48. Laget, “How the Tour was Born”; Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cycling.
49. Laget, “How the Tour was Born”; Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cycling.
50. Mercier, “Return of Champion.”
51. Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cycling, p. 170.
52. Géorge Lefèvre, “Champion against Contenet,” L’Auto, July 10, 1904.
53. Victor Breyer, “Retour d’Amérique: Un Revenant,” La Vie Au Grand Air, July 14, 1904, p. 544.
54. Desgrange, “Death of Clément-Bayard.”
55. Légion d’Honneur file.
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Mercier, “Return of Champion.”
59. Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cycling, p. 160.
60. Photo, Champion’s scrapbook.
61. Lefèvre, “Champion against Contenet.”
62. Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cycling.
63. Laget, “How the Tour was Born.”
64. “Henry Contenet.”
65. Homan, Life in the Slipstream, p. 130; “Une Belle Reunion,” Le Vélo, March 21, 1904.
66. Lefèvre, “Champion against Contenet.”
67. Charles Ravaud, “The Return of Champion,” Le Vélo, July 10, 1904; Géorge Lefèvre, “Beautiful Return of Champion,” L’Auto, July 11, 1904.
68. Franz Hoffmann, “The Art of Pacemaking,” Cycling Weekly (London), November 16, 1904, p. 408. Hoffmann explained: “On the Continent pacemakers generally start about 200 meters behind the riders, and at the first explosion of the motors the pistol is fired for the start of the riders.”
69. Lefèvre, “Champion against Contenet.”
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid.
72. Charles Ravaud, “Triumphal Return of Champion,” Le Vélo, July 11, 1904.
73. Ibid.
74. Lefèvre, “Champion against Contenet.”
75. Bicycling World, August 22, 1904, p. 632.
76. Photo on the cover of La Vie Au Grand Air, “Au Vélodrome Buffalo—La Rentrée de Champion,” July 14, 1904.
77. “Legs of Champions,” La Vie Au Grand Air, July 28, 1904, pp. 840–41.
78. Victor Lefèvre, “Michael-Simar against Leander,” L’Auto, July 17, 1904.
79. Victor Lefèvre, “Poor Champion!” L’Auto, July 17, 1904.
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid.
82. “Champion Is Better,” unsigned two-paragraph article, L’Auto, July 21, 1904.
83. Ibid.
84. “The French Championships: Chat with Champion,” Cycling Weekly (London), September 28, 1904, p. 272.
85. Edouard de Perrodil, Albert Champion: His Triumphs, His Adventures, His Voyage to the United States (Paris: L’Auto) sold for thirty centiemes, July 29, 1904.
86. “Paris-Milan (1489 kilomètres): Par M. de Perrodil, Sur Une Bicyclette Acatène-Métropole,” Vélocipede Illustraté, April 25, 1895.
87. Géorge Lefèvre, “This evening at the Buffalo: The Series of the Grand Prix of Summer—Guignard and Simar against Champion for 50 kilometers,” L’Auto, July 28, 1904.
88. Géorge Lefèvre, “Champion All Alone,” L’Auto, July 29, 1904.
89. Ravaud, “Return of Champion.”
90. Charles Ravaud, “Course of 90 Kilometers,” Le Vélo, August 8, 1904.
91. Géorge Lefèvre, “The Championships of France: 100 Kilometers and Pure Sprinters,” L’Auto, September 18, 1904.
92. “The Defeat of Champion by Leander,” L’Auto, August 1, 1904.
93. Ibid.
94. Ravaud, “Course of 90 Kilometers.”
95. “Motorcycle Racing in the Early Days,” Baltimore Sun, January 16, 1916.
96. Géorge Lefèvre, “An Emotional Course: Victory by Leander, Superb Effort by Bruni and Champion,” L’Auto, August 8, 1904.
97. Franz Reichel, “The Moral Winner Is Champion,” La Vie Illustrée, August 12, 1904, p. 319.
98. Lefèvre, “An Emotional Course.”
99. Homan, Life in the Slipstream, p. 142.
100. “Leander Killed on Track.”
101. Walter Rutt, unpublished memoir in a collection by Sammlung Wolfgang Gronen, Zentralbibliothek der Sportwissenschaften der Deutschen Sporthochschule Köln, no. 15, Cologne, Germany, translated by Renate Franz.
