Abstract
Initially, observers of racing conceived that it was primarily a contest between machines. The pilot of the racing car was usually referred to as a “chauffeur” or an “operator” reflecting their limited role in the outcome of the race. The tycoons running the sport were fine with this formulation as they were primarily interested in owning winning cars much as owners get the glory of winning in horse racing. Over time the rise of a handful of racing celebrities such as Henry Fournier began to spread the more working-class idea that racing involved aspects of skill and physical talent much as other sports do.
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Notes
Motor World (New York), 3:14 (Jan. 2, 1902), p. 353; Motor Talk, 1:7 (July 1905), p. 21; Henri Fournier, “The Automobile,” Annual Report … of the Smithsonian Institution, 1901, p. 594; The Medical Sentinel, 14:10 (Oct. 1906), p. 456.
G. E Baright, “The Automobile in Newport,” Town and Country, Sept. 27, 1902, pp. 14–17.
Robert Bruce, “The Promise of the Automobile in Recreative Life,” Outing, Apr. 1900, pp. 81–85.
Ritchie G. Betts, “Faster than the Locomotive,” Outing, Jan. 1902, pp. 392–400.
William Salisbury, The Career of a Journalist (B.W. Dodge & Co.: New York, 1908), p. 285.
Ibid., 5:16 (Jan. 15, 1903), P. 486; 3:12 (Dec. 19, 1900, p. 307. “[Fournier] … has now retired on his laurels, and the serious part of business life, as director of one of the large Paris garages, has claimed him for itself. His massive frame at the present time would require a severe thinning-down process were he to again think of handling the steering wheel of a racing-car. Business has left its mark upon him, but the happy-go-lucky Henri of five years ago is still the same Henri of to-day.” Charles Jarrott, Ten Years of Motors and Motor Racing (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1906), p. 214.
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© 2014 Timothy Messer-Kruse
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Messer-Kruse, T. (2014). Man or Machine?. In: Tycoons, Scorchers, and Outlaws: The Class War That Shaped American Auto Racing. Palgrave Pivot, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137322517_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137322517_5
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