Grand Rapids picker finds rare auto racing photograph - MLive.com

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Allan Brown isn’t sure if it’s the oldest photograph ever taken of a Grand Rapids area auto race.

Brown, a motorsports author and historian from Comstock Park, said he has never seen an older one, though, and he has been going to races since the early 1950s.

The photo presented to Brown was taken during a race held on July 8, 1916 at the old West Michigan State Fairgrounds in Comstock Park, and it is printed it on the front of a postcard. The shot was taken from the infield and shows a pack of cars racing down the front stretch of the track that featured a 1.125 mile dirt oval.

The postcard was brought to MLive’s attention via a Grand Rapids ‘picker’ who wished to remain anonymous. He said he acquired the postcard from the estate of a Grand Rapids history enthusiast, and the picker’s plan is to sell it during a seven-day auction on eBay beginning Sunday, Jan. 31.

The picker did grant MLive permission for Brown to review it.

“That’s pretty cool,” Brown said. “The very first (driver) looks like (1915 Indianapolis 500 winner) Ralph DePalma. It’s very possible. He ran a car that looked very similar to that. If you look closely, there are two guys in each car. You had a riding mechanic and the driver. You have to look close, but you have two people in each car.

“Some of these cars would have run the Indy 500. If you were able to blow it up and spot them, you could figure out who’s who.”

The postcard has a Charlotte, Mi., dateline, and it is dated Aug. 2, 1916. The photographer, who signed his name Walter, mailed it to a friend, and he explained that the photo was from a race on July 8, ’16 in Grand Rapids.

An article published in the Grand Rapids Herald on July 9, 1916 confirmed that there was a race the day before, and Eddie Haibe won the 100-miler. The driver’s name was actually Ora Haibe of Guilford, Ind., who finished 10th in the Indy 500 in May of 1916.

The article explained how Haibe ‘plunged through the fence on his ninety-fifth lap, hitting a pile of lumber.’ But Haibe pulled his car out, returned to the track and beat out DePalma for the win. Haibe completed the race in 1 hour, 46 minutes, 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

The race was sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, although it was not included in the 1916 championship point standings. The AAA sanctioned the Indy 500 through 1955.

According to Brown’s book, The History of America’s Speedways, Past & Present, the West Michigan Fairgrounds opened in 1903. It would be later known as the Grand Rapids Speedrome, which eventually closed in 1966 due to the extension of the US 131 expressway.

“No,” Brown said when asked if he has seen an older auto racing photo from the Grand Rapids area. “There was a picture years ago at the Meijer, and it seems to me that it was on Alpine that showed the Fairgrounds during an auto race.

“The infield was packed, but I didn’t see any race cars on the track or in the pits or anything. They were 10-deep in the infield standing but there were no race cars. That would have been during that same period in time (1916).”

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