When Indy Came To Cincy
The Auto Racing World Enjoyed Greatest Spectacle In The Queen City In 1917
It was Memorial Day Eve of 1984. I checked my bike tires one final time, twisting a wrench that was two sizes too big on the nut of my rear tire, pretending I was in the “garage” at the Indy Speedway. I flipped the kickstand and walked my ride over to the starting line at Miller Speedway where my brothers impatiently waited for me.
The sound of Indy car engines at the Indy 500 that day blared from the radio on the porch as I yelled “Go!”
And we were off!
Miller Speedway was of course, just our backyard in Latonia, KY. It was a hastily constructed course, and by hastily, I mean put together that morning with only bright orange extension cords laid out it an oval shape separating the track from the infield.
Turn one was dangerously close to a tree. Turn two was a little bumpy on account of roots coming through the dirt. Turn three was the easiest turn as it was relatively flat. Turn four was brutal. It was uphill and after 15-20 laps, you were walking your bike up it.
Ah, the memories.
For me, the Indy 500 has always been special. A great spectacle of ridiculous speed and masterful driving. My father, who hails from the Hoosier state, passed his interest in the race to me when we’d watch the replay (the race was always blacked out in greater Cincinnati) and listen live on the radio starting at 11am that last Sunday of May. And let me tell you, listening to a race that consists of a bunch of drivers going in a circle, especially when you are a kid, is as exciting as getting your hair cut. So, we’d turn up the radio to hear those engines and ride around in circles until our legs gave out, or we got into an argument about how many laps we’d run.
My love affair with Indy took off when we visited the IMS Museum in the mid-80s. Sitting in a race car is still a top 10 moment for me. As a young man in 1993, I had the fortune of being friends with a guy whose brother worked for a racing team. If being in an Indy car as a child was a top 10 moment, being in the garage area at the Indy 500 was a top 5 moment.
When I became a filmmaker/historian as an adult, I stumbled into research for various projects that pertained to Indy car and racetracks. I even did a short film on a discovery I made in 2015 about a 1909 proposed speedway that would have literally been right next to my backyard in Latonia.
This film of course led me to another interesting factoid: The time the “Indy 500” ran at The Cincinnati Speedway.
The Cincinnati Speedway was a 2 mile track built in Sharonville in 1916 on 640 acres along Reading Road. The board track was built by Harry Hake, the same architect who built Crosley Field among many other Cincinnati landmarks. It had 17 degree banked turns with 33 degrees at the top, and 6 degree banked straightaways that were 70 feet wide.
The first race at the new Speedway was Labor Day weekend of 1916. The 1st International Sweepstakes Race was a 300 mile affair won by John Aitken who averaged 97.059 MPH. The event was a great success as 30,000 plus fans filled the stands.
A few months later, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway cancelled its 1917 schedule due to WWI. The Indy track grounds was briefly used as an airplane repair facility. With no famous Indy 500 being run, the officials at the Cincinnati Speedway saw an opportunity and applied for the May 30 race date. They were awarded a 250 mile race dubbed the Cincinnati Sweepstakes which in essence replaced the great spectacle of Indy. Nearly 65,000 race enthusiasts packed into the track making it one of the largest attended sporting events in Cincinnati history. The race was won by Louis Chevrolet, who averaged 102 MPH, collecting $12,500 in prize money. Louis just beat out his brother Gaston for the first place prize.
The track enjoyed some modest success, but like most board tracks, mother nature took control. By early 1920, the track was closed and the remaining boards and lumber were used for Camp Sherman in Chillicothe. Much like my backyard track in the 1980s, it was a brief but memorable run for the old Cincinnati Speedway.