Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1000688
CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE A merica's first major motor- cycle road race took place in, what seems at first glance, an unlikely place to hold what was being dubbed an International Road Race—Elgin, Illinois. Elgin was more famous for being a watch-manufacturing town, but then you consider that Elgin, is only 35 miles from Chicago, what was then the second largest city in America. The entire Great Lakes region was a hotspot for early motor development, includ- ing motorcycling. The July 4th, 1913, Elgin International Road Race ran on the same course as the famous Auto Cup Classic and was a huge deal in what was perhaps the peak year in terms of P118 THE ELGIN 250 line to accommodate 10,000. The club expected to profit big from the event. With the incred- ible interest paid to the race by the manufacturers, the big-name riders and the extensive pre-race publicity given to the race, some were expecting close to 100,000 spectators to show up for the race. Expecting such a massive crowd, three military companies were brought in at standby to maintain order. Had anywhere near that number showed, Elgin may very well have still been on the racing calendar for years, but those estimates proved wildly op- timistic. Trackside temperatures of 100 degrees kept the crowd down on race day at Elgin. News- papers described the crowd as "several thousand," which meant (Left) The winner got this trophy plus $500. (Right) Charles "Fearless" Balke won the Elgin 250 in 1913. numbers of motorcycle manufacturers in this country. And nearly all of the major factories entered their best machines and riders to try to win the Elgin event. The first big road race in America utilized country roads on the northwest out- skirts of Elgin. You can still drive those very roads today. It was 8.5 miles long and the top riders could average close to 60 miles per hour on the gravel—graded and prepped with 30 thousand gallons of sprayed oil especially for the event. Riders could hit top speeds of 70 miles per hour. A total of 45 riders, nearly all factory backed, were entered and 2000 gallons of gas was shipped in and stored in a farmer's barn in prepa- ration for the race. The race was even covered by the automobile press of the day. The contest was promoted by the Chicago Motorcycle Club, which raised over $15,000 ($380,000 in today's money) from its mem- bers to stage the event. Grand- stands were built at the start-finish