Automobile Races
Cowley County Fairgrounds
Winfield, Kansas
Friday Afternoon, July 1, 1910
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The ad above appeared in every issue of the Winfield Daily Courier for a week before these races. |
Winfield Daily Courier
July 2, 1910 – Front Page
MURDEROUS ASSAULT
COMPETITOR IN AUTO RACES LOST HIS HEAD
Narrow Escape of Lloyd Haight from Death and Terrible Possibilities of Others
By just a foot, Lloyd Haight missed death at the hands of an infuriated competitor in the auto races at the fairgrounds Friday afternoon and by that much was missed what might have been the most terrible accident that has ever happened in Winfield. A club thrown by (Jack) Baldauf, owner of one of the racing autos, was the instrument of the murderous assault committed in the presence of hundreds of horrified spectators. The stick missed its mark and struck the fence. The thrower ran after it and picked it up exclaiming, “I’ll get the $#%$#& next time!” Here, a policeman interfered and placed him in arrest.
Haight, driving George Mitchell’s E.M.F. 30, was running at the rate of forty-five miles an hour coming down the home stretch. A slight swerve of the machine to the left placed him for a moment partially in front of the Crawford owned by Baldauf who was on the track near the north end of the grandstand. The slight swerve angered Baldauf and as Haight passed, he threw his heavy walking stick at him missing him by a foot. Had the stick struck its mark, the driver would have been stunned, perhaps instantly killed, and the machine left without control to dash into the crowd along the edge of the track. The possibilities of such an accident are frightful to contemplate.
For this offence, Baldauf paid a fine and costs of $10.50 in police court. In his vexation at being arrested, he withdrew his car from the races, an example followed by another competitor, and as there were but three entries, the other races were called off. Baldauf is of the firm of Baldauf & Liggett1 at Wichita, agents for the Crawford.
A large crowd was present, there being over 800 paid admissions. Half a dollar was charged at the gate and 25¢ at the grandstand, making six-bits for not half as good a show as the fair association’s matinee (harness) races, which less than 150 attend at 25¢ (each).
The known race results are:
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3 Mile (6 lap) Race |
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Place |
Driver |
Hometown |
Automobile |
Car Owner |
Hometown |
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1 |
Marvin Light4 |
Wichita, KS |
Crawford 30 |
John Henry Baldauf1 |
Wichita, KS |
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2 |
Lloyd S. Haight2 |
Winfield, KS |
E.M.F. 30 |
George Mitchell3 |
Winfield, KS |
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3 |
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5 Mile (10 lap) Race |
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Place |
Driver |
Hometown |
Automobile |
Car Owner |
Hometown |
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1 |
Marvin Light4 |
Wichita, KS |
Crawford 30 |
John Henry Baldauf1 |
Wichita, KS |
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2 |
Lloyd S. Haight2 |
Winfield, KS |
E.M.F. 30 |
George Mitchell3 |
Winfield, KS |
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3 |
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These races were organized and promoted by Frank J. Brooks and F. T. Roberts of Artesia, New Mexico
Although the mentioned race results are contradictory to what actually took place, it should be noted that the following excerpt appeared on page 4 of the July 25, 1910 issue of the Wichita Beacon in a story titled “Drives Crawford Racing Car”. The story was about 16 year-old Harold Reynolds Peterson (1894-1945) of Wichita driving John Baldauf’s Crawford 30 racing car in upcoming races in Oklahoma City:
“The car was given first place in each one of the races which took place in Winfield the first of the month, carrying off three first cash prizes.”
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John Henry Baldauf |
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Lloyd Sprague Haight |
1 John Henry “Jack” Baldauf (1875-1956) was a merchant and traveling salesman who lived most of his life in Kingman County, Kansas although he did reside in Wichita, Kansas for a time. There, he and a partner, John S. Liggett (1857-1923) owned the Regal Auto Company which was a dealership for Crawford and Regal automobiles. The business was located at 118 North Emporia Street in Wichita. John Henry Baldauf’s son, Frank Jackson Baldauf (1900-1970), later owned the Baldauf Offy big car that was driven by his son-in-law, Willard Victor “Mickey” McCormick (1920-1999). John is buried in the Cleveland Cemetery near Cleveland, Kansas.
2 Lloyd Sprague Haight (1885-1968) was an automobile mechanic who was born at Winfield, Kansas and resided there until he moved to San Diego, California sometime before 1917.
3 There were two men named George Mitchell residing at Winfield in 1910 and it is unclear which owned the E.M.F. 30 (Studebaker) that was being driven by Lloyd S. Haight on this afternoon. One was George Miles Mitchell (1884-1949) who was a self-employed “stock buyer” while the other was George Clarke Mitchell (1874-1939) who was a bookkeeper in the Cowley County Treasurer’s office. Both of these George Mitchells are buried in Highland Cemetery at Winfield.
4 Fred Marvin Light (1890-1943) was born at Kingman, Kansas and was making his living as a taxicab driver in Wichita, Kansas. By 1921, he had moved to Santa Barbara, California where he opened a Goodyear tire store. He was residing in Santa Barbara, California when he passed away and he is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery at Santa Barbara, California.
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