Ingrassia, Brian M. Speed Capital: Indianapolis Auto Racing and the Making of Modern America. University of Illinois Press, 2024. Pp xii+ 286. $24.95 paper.
Reviewed by Ari de Wilde
In Speed Capital: Indianapolis Auto Racing and the Making of Modern America, Brian M. Ingrassia chronicles the history of America’s most famous race: the Indianapolis 500. Ingrassia is Associate Professor in History at West Texas A & M University. He is no newcomer to the field of sport history. His first book, The Rise of Gridiron University: Higher Education’s Uneasy Alliance with Big-Time Football, won the North American Society for Sport History’s annual book award in 2013. He is also editor for the award-winning Sport and Popular Culture Series at the University of Tennessee Press.
In his follow-up book, Ingrassia does not disappoint: Speed Capital is well researched and well written. Ingrassia begins with the speedway’s main founder and general entrepreneur, auto-parts mogul Carl Graham Fisher.
In Chapter 1, Ingrassia describes the founding of Indianapolis and its evolving transportation, which allowed the city to be connected to both the Midwest and Chicago, as well as to East Coast markets. It also discusses Carl Fisher’s childhood and youth, from his fixation with bicycles in the 1890s to becoming a car racer in the 1900s. Chapter 2 “America’s Brooklands,” describes the track’s development created by Fisher, enriched by his car lighting company called “Prest-O-Lite.” He was not alone in wanting to develop a speedway. After dabbling in details such as locating the track in resort town French Lick or having a three-mile oval, Fisher and company settled on the now-famous 2.5 mile circuit near Indianapolis. It was not initially paved with brick. It also did not just host auto races. The first event in 1909 was a balloon competition. The first auto races, which also started in 1909, were dangerous affairs with racers and their “ride along mechanics” crashing with frequency. With calls for change to make the speedway safer, Fisher and his team ultimately chose to pave in brick. The brick track surface made the circuit unique and contributed to its fame.
In Chapter 3, “Speed Carnivals,” Ingrassia describes Indianapolis and its motorway becoming a tourist destination in the early 1910s. Fisher was also involved with building the Lincoln Highway going to California, a transcontinental highway, and the Dixie Highway, which ran North and South. In Chapter 4, the author discusses the great flooding of 1913 and the still strong international attendance from both racers and spectators. Furthermore, he also discusses Fisher’s other entrepreneurial ventures during this time, namely developing properties on Miami Beach.
In Chapter 5, Ingrassia looks at the World War I years. During that period, there was not any car racing (1917-1918), but Fisher and others had renewed interest in the possibilities of aviation, both at the racetrack and in and around Indianapolis. In Chapter 6, the author looks at the race in the 1920s—the Golden Age of Sports. He discusses both the growth of racing and “space annihilation” in popular culture. But it was also a time the speedway was aging badly, though still renowned for its brick surface. In that context, Fisher, with eyes on other entrepreneurial activities, sold the speedway.
In Chapters 7 and 8, Ingrassia turns his attention to famed flying ace and motor entrepreneur, Eddie Rickenbacker. He bought the speedway from Fisher, helping the speedway stay popular in the late-1920s and the Depressed 1930s. The year 1939 also saw the death of Carl Fisher, who had been struggling with various health issues. In the final chapter, Ingrassia covers the end of Rickenbacker era, which ran to 1946. Once again, there was not any racing during World War II and, again, there were questions about the track’s survival. An entrepreneur named Tony Hulman bought the facility. He reignited excitement for the track and in the late-1950s built a museum to capitalize on nostalgia. Also in the chapter, Ingrassia discusses the fall of both gender and racial barriers at the track. In regard to racial barriers, there was finally a Black driver competing in 1991. In terms of gender, Janet Guthrie was the first female driver to qualify to race the Indianapolis 500 in 1977.
Overall, Ingrassia does a fantastic job of threading the line between a scholarly and popular text. While excellently explaining the early history of the “500,” he also puts in a scholarly shell and refers to the narrative as a “cultural text.” His primary and secondary research were both excellent. Ingrassia’s text on America’s “Speed Capital” is a must read for scholars of motor racing and sport history scholars in general. The book is heavily weighted towards the “modern” period and the early 20th century history of the Brickyard. But, perhaps, the more recent events belong in a second volume. On the whole, though, Ingrassia delivers a tour de force with this text.
0 Comments