings currently are.

Gordon White offers microfilm of AAA records, National Speed Sport News and other early racing publications.

Anything in particular you are looking for?

[Flat Black 84]

Forgive my ignorance, but who is this Gordon White of whom you speak? The name sounds familiar.

The main thing I'm interested in right now is the history of the movement to abolish, or at least dramatically curtail auto racing. I know a Senator Newberger from Oregon introduced legislation to do just that in '55, and of course, various columnists were perpetually wailing and rending. This phenomenon interests me, but I'm at a bit of a loss for where to begin.

[RShaw]

Much of the "ban racing" hysteria that blew up in '55 in the US as well as in Europe can be traced to the negative publicity that naturally resulted from the Le Mans disaster of that year. In my own state of Colorado the governor issued an edict banning the use of state public roads for racing less than a month after that tragedy, citing it specifically as one of the reasons for doing so.

On the one hand enthusiasts lost any number of local public road venues, most of them 'round-the-houses events in small mountain towns desperate for any kind of economic stimulus. On the other hand it could be said that the unavailability of public roads for racing led to the development of didicated road racing facilities such as Continental Divide Raceway.

I know from my own experience information on this kind of history is hard to come by, buried in unindexed newspaper microfilm, and a tedious process to retreive.

Ron Shaw

[Flat Black 84]

Yes, RShaw, I suspect this is a very difficult topic to research. I mean, one cannot even know for certain which newspapers employed anti-racing columnists. It would be entirely possible to sift through an entire run of sports pages for a particular rag from ca. 1895-1975 and hit a dry hole. Quite a waste of time. I can only think one approach would be to read the pro-racing publications (Speed Age, NSSN, Hot Rod, etc.) for info on this topic and go from there.

[USA Diligence]

Henry Ford Museum has the Benson Ford Research Center that is open to the public if you ever visit the Detroit, MI area. Their holdings are massive (NOT merely Ford related materials) AND you can search them online (follow the search the collection link) via the Benson Ford Research Center's website at http://www.thehenryf...arch/index.aspx

FYI, for open wheel racing, they have the Phil Harms Collection which included a lot of paper/textual material.

Regards,

Chad Struer

Are y'all aware of any Indy 500 and/or American OW racing history archival collections? It seems logical that the IMS Museum should have a repository, but I saw no mention of any on the Museum's website. Other likely sites would be universities such as Purdue, Indiana and the Indianapolis Public Library, but I haven't yet checked there. I would appreciate any clues and tips.

Joe Yeager

[Flat Black 84]

Is the Phil Harms Collection available online? A cursory perusal of the website produced a goose egg.

[Jim Thurman]

Forgive my ignorance, but who is this Gordon White of whom you speak? The name sounds familiar.

The main thing I'm interested in right now is the history of the movement to abolish, or at least dramatically curtail auto racing. I know a Senator Newberger from Oregon introduced legislation to do just that in '55, and of course, various columnists were perpetually wailing and rending. This phenomenon interests me, but I'm at a bit of a loss for where to begin.

Gordon Eliot White is an auto racing writer/historian who has done several books, most notably on Kurtis and Offenhauser.

I assume you've checked Google News? Have you checked on line archives available through Universities in your area?

It's probably for another thread, but you might not find much on Sen. Neuberger's call to ban auto racing. All I've run across were reports of his statement before Congress. Obviously, even at the time, it gained little interest, notice or traction.

I've actually found some of the stories about attacks on racing to range from greatly exaggerated to semi-apocryphal, probably from re-telling. At least as far as some of the publications cited. And that is taking into account those which actually did attack racing (which seems was more common in the 60's through 80's).

And, d'oh on me about the Ford Museum holdings. I was trying to recall who had Phil Harms' collection and didn't bother to check in doing a quick reply. Thanks for reminding us Chad

[Flat Black 84]

I knew the name sounded familiar--I own a copy of his Lost Race Tracks.

And I've yet to begin researching this topic in earnest. At this point I'm just trying to frame the project and determine if it's worthwhile. If the sources are scattered, difficult to access and would require extensive travel to do so, then I need not bother.

Incidentally, I gather that criticism of racing continues to this day, namely from the green movement. Whether it has coalesced into any sort of a significant drive to ban racing, I do not know. I'm guessing not.

[D-Type]

Is the Phil Harms Collection available online? A cursory perusal of the website produced a goose egg.

See HERE

[Flat Black 84]

Much obliged.

[USA Diligence]

I might suggest contacting the librarian at the Benson Ford Research center and asking about the Harms archive. They have done indexing, but may not have updated the database as yet. It was recently obtained and was massive in its content size and variety so I am certain it is an ongoing project.

Regards,

Chad Struer

Are y'all aware of any Indy 500 and/or American OW racing history archival collections? It seems logical that the IMS Museum should have a repository, but I saw no mention of any on the Museum's website. Other likely sites would be universities such as Purdue, Indiana and the Indianapolis Public Library, but I haven't yet checked there. I would appreciate any clues and tips.

Joe Yeager

[Flat Black 84]

I'm a bit surprised the IMS Museum doesn't have a colossal textual archive. There's no reason I can think of that IMS shouldn't be the scholarly as well as the racing hub of American OW racing.