102. Ibid.
103. Ibid.
104. “Cyclisme: Victoire de Lawson a Berlin,” unattributed article in French newspaper, possibly Le Vélo, from the scrapbook of Iver Lawson, winner of the Berlin Grand Prix sprint event on August 21, 1904, when Champion rode in the motorpace event. Lawson, a Swede, had immigrated to the United States in the mid-1890s and lived in Chicago. Lawson’s scrapbook is in a collection at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame, 303 3rd St., Davis, CA 95616.
105. Franz Hoffmann, “Hoffman Discusses Tragic End of Harry Elkes and Jimmie Michael,” Atlanta Journal, April 10, 1904. Hoffman relates that he was Michael’s driver for two years in France and Germany, and the last time he paced Michael was at the Friedenau Sportpark in Berlin when Michael’s front tire blew out and Michael fell. One of the other motors struck Michael in the face, tearing flesh open from his mouth to ear and giving him a concussion. He was not expected to live, but after six months in the hospital he walked out. However, Hoffmann said Michael was never the same and suffered memory loss and headaches. Six months after Hoffmann’s visit to Atlanta and his article in the Journal, Michael died.
106. “Cyclisme: Victoire de Lawson a Berlin.”
107. Homan, Life in the Slipstream, p. 142; “Leander Killed on Track.”
108. Homan, Life in the Slipstream, p. 143.
109. Homan, “Windy City Fat Boy,”
110. Géorge Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France,” L’Auto, September 19, 1904, shows line art of Champion wearing a helmet on the start line of the national middle-distance championship; Victor Breyer, “The Champions of France 1904,” La Vie Au Grand Air, September 23, 1904, p. 772, shows closeup photo of Champion on his aero bike at the national championship start line, wearing a leather helmet.
111. “The Union Vélocipedique de France in Selecting Their Representatives for the London World’s Championships Rejected the Demands of Albert Champion,” Bicycling World, August 22, 1904, p. 632.
112. Charles Ravaud, “The Grand Course of 50 Kilometers Is a Brilliant Win by Champion,” Le Vélo, Champion’s scrapbook.
113. “Lawson off for Paris,” Bicycling World, June 11, 1904, p. 352.
114. Ravaud, “Grand Course of 50 Kilometers Is a Brilliant Win by Champion.”
115. Lefèvre, “Championships of France: 100 Kilometers and Pure Sprinters,” includes a list of winners from 1885 along with their times in a sidebar titled “The Preceding Champions of the Distance.”
116. Ibid.
117. Ibid.
118. Ibid.
119. Jack Rennert, Prima Posters (New York: Poster Auctions International, 1994), vol. 14, text for a Georges A. Bottini poster of Cycles Médinger, 1897, poster no. 18.
120. Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (New York: Free Press, 2005), p. 7.
121. Ibid., p. 91.
122. Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France.”
123. Ernest Mousset, “Cyclisme: World Championships and the Championship of France,” Paris-Sportif Illustré, undated, p. 281.
124. Ibid.
125. Breyer, “Champions of France 1904,” p. 772.
126. Ibid.
127. F. Mercier, “Each Has His Chance,” L’Auto, September 1, 1904.
128. Lefèvre, “Championships of France.” Bouhours had won the middle-distance championship in 1897 and 1898 with human tandem pacing and in 1900 pacing behind a motor-tandem. In 1900, he was the first to win the title over one hundred kilometers in under two hours, finishing in 1 hour 38 minutes 20 seconds. See http://www.cycling4fans.de/index.php?id=2303 (accessed January 29, 2004). Pascal Sergent, “Bouhours Demons
tration,” A Century of Paris-Roubaix, 1896–1996 (Eeklo, Belgium: De Eecloonaar, 1997).
129. “Paul Guignard,” Gazzetta, http://www.gazzetta.cycling4fans.com/index.php?id=2434 (accessed February 6, 2006).
130. In Lefèvre, “Championships of France,” a paragraph on Bruni described him as often racing with irregular results.
131. Ibid.; “Louis Darragon,” Gazzetta, http://www.gazzetta.cycling4fans.com/index.php?id=2442 (accessed August 15, 2013).
132. “Charles Albert Brécy,” Gazzetta, http://www.gazzetta.cycling4fans.com/index.php?id=2116 (accessed August 15, 2013).
133. Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France.”
134. Ibid.
135. Ibid.
136. Harry Van Den Bremt and Rene Jacobs, Velo Plus, Het Nieuwsblad (Gent, Belgium, 1987), list of world championship motorpace results, p. M-260.
137. Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France”; Mousset, “Cyclisme: World Champions and Champions of France,” p. 281; Charles Ravaud, “The Champions of France: Friol and Champion Succeed de Thau and de Contenet,” Le Vélo, September 19, 1904, p. 1.
138. Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France”; Mousset, “Cyclisme: World Champions and Champions of France,” p. 281; Charles Ravaud, “The Champions of France: Friol and Champion Succeed de Thau and de Contenet,” Le Vélo, September 19, 1904, p. 1.
139. Lefèvre, “Two True Champions of France.”
140. Ibid.
141. Ibid.
142. Ravaud, “Champions of France.”
143. Breyer, “Champions of France 1904.”
144. “The French Championships Chat with Champion.”
145. A Man in the Street, “Cycling Gossip,” La Pédale (Paris), October 8, 1924, p. 13; Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cyclisme, p. 160.
146. A Man in the Street, “Cycling Gossip.”
147. Ibid.
148. Ibid.
149. “Champion Triomphe à Dresde,” Cyclisme, possibly from Paris-Sportif Illustré, in Champion’s scrapbook.
150. Hoffmann, “Art of Pacemaking.”
151. Ibid.
152. Laget, “How the Tour was Born.”
153. Norman Beasley, “Albert Champion: The Office Boy Who Was Taught That a Race Is Won before the Race and There Is No Such Thing as ‘Good Enough,’” MoTor, September 1926, and reprinted as “Biography of Albert Champion, President, AC Spark Plug Company, Flint, Michigan.”
CHAPTER 10. DEBUT OF CHAMPION SPARK PLUGS
Three labors of love provided invaluable information. Background on the Stranahan family comes from a 2004 monograph, An American Chronicle: The Stranahan Chronicles, by Ann Stranahan of Perryville, Ohio, for family members to learn about their ancestry in America since 1818. Material was culled from boxes of letters and photos. A similar family effort on French pioneer aviator Edouard Nieuport is Nieuport: A Biography of Edouard Nieuport by grandsons Gérard and Bertrand Pommier (Atglen, PA: Shifter Publishing, 2002). Howard Kroplick, a research volunteer at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum on Long Island, published Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2008), to preserve the memory of America’s early automobile road races, from 1904 through 1910, on Long Island. Howard also maintains an informative website devoted to each of the seven Vanderbilt Cup races at http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com (accessed February 15, 2014).
1. Gus Edwards and Vincent P. Bryan, “In My Merry Oldsmobile,” 1905, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_My_Merry_Oldsmobile (accessed November 3, 2013).
2. Norman Beasley, “Albert Champion: The Office Boy Who Was Taught That a Race Is Won before the Race and There Is No Such Thing As ‘Good Enough,’” MoTor, September 1926, and reprinted as “Biography of Albert Champion, President, AC Spark Plug Company, Flint, Michigan”; Richard P. Scharchburg, “Albert Champion,” Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: The Automobile Industry, 1896–1920 (New York: Broccoli Clark Layman, 1990), p. 79.
3. “Passing of Michael: Most Famous of Little Men Dies in Mid-Ocean,” Bicycling World, November 20, 1904, p. 201. Michael’s grave in Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn remained neglected and unmarked for decades. In the late 1940s, Charles (Mile a Minute) Murphy, who had raced Michael, found the grave overgrown with weeds. Murphy had retired from a career as a New York cop and had made his way around in a wheelchair after amputation of a leg from a motorcycle accident in the line of duty. He and some twenty surviving pros from the 1890s had formed the Bicycle Racing Stars of the Nineteenth Century. With financial support from Chicago bicycle manufacturer Frank Schwinn, they purchased a gravestone of polished granite and perpetual care. On June 13, 1949, a memorial service with Murphy and some twenty surviving pros dedicated the headstone and bronze tablet to Michael’s memory.
4. Pierre Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cyclisme: Des Origines à 1955 (Paris: Nathan, 1988), pp. 142–43.
5. Ibid., p. 141.
6. Ibid.
7. Gérard and Bertrand Pommier, Nieuport: A Biography of Edouard Nieuport (Atglen, PA: Shifter Publishing, 2002), p. 31.
8. Ibid., p. 31.
9. “Champion, the Boy Champion,” Bearings, February 11, 1897, p. 106.
10. Champion advertised Nieuport’s accessories every week in Automobile, beginning July 6, 1905, p. 41, and continuing in a steady stream for the next four years.
11. Gérard and Bertrand Pommier, Nieuport , p. 18.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Ibid., p. 30.
16. Ibid.
17. Arthur Pound, The Turning Wheel: The Story of General Motors through Twenty-Five Years, 1908–1933 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran and Company, 1934), p. 456, reprinted in 2012 by Forgotten Books.
