Larry Lawrence | July 4, 2018
Archives: The Elgin 250
America’s first major motorcycle 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, including motorcycling. The July 4th, 1913 Elgin International Road Race, ran on the same course as the famous Auto Cup Classic, was a huge deal in what was perhaps the peak year in terms of 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.
Archives: The Elgin 250
The first big road race in America, utilized country roads on the northwest outskirts 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 preparation 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 members to stage the event. Grandstands were built at the start-finish line to accommodate 10,000.
The club expected to profit big from the event. With the incredible 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 optimistic. Trackside temperatures of 100 degrees kept the crowd down on race day at Elgin. Newspapers described the crowd as “several thousand”, which meant the club lost hugely.
Team came to Elgin a few days prior to the race so riders could practice on the course. Apparently lavish accommodations were not the order of the day, even for factory riders in 1913. The Elgin Daily News reported that most of the riders camped alongside the race course near the pits.
With this being Chicago-based Exclesior’s home race, the factory entered 14 riders at Elgin in hopes of winning with sheer numbers. Indian had six entries, Merkel five, Yale with four, Harley-Davidson, Jefferson and Dayton had three entries each and Thor had two. There were also entries from Reading-Standard, DeLuxe, Silent Flyer and Pope.
Elgin fans had their own rider to cheer on in local racer Snowdon Lonberger, who gave them great hope when he qualified second on his Indian. Seems that Lonberger had pre-ridden the course dozens of times getting the jump in terms of track knowledge on his competitors.
Excelsior’s massive effort seemed to payoff, at least early on, when their rider Bob Perry took the lead for the first 10 laps of the race. On lap 11 Indian’s Charles “Fearless” Balke moved up and to take over the lead. Balke recorded the fastest lap on the circuit, at 8 minutes, 32 seconds, that’s right at a 60-mile-per-hour average, remarkable considering how primitive the spindly, bicycle-like machines were in 1913. For Balke Indian had made a special race bike specifically designed for the Elgin course. Balke led most of the remaining race, except for a brief period when he pitted and was passed by fellow Indian rider Charles Gustafson, but he was dogged all day by Merkel’s Lee Taylor. Taylor made a bid for the lead in the late going, but a tire puncture on the final lap took him out of contention for the win. Lee limped home in sixth, first non-Indian finisher.
In spite of the tremendous speeds riders were capable of reaching at Elgin, there were few accidents. Reading-Standard’s Gray Sloop crashed twice but escaped with nothing more that a few bruises. Indian rider William Teubner actually crashed through a fence in rounding a hairpin curve. His motorcycle was slightly damaged and he was forced to pit for repairs and still managed to come home in fifth.
Californian Balke finished the 250 miles in four hours, 34.52 minutes, averaging 55.4 miles per hour. Indian swept the top five positions, with Indianapolis’ Cannonball Baker finishing second, just over three minutes behind Balke. Balke earned $500 (nearly $13,000 today) for his win. It was paid out in gold coin! Baker took home $250 for second and Gustafson $100 for third.
After the event the news was not so good. In spite of the club reporting 5000 spectators, it lost $2000 on the event (over $50,000 today). The club remained optimistic, a spokesperson saying they hoped that with better weather the next year, the event would become profitable. But it never happened. Perhaps discouraged by the low spectator turnout, the Chicago club never attempted to put on the race again.
The Elgin 250 might have been a seminal race in American motorcycling. Had the even been as successful as it was predicted, motorcycle road racing might have taken off in this country as it did in Europe.