AAA Contest Board
The AAA Contest Board was the
All of the races at the
The AAA Contest Board dissolved and decided to focus strictly on helping the automobiling public as a result of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.[2]
History
AAA was established in
With the success of the racing board's experience sanctioning automobile events in 1904, the board announced a national track championship for 1905. The National Motor Car Championship was the first time in American auto racing history that a points system was used to officially decide an annual champion. From 1906 through 1915 the racing board, inexplicably, recognized no official championship seasons. It did, however, continue to sanction numerous individual events, the Vanderbilt Cup and events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In 1908, the ACA created the American Grand Prize, another Grand Prix style race in the U.S., along with the then established Vanderbilt Cup. This race started a feud between the ACA and AAA. Later in 1908 it was decided that AAA would sanction all big time racing nationally and the ACA would sanction all international events held on American soil. On December 2, 1908, AAA dissolved the Racing Board and created the Contest Board soon after. Though the rationale for this decision has been lost with time, the move was most likely done to allow AAA to oversee all automobile events and not just racing contests.[3]
The Manufacturers Contest Association (MCA) urged AAA to organize racing so American manufacturers could race mostly stock configuration cars, relevant to the needs of the general public, and ban the pure race cars being imported from Europe. The stock car style rules continued until 1916, when the Contest Board relaxed the rules allowing purpose built machines back into competition ahead of its next officially recognized championship season in 1916. Although AAA did not declare national champions from 1906 through 1915, the American automobile journal Motor Age published who they regarded the most outstanding American driver during the years of 1909–1915. These picks have become de facto national champions of the day.[1]
During the
After World War I, the race car specifications for the national championship were mostly aligned with what the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wanted to run during its
National Championship results
Year | Champion | ||
---|---|---|---|
AAA National Motor Car Championship | |||
1905 | Barney Oldfield | ||
1906 | No official national championships | ||
1907 | |||
1908 | |||
1909 | |||
1910 | |||
1911 | |||
1912 | |||
1913 | |||
1914 | |||
1915 | |||
Year | AAA National Championship | ||
1916 | Dario Resta | ||
1917 | No official national championships (World War I/flu pandemic) | ||
1918 | |||
1919 | |||
1920 | Gaston Chevrolet | ||
1921 | Tommy Milton | ||
1922 | Jimmy Murphy | ||
1923 | Eddie Hearne | ||
1924 | Jimmy Murphy | ||
1925 | Pete DePaolo | ||
1926 | Harry Hartz | ||
1927 | Pete DePaolo | ||
1928 | Louis Meyer | ||
1929 | Louis Meyer | ||
1930 | Billy Arnold | ||
1931 | Louis Schneider | ||
1932 | Bob Carey | ||
1933 | Louis Meyer | ||
1934 | Bill Cummings | ||
1935 | Kelly Petillo | ||
1936 | Mauri Rose | ||
1937 | Wilbur Shaw | ||
1938 | Floyd Roberts | ||
1939 | Wilbur Shaw | ||
1940 | Rex Mays | ||
1941 | Rex Mays | ||
1942 | No automobile racing held due to World War II | ||
1943 | |||
1944 | |||
1945 | |||
1946 | Ted Horn | ||
1947 | Ted Horn | ||
1948 | Ted Horn | ||
1949 | Johnnie Parsons | ||
1950 | Henry Banks | ||
1951 | Tony Bettenhausen | ||
1952 | Chuck Stevenson | ||
1953 | Sam Hanks | ||
1954 | Jimmy Bryan | ||
1955 | Bob Sweikert |
Contemporary publication selections
Each year from 1909 to 1915 and again from 1917 to 1919, the American automobile journal Motor Age selected a "driver of the year".[5] Likewise, other contemporary publications such as The Horseless Age, MoToR, The New York Times, and Los Angeles Times published similar selections. These were similar in concept to newspaper decisions. While these selections are strictly unofficial, they are customarily regarded as the de facto champions for the respective seasons.
Year | Motor Age (annual) |
Horseless Age (annual) |
Others (annual) |
---|---|---|---|
1909 | Bert Dingley | — | — |
1910 | Ralph Mulford | — | — |
1911 | Harvey Herrick | — | — |
1912 | Ralph DePalma | — | Teddy Tetzlaff (L.A. Times) |
Bob Burman (NYT) | |||
Ralph DePalma (Chicago) | |||
1913 | Earl Cooper | Earl Cooper | |
1914 | Ralph DePalma | Ralph DePalma (road racing) | Ralph DePalma (MoToR) |
René Thomas (speedways) | |||
1915 | Earl Cooper (road racing) | Earl Cooper (road racing) | Earl Cooper (MoToR) (road racing) |
Gil Andersen (speedways) | Eddie Rickenbacker (speedways) | Dario Resta (MoToR) (speedways) | |
Eddie Rickenbacker (tracks) | Earl Cooper (overall) | — | |
1916 | — | — | — |
1917 | Earl Cooper | — | — |
1918 | Ralph Mulford | — | — |
1919 | Tommy Milton (road racing) | — | — |
Eddie Hearne (speedways) | |||
Eddie Hearne (overall) |
Controversy
Between the years of 1902 and 1919, although AAA sanctioned many races, an official national championship of drivers was only declared and awarded in 1905 and 1916. On two separate occasions, Contest Board record keepers changed the results of certain seasons, and used extraneous points tables and methods to calculate retrospective national champions for years in which one had not been declared. These ill-advised records made their way into official publications, books, magazines, and media guides, and largely due to the scarcity of records, were accepted as fact for decades by an unsuspecting public. It was not until further research was undertaken during the 1970s and 1980s that the truth behind the history was brought back to light. These actions collectively have made it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction regarding the first two decades of AAA sanctioned national championship racing.