18. Gérard and Bertrand Pommier, Nieuport, p. 31.
19. Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (New York: Free Press, 2005), p. 113.
20. Gérard and Bertrand Pommier, Nieuport, pp. 21–22.
21. Ibid.
22. Chany, La Fabuleuse Histoire du Cyclisme, p. 142.
23. “Improvements at the Savoy,” Boston Herald, October 9, 1898; Stranahan, American Chronicle, p. 14.
24. “Boston’s Show History: Automobiles Were Exhibited in Mechanics Building in 1898: Automobiles Were Exhibited in 1898,” Automobile, March 8, 1906, p. 475.
25. “Boston Will Have a Great Show,” Automobile, March 8, 1906, cover story.
26. Ibid., p. 476.
27. Ibid.
28. “Robt. A. Stranahan Dead: Last Summons for Popular Hotel Proprietor,” Boston Globe, August 10, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Journal, August 11, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Daily Advertiser, August 11, 1898.
29. “Robt. A. Stranahan Dead: Last Summons for Popular Hotel Proprietor,” Boston Globe, August 10, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Journal, August 11, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Daily Advertiser, August 11, 1898.
30. “Robt. A. Stranahan Dead: Last Summons for Popular Hotel Proprietor,” Boston Globe, August 10, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Journal, August 11, 1898; “Obituary: Robert A. Stranahan,” Boston Daily Advertiser, August 11, 1898.
31. “Improvements at the Savoy.”
32. Ibid.
33. Stranahan, American Chronicle, p. 5.
34. Stephen Stranahan, grandson of Frank D. Stranahan, e-mail August 6, 2004.
35. “Boston Museum: Two Weeks Only, The Augustin Daily Musical Co.,” advertisement, Boston Globe, May 5, 1902.
36. “At the Plays,” Philadelphia Inquirer, interview with Marie Celeste by a reporter using the name, The Call Boy, April 6, 1902. The Call Boy noted her struggles to get on stage “will prove interesting to my readers, especially that small army of girls and youths,” since the interview was about what it took to get a chance to shine behind the footlights.
37. St
ephen Stranahan, e-mail, November 13, 2013.
38. Call Boy, “At the Plays.”
39. “An Engagement Announced,” Boston Globe, June 1, 1902.
40. “Stranahan-Martin: Well-Known Hotel Proprietor Weds Actress at Church of Our Savior in Brookline,” Boston Globe, June 3, 1902; “Miss Celeste Married: Prominent Light Opera Soubrette Now the Wife of Frank D. Stranahan, and Will Live in Brookline,” Boston Journal, June 3, 1902.
41. Boston Center for the Arts: An Architectural History (Boston: Boston Center for the Arts, 1995). The Boston Center for the Arts has its headquarters today in the building at 539 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02116. Other sources for details about the Cyclorama Building are Robert Campbell and Peter Vanderwarker, Cityscapes of Boston: An American City through Time (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1992), p. 191; Jane Holtz Kay, Lost Boston (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1980), pp. 204–205. Philip Kennicott, “Coming Full Circle: Gettysburg Cyclorama Is Painstakingly Restored to Its Original Pageantry,” Washington Post, September 20, 2008, describes the $15 million restoration effort to restore Philippoteaux’s original painting. It is on permanent display at the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, cyclorama, maintained by the National Parks Service. A video tour and panoramic views of the Gettysburg Cyclorama are available on the Washington Post website at http://www.washingtonpost.com/museums (accessed September 20, 2008).
42. City of Boston Tax Receipts, Assessors’ Plan No. 6, Block No. 4, Back Bay District, Section No. 4, 1906, p. 1.
43. Ibid.
44. “Automobile Legislation: Various Bills Are Certain to Be Presented at Five New England Capitols This Year,” Boston Globe, January 1, 1905. The article includes a photo of Stranahan at the wheel of the Buick tonneau and three companions. “Buick Car,” Boston Globe, March 12, 1905, describes Stranahan’s demonstration model.
45. “Automobile Legislation.”
46. Ibid.; “Eagle Rock Hill Climb: Overall History,” provided by the West Orange History website, http://www.westorangehistory.com/eagle_rock_hill_climb.htm (accessed November 12, 2013).
47. “Automobile Legislation.”
48. City of Boston Tax Receipts, 1906.
49. Ibid.
50. “Introduced Wife, Surprised Mother: Spencer U. Stranahan, Brookline, and His Bride Marry without Publicity,” Boston Herald, May 31, 1907.
The Fast Times of Albert Champion Page 43
