Writer of Pop Culture

It’s surprising to learn that the first race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t involve cars! About two months before the classic oval raceway was completed, the Speedway launched a balloon race where nine gas-filled balloons raced with 40,000 spectators watching.

The main event happened on this day in 1909. About 15,000-20,000 people showed up to watch the race which featured 15 drivers and their teams. It was a rough race.

During the practice, the drivers got covered in dirt, oil and tar from the chuckholes on the track. During the first 250-mile race, the leader of the pack, Louis Chevrolet, became temporarily blinded when a rock jumped up and smashed through his goggles. Driver Wilfred Bourque flipped end over end just before hitting a fence post during the last part of the race. He died at the scene.

The last two days of racing were almost scrapped due to safety concerns. However, after assurances that the track would be safe to drive on, the race was on. Fortunately, no major accidents occurred during the second day of racing. However, thing went very differently during the 300-mile grand finale on the third day.

During that fateful race, Charlie Merz’s front right tire blew out which caused the car to crash through a fence and into the way of many spectators. Two of them died. Then, another driver, Bruce Keen, hit a pothole and crashed into a bridge support. Obviously, this halted any more races for the track unless significant improvements were made. Less than a month later, the track was paved the rest is history.