Retrospectively awarded champions
Sometime during the years 1926 through 1929, Arthur Means, the Assistant Secretary of the AAA Contest Board, with the approval of Secretary Val Haresnape, retrospectively calculated championship results for major AAA-sanctioned races contested in 1909–1915 and 1917–1920. Means used points tables from the mid-1920s to create his hypothetical calculations. By reworking the 1920 docket, adding five events that were originally run as non-points or "exhibition" races, the pair effectively stripped Gaston Chevrolet of his 1920 championship; instead declaring Tommy Milton the new champion. However, by no later than 1929, they restored the 1920 championship back to Chevrolet.[6][5][7] Their work, meant to be for "comparative reasons" only, was soon accepted as fact. In addition, various arithmetic inconsistencies created further confusion and glaring anomalies.
In 1951, Russ Catlin a sportswriter and publicist for the AAA Contest Board, made substantial revisions to the recorded history of early AAA racing. Using his own devised system of awarding championship points, and building upon the erroneous work previously generated by Means and Haresnape, Catlin fabricated, distorted, and/or negated AAA Contest Board records for 1902–1920. Catlin first published his list in the 1952 Indianapolis 500 program, and also published what he believed to be a history of AAA racing, intended to celebrate its upcoming 50th anniversary. Catlin retroactively created seven new champions (1902–1908), and revised others. He named Victor Hémery the champion for 1905, the winner of that year's Vanderbilt Cup; it is possible he was unaware that an official 1905 champion (Barney Oldfield) had actually been declared. He also named George Robertson the champion for 1909, differing from Means and Haresnape, who had settled on Bert Dingley. Furthermore, Catlin rerevised the 1920 champion to Tommy Milton once more, even after Means and Haresnape had backtracked that decision and given it back to Gaston Chevrolet.[8][9] IndyCar currently recognizes Russ Catlin's list from 1909 to 1919, but with Gaston Chevrolet as champion for 1920.[10]
All retrospectively awarded championships named by Means & Haresnape and Catlin are unequivocally considered unofficial by professional historians and statisticians. Furthermore, most consider them
Year | Official | Means & Haresnape (1927–29) |
Russ Catlin (1951) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1902 | — | — | Harry Harkness | ||
1903 | — | — | Barney Oldfield | ||
1904 | — | — | George Heath | ||
1905 | Barney Oldfield | — | Victor Hémery | ||
1906 | — | — | Joe Tracy | ||
1907 | — | — | Eddie Bald | ||
1908 | — | — | Lewis Strang | ||
1909 | — | Bert Dingley | George Robertson | ||
1910 | — | Ray Harroun | Ray Harroun | ||
1911 | — | Ralph Mulford | Ralph Mulford | ||
1912 | — | Ralph DePalma | Ralph DePalma | ||
1913 | — | Earl Cooper | Earl Cooper | ||
1914 | — | Ralph DePalma | Ralph DePalma | ||
1915 | — | Earl Cooper | Earl Cooper | ||
1916 | Dario Resta | Dario Resta | Dario Resta | ||
1917 | — | Earl Cooper | Earl Cooper | ||
1918 | — | Ralph Mulford | Ralph Mulford | ||
1919 | — | Howdy Wilcox | Howdy Wilcox | ||
1920 | Gaston Chevrolet | Tommy Milton Gaston ChevroletA |
Tommy Milton | ||
[6][5][12] |
- ^A Harsnape and Means originally awarded the 1920 championship to Milton, but subsequently reverted to Chevrolet.
See also
- American Automobile Association
- American Championship Car Racing
References
- ^ a b c White, Gordon. The AAA Contest Board Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 2010-10-22
- ^ a b "AAA cuts ties with U.S. auto racing". The Michigan Daily. Ann Arbor, Michigan. Associated Press. August 4, 1955.
- ^ a b IMRRC Symposium 2023 - Don Capps, 1908 and American Motor Sport, retrieved November 14, 2023
- ^ "USAC takes over AAA's place". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. Associated Press. March 8, 1956.
- ^ a b c Capps, Don (March 29, 2010). "Automobile Racing History and History". Rear View Mirror. 8W. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ a b Printz, John G.; Ken M. McMaken (March 15, 1985). "The U.S. National Championship Driving Title". CART News Media Guide 1985: 265–267.
- Washington, D. C. February 8, 1929. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 9, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
- ^ Printz, John G.; Ken M. McMaken (March 15, 1985). "The U.S. National Championship Driving Title". CART News Media Guide 1985: 265–267.
- ^ Capps, Don (March 29, 2010). "Automobile Racing History and History". Rear View Mirror. 8W. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
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- ^ The Astor Cup, IndyCar & Why Auto Racing History Usually Isn't