On Tuesday night March 2, 1909, twenty-five local Cheyenne automobile drivers met to form motor club . This meeting was informal and where they elected officers for the first time. Those elected to this inaugural motor club were President, W. B. Barnett, First-Vice President, Joe Stimson, Second-Vice President, Dr. O. K. Snyder, First-Vice President, Secretary and Treasure G. F. Horn. A committee was also formed to handle their constitution and bylaws which was filled by; W. E. Dinneen, Frank V. Wright, John Schuneman, L. E. Smith and Percy Hoyt. The group wanted to advance the interest of other motorist in Cheyenne. They wanted to start the club so they could social and business meeting as needed. The Cheyenne Motor Club wanted to bring Cheyenne to the forefront of the automobile era at that is exactly what they did.
The Cheyenne Motor Club wasted no time in moving forward with their agenda in placing Cheyenne on the auto touring map. The club within …show more content…
twenty-five days of their organization met with Civic Improvement Committee and the Industrial Cheyenne Motor Club brought ambitious plans to these two groups to build a five-mile race track north of the city limits in Cheyenne. The expense of the track was to be paid entirely by the club as they anticipated big races to make these funds back. The club and the city had hopes that auto racing would bring people and money as the headlines read the Wyoming Tribune on March 3, 1909, “That Five-Mile Auto Track For Cheyenne Will Bring A Lot of People And Money For This City”. Plans for the track were a concern to the motor club because when they presented them to the other parties in March of 1909 there were two sets of plans. The first of these plans was a five-mile track that would start from the Grand Stands of Frontier Park heading south toward the Fort Boulevard and then east to the Lake Boulevard ending back at the grandstands. However, with the first course crossing private property and the length not being as long as they had hoped for a second plan was considered which was voted on and made the final solution by all involved. The second course would cover the only city property and would not come as far south as Fort Boulevard. The five-mile track would still have a start-finish line at the Frontier Grand Stands as did the first proposal. With the plans in place, the Cheyenne Motor Club made preparation to start the construction on the track.
Using their connections the club spared no expense in creating one of the fastest race tracks in the United States. W. E. Dinneen was part of the Buick Automobile company working as head of their sales department. Dinneen approached C. F. Huffman who was considered to be one of the most experienced automobile drives in the East and worked directly for the Buick Automobile Factory. Huffman relocated his family to Cheyenne over the summer to support in the build of the auto track. The Cheyenne Motor Club ensured the track was built to the specification that would handle the top speeds of the day in racing. Work began on the track on May 5, 1909 finishing sometime in June. Although the track was finished under the supervision of Buick’s top automobile drivers, the club still wanted approval from other professionals in the field. Warren Richardson, who according to The Wyoming Tribune had charge of the motor club took full advantage of Cheyenne being a stopping point for two of the cross country auto races in the early 1900’s which included the Atlantic to Pacific Road Trip (1905), and the New York to Paris Race (1908) and New York to Seattle Race (1909). Richardson heard that Elbert E. Bellows who was one of the top racers in the New York to Seattle race was knocked out the race due to accident found out that the racer was in Cheyenne. Richardson asked Bellows to come and look at the new track and as Richardson stated, “pass critical judgment on what had been accomplished so far” Bellows made the trip out to the auto track to give his opinion on the work that was going on so far. Bellows was definitely impressed by what he saw as he gave his accolades to The Wyoming Tribune. Bellows, stated “ You will easily have the one of the fastest and finest automobile race courses in the country if not the fastest. I want to race this over this track, and will try and introduce Mr. Robert Guggenheim for whom I drive, to send me here to make a run in a 24-hour race. I am certain records will be broken”. Having the endorsement of auto racing’s biggest names the Cheyenne Motor Club completed the auto track and prepared for an August race date.
The club worked to not only promote the upcoming race, but to also keep the racers safe as they sent messages out to the public through the local paper urging them not to drive and walk over the race track.
They warned residents that they could potentially damage the track which would lead to potential crashes. Frontier Days would coincide with the race, so the buildup that was raised began to bring in people and racers to this highly publicized event. With a race day filled with seven different events, and the Cheyenne Motor Club spending more than $10,000 to prepare the track for visitors and the
racers.
The celebration kicked-off at Frontier Park at noon with a twenty-five car free for all gasoline car race to start the inaugural events of the new track. Three days prior to the race on Aug 14, 1909 Ben Loy was killed after his car struck a cow that had wondered onto the track. According to the paper cows had already been on the track and drivers had been warned even though the cows were chased off the numerous times. Two other drivers, Shannon Lee, and W. M. Johnson were injured in the accident, but survived their injures from the accident. The incident was shock to many in Cheyenne, but racing would continue in Cheyenne in for several more years.
Cheyenne and the motor club continued to be a large part of the racing community as they pushed to be on the forefront of racing in the United States. Although, branding, roping and slack may be the terms that many think that Cheyenne would be known for, it is auto racing that put the city on the map around the world. Auto racing in Cheyenne may be a forgotten history in Cheyenne, but it is a city filled with the early history of auto racing in Wyoming.