November 28, 2005

And how could a discussion of cars be complete without--

--The First American Automobile Race

At 8:55 a.m. on November 28, 1895, six "motocycles" left Chicago's Jackson Park for a 54 mile race to Evanston, Illinois and back through the snow. Number 5, piloted by inventor J. Frank Duryea, won the race in just over 10 hours at an average speed of about 7.3 miles per hour! The winner earned $2,000, the enthusiast who named the horseless vehicles "motocycles" won $500, and the Chicago Times-Herald, sponsor of the race, declared:

Persons who are inclined…to decry the development of the horseless carriage…will be forced…to recognize it as an admitted mechanical achievement, highly adapted to some of the most urgent needs of our civilization.

"The Future of the Motocycle", The Chicago Times-Herald, November 29, 1895.

No argument from me on that score. Yes, all that CO and NOx is bad, but the car guys have managed to get it down so low that in some places emissions are cleaner than the ambient air quality--but no matter what, you're never going to be able to reduce the amount of poop and pee a horse leaves behind. And it's a lot.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 01:04 PM
Comments

I've actually emailed David Rosner who wrote that article on health in NYC. He's running a pretty thorough history of medicine program at Columbia.

6 degrees of separation and all that.

Posted by: skinnydan at November 28, 2005 02:12 PM

Do either of you know Kevin Bacon?

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 02:17 PM

AAAAGGGHHHHH!!! Treif! Treif!

Sorry - you said bacon.

Posted by: skinnydan at November 28, 2005 03:31 PM

Heheheheheee. Sorry--couldn't help myself--I mean, he's such a ham and all.

Posted by: Terry Oglesby at November 28, 2005 03:36 PM