On August 19, 1909, the first race was held at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous
motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500.

Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of
Indianapolis, Indiana, the speedway was started by local
businessmen as a testing facility for Indiana’s growing
automobile industry.         

       
The idea was that occasional races at the track would pit cars
from different manufacturers against each other. After seeing
what these cars could do, spectators would presumably head
down to the showroom of their choice to get a closer look.

In that first five-mile race, 12,000 spectators watched Austrian
engineer Louis Schwitzer win with an average speed of 57.4
miles per hour. The track’s surface of crushed rock and tar
proved a disaster, breaking up in a number of places and
causing the deaths of two drivers, two mechanics and two
spectators.

William Bourque passes by judges.

Archaeologists in Iowa have unearthed an ancient mastodon
skull in pristine condition, which they hope will provide clues
about human interaction with the ancient animal.

The bones were excavated earlier this month from a creek bank
in Wayne, taking nearly two weeks to complete.

The eroding site was first brought to the attention of Office of
the State Archaeologist, Iowa in 2022. 
FOX NEWS

Human and a reconstructed extinct Mastodon. (Wikimedia Commons)

                             
CAMILLE
BOHANNON

Robert Redford at 10.

1962
    
   

Charles Robert Redford Jr. is a retired actor and filmmaker. He
has received numerous accolades such as an Academy Award,
a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, as well as the
Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1994, the Screen Actors Guild Life
Achievement Award in 1996, the Academy Honorary Award in
2002, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2005, the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 2016, and the Honorary César in 2019. He
was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people
in the world in 2014 (below). He is 88 today.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The brown felt fedora worn by actor
Harrison Ford in the second installment of the Indiana
Jones movies sold for $630,000 at auction, film and TV
memorabilia company Propstore announced Friday.

The hat featured in 1984’s "Indiana Jones and the Temple
of Doom" was expected to fetch between $250,000 and
$500,000, according to the item’s online description.

The fedora comes from the personal collection of the late
stunt performer Dean Ferrandini, who also wore it while
standing in for Ford as Jones, the dashing archaeologist
who really hates snakes.

 
Harrison Ford turned 82 July 13th.