Cycle News

Indian's star Jake DeRosier, the young up-and-comer Charles "Fearless" Balke, Chicago speedster Fred Huyck, Thor's John Merz, board-track star Ray Seymour, Merkel ace Stanley Kel- logg, and veteran A.G. Chapple from New York City. It was the best of the best—riders who had the steely nerve to race on board tracks on racing machines with no clutch, much less brakes. These were the riders who were telling the FAM that Indy was unridable. Riders tried to compromise by asking the FAM if they could race their smaller machines, thus elimi- nating the meet's championship status, but the FAM stood firm. The riders would have to ride their championship bikes or face the consequences. Thursday's races had been rained out and a mucky track faced the riders the next day—Friday the 13th. Under threat of suspension, riders took to the track. It wasn't long before things went from bad to worse. Jake DeRosier crashed in the 10-Mile Professional race and hit a fence- post. To give some perspective, DeRosier was the Miguel Duhamel of his day—he was even French Canadian, a veteran and well-liked by fans and fellow riders. The front tire of his factory Indian simply tore off the rim. There was nothing DeRosier could have done. DeRosier at first thought he was okay. He walked away from the crash, but he soon felt sick. He was found to have internal injuries and was admitted to the hospital in serious condition. Doctors said he would not be able to sit up for six months. The determined DeRosier proved them wrong and quickly recovered. He would reach the pin- nacle of his career two years later, when he held every FAM speed record for professional riders at the conclusion of 1911. After DeRosier's crash, most of the factories withdrew their entries, saving riders from the threatened FAM suspension. The Thor team was the only one not to withdraw, and it was three Thor riders and a young independent local named E.G. Baker (who went on to become the great "Cannonball" Baker) who lined up for what would be the final race, the 10-mile Ama- teur Championship. The rest of the riders lined the fence at the starting line and jeered and yelled insults at the four who had decided to race. J.S. Tormey opened up a huge lead on his factory Thor, but, almost predictably, Tormey's rear tire was torn from the rim, and he was thrown, unhurt, from the bike. Almost fittingly, the only non-fac- tory rider, Baker, won the race on his privately entered Indian. After that race, the organiz- ers decided to pull the plug on the event. Races to be held on Saturday were canceled. The FAM walked away with a bruised reputation. The Indianapolis Mo- tor Speedway and local papers largely ignored the controversy after the fact, acting almost as if the event never happened and quickly turning their attention to upcoming auto races. The 1909 Indy motorcycle race eventually faded from memory and was nearly lost to time, until a century later, rediscovered by his- tory in preparation for the second motorcycle race to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. CN This Archives edition is reprinted from the August 22, 2007, issue of Cycle News. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be archives themselves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor CN III ARCHIVES P118 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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