Auto polo
Automobile polo or auto polo was a motorsport invented in the United States with rules and equipment similar to equestrian
Origins
The official inventor of auto polo is purported to be Ralph "Pappy" Hankinson, a
Internationally, auto polo was regarded with skepticism and caution. In 1912, the British motoring publication The Auto described the new sport as "very impressive" and a "lunatic game" that the writers hoped would not become popular in Britain.[7] Hankinson himself promoted auto polo in Manila in the 1910s with events sponsored by Texaco[8] and recruited teams in the United Kingdom. Auto polo was further spread to Europe by auto polo teams from Wichita that toured Europe in the summer of 1913 to promote the sport.[9] In Toronto in 1913, auto polo became the first motorsport to be showcased at the Canadian National Exhibition, but the sport did not become popular in Canada.[10]
Rules and equipment
Unlike equestrian polo which requires large, open fields that can accommodate up to eight horses at a time, auto polo could be played in smaller, covered arenas during wintertime, a factor that greatly increased its popularity in the northern United States.
Safety and damage concerns
Due to the nature of the sport, cars would often collide with each other and become entangled, with malletmen frequently thrown from the cars. Installation of rollcages over the radiator and rear platforms of the cars helped prevent injuries to players, but falls did result in severe cuts and sometimes broken bones if players were run over by the cars,[11] though deaths due to auto polo were rare.[14] Most of the cars would usually be severely wrecked or demolished by the time the match was finished,[11] leaving most players uninsurable for costly material and bodily damages incurred during the game. A tally of the damages encountered by Hankinson's British and American auto polo teams in 1924 revealed 1564 broken wheels, 538 burst tires, 66 broken axles, 10 cracked engines and six cars completely destroyed during the course of the year.[15] The sport waned in popularity during the late 1920s, mostly due to the high cost of replacing vehicles,[2] but did have a brief resurgence in the Midwestern United States after World War II.[16]
Gallery
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Auto poloists chase each other down the field in a 1913 photograph byCollier's Magazine.
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A malletman balances on the side of a moving auto polo car during a match at Hilltop Park, New York, in a photograph by the International News Service.
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An auto polo match at Coney Island photographed by the Bain News Service. Cars had primitive metal hoops around the driver's seat and radiator to protect the occupants in the event of a rollover.
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A rollover during a match at Hilltop Park, New York, in a photograph by the Bain News Service.
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-4711-4899-6
- ^ ISBN 9780486478586.
- ^ Staff (July 21, 1912). "Automobile Polo Game". New York Times.
- ^ a b Morrison, R.H. (1913). "Playing polo in autos". Illustrated World. 19: 103.
- ^ Staff (18 July 1902). "Auto polo latest fad". Patterson Daily Press. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ a b c d e Perry, Ralph (July 3, 1924). "Miami's new sport will provide thrills for fans". The Miami News. Retrieved 23 August 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Staff (January 1913). "Britains fear auto polo". Automobile Topics. 28: 608.
- ^ Texas Company (November 1915). "Texas Star". The Texaco Star. 3: 31.
- ^ Staff (May 3, 1913). "Auto polo for Europeans". Lawrence Journal World. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ a b c Dinka, Nicholas (August 2005). "Auto Pilots". Toronto Life. 39 (8).
- ^ a b c Staff (October 1929). "Auto Polo". The Billboard. 41 (40): 65.
- ^ Inkersley, Arthur (August 1902). "Auto polo". Western Field: The Sportsman's Magazine of the West. 1: 401–402.
- ^ "The Mobile Company's lightest carriage". The Cosmopolitan. 33: 793. October 1902.
- ^ Staff (September 21, 1922). ""Play to win" is slogan of auto poloists". The Southeast Missourian. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ Staff (Sep 2, 1925). "AUTO POLO COSTLY AND HAZARDOUS: Even Lloyds Won't Insure Players". The Hartford Courant. p. 2.
- ^ Staff (May 27, 1949). "Photograph". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved 23 August 2012.[permanent dead link]