Customer Reviews

The Fairmount Park Motor Races, 1908-1911

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This is an informative, interesting, often exciting history of a little known series of automobile races. Seneca provides a thought-provoking analysis of the local politics behind the decisions of the Philadelphia elite regarding the holding of automobile races in Fairmount Park in the period 1908 to 1911. Although the races were safe and extremely popular, several members of the city's elite believed they were an inappropriate form of entertainment, and after 1911, the races were never held again. However, the four annual races brought together some of the leading race-drivers of the era, and a surprisingly wide variety of car models. Seneca gives a minute-by minute (and sometimes second-by-second) account of the races, to the point that you can almost hear the tires screech and the crowd shout, and smell the tires burning and the clouds of pungent gasoline exhaust! The book is a really interesting treatment and should appeal to auto enthusiasts, those interested in Philadelphia history, and to a broader audience of readers who would like to know more about popular culture in the early 20th century.

This is a fantastic look back at early motor racing. The Fairmount Park Motor Races were an annual event in Philadelphia, drawing an estimated 2 million spectators over the course of their four runnings - making them the biggest spectator event in history up to that point. Seneca did an excellent job researching the events and documenting the behind-the-scenes wrangling that went on between the race organizers and the powers that be. In my opinion, the book strikes a perfect balance between giving enough details to make the reader feel truly involved and informed, and becoming bored by too much minutiae. This book is one of my favorites involving racing from the pre-WWI era, and is one that I will definitely read more than once. It does a great job describing the men and machines of the early auto racing period as well as all the work that went into pulling off this wildly successful road race. Seneca is to be commended for his work, and I heartily recommend this book!