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.

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.

The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks, laid
in a bed of sand and fixed with mortar. Dubbed “The Brickyard,”
the speedway reopened in December 1909.

Ray Harroun wheels his No. 32 Marmon Wasp racecar to
victory in the inaugural Indy 500.

On August 16, 1954, a new magazine dedicated to covering sports appeared on American newsstands. Announcing itself with a
striking cover photo of Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie
Mathews, his swinging bat a blur against the dramatic backdrop
of a crowded Milwaukee County Stadium, Sports Illustrated is
considered a joke by some at its publisher and will not make
money for most of its first decade. Eventually, however, it will
become the undisputed leader in American sports media, the
sporting magazine of record and one of  the most recognizable
media brands in the world.

SANDY KOZEL

Richard (Dick) Wagstaff Clark
(November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)

“American Bandstand” with host Dick Clark  debuted on this
day in 1957.

Taken from “EYES OF A GENERATION…TELEVISION’S LIVING HISTORY

The world’s first electric traffic signal (above) was put into place
on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland,
Ohio, on August 5, 1914.

In the earliest days of the automobile, navigating America’s roads
was a chaotic experience, with pedestrians, bicycles, horses and streetcars all competing with motor vehicles for right of way. The problem was alleviated somewhat with the gradual disappearance
of horse-drawn carriages, but even before World War I it had
become clear that a system of regulations was necessary to keep
traffic moving and reduce the number of accidents on the roads.

The U.S. Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency
responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space, on July 29,
1958. NASA has since sponsored space expeditions, both human and
mechanical, that have yielded vital information about the solar system
and universe. It has also launched numerous earth-orbiting satellites
that have been instrumental in everything from weather forecasting to
navigation to global communications.