Moving into the 1890s, the sport of cycle racing on velodromes had become a huge attraction for the general public. Crowds would easily reach 5000 plus, filling the stalls of the banked stadiums throughout countries such as America, England, France and Germany, to name a few. With the advent of electric lighting, an evening’s entertainment within this enclosed space started to bring in even more people, especially from the working class as it was now outside of their working hours. With compulsory paid entry and the enclosed space of the banked velodrome, cycling had become a very lucrative sport for the promotors, managers and riders involved. This was not just a venue for entertainment, but also a proving ground for athletic prowess and the promotion of the latest cycling technology, so top cycle manufacturers would rely on race wins using their machines to promote their wares. It was big business indeed.
By the late 1890s, the sport of middle distance racing over distances between 15 and 25 miles had become popular. Times would be recorded for every mile over these distances, and so if a rider was hitting a good pace mile after mile, several records could be set in one race. Records obviously gave riders status and created competition, but they were also promotional fodder for the manufacturers of the cycles used. Riders in these middle distance races were not doing these gruelling events alone, as they were supported by pacing teams; a series of riders employed to ride in front of the racer providing both pace and a slipstream. Mounted on tandems (sometimes triplets or quints) the pacers would reel in and out of the velodrome at regular intervals.
In America, by 1898 pace teams were not a cheap affair and only two top riders, Major Taylor and Eddie McDuffee, had managers who could afford to pay the costs. By April 1899, these teams could cost as much as $8000 a year to train and race, the equivalent of over $250,000 today. It’s no wonder that team managers had dollar signs in their eyes on witnessing motorcycles demonstrated on the velodromes as pacing machines.
At around the same time as this transition was taking place, twin brothers Francis Edgar Stanley and Freelan Oscar Stanley had founded the Stanley Dry Plate Co. in 1884. Their patented dry-plate coating machine revolutionised the dry-plate photography process, with the company being sold to Eastman Kodak in 1904. Legend has it that Francisí wife was unable to ride a bicycle and so he started working on motorised carriages powered by steam. By 1898 Francis’ steam wagon was run at Charles River Park velodrome in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it achieved a world record of 27mph.
The Stanley twins were not the first to create a steam powered carriage but according to the press they had improved the boiler system firstly in the construction, which used a seamless metal shell which is then wrapped in one or more layers of wire for strength. This eliminated the need to construct the boilers using rivets, which meant that the risk of the seams bursting was greatly reduced. Not only this, the weight was greatly reduced and looking to the steam tandem for pacing, this was a suited design to use due to its weight saving. Fired by gasoline, the flash boiler system used 100 jets to heat a series of 300 plus copper tubes heating the water to create steam for the engine, which consisted of a pair of vertically mounted pistons with a stroke of five inches, producing four and a half horsepower.
It wasn’t long before rumblings in the cycling press that a 15 mile motor paced match between McDuffee and Taylor was on the cards, with a $1000 purse for the winner. It was set to take place in late May at the Woodside track in Philadelphia. In the lead up to the match, various rumours were written in the press, quoting that McDuffee was to be paced by his brother on a 4hp tandem, though it isnít stated whether this is the steam tandem. Taylor was quoted as set to ride a Stearns Sager Gear chainless bicycle and paced by a Stearns steam pacing cycle. Then a later clipping states that both riders will be paced by steam pacers “designed to travel at a maximum speed of a mile in 1:20” and weighing in less than 200 pounds. My assumption is that news of this big motor paced match had caught the attention of the Stanley brothers and so they offered up a steam tandem for the match. Whether the Stearns pacer was powered by a Stanley engine is unclear; this could well have been a rival manufacturer.
Above: The Stanley engine, consisting of a pair of vertically mounted pistons with a stroke of five inches, producing four and a half horsepower.
When May 29, 1899, finally came around, the well-publicised motor paced event at Woodside Park ñ the first of its kind in America, according to Cycle Age and Taylor was paced by a petroleum tandem and McDuffee the Stanley steam tandem. The whole affair was reported as a failure, the match having to be restarted five times. At points, the Stanley certainly seemed to be proving a point by keeping good pace and with feet up on pegs, its riders made no physical effort to move the tandem, as the steam engine did all the work. Meanwhile, Taylor’s pace team pedalled away to assist the petroleum motor and maintain an even pace. Despite this, the Stanley over-boiled on the third attempt and never really recovered. The match was ultimately cancelled and a pursuit match was run instead in order to keep the by now agitated audience happy. The same report in Cycle Age ends with a statement that the Stanley was demonstrated in a public trial previous to the race where is covered a mile in 1:31 proving that it was ‘a flyer’ and, “it runs like greased lightning and with less noise than a quad or quint.”
This first match flop didn’t seem to discourage McDuffee and the Stanley pacing team, with McDuffee stating he “has great faith in his new pacing motor and [thinks] it’s the fastest in the world.” The Stanley was tested further at Woodside Park on June 10, when on its first day the team managed to build up to a 1:38 mile, over five miles, and McDuffee boasted that with alterations he “can do a mile behind it in 1:20 or better”. Seven days later 17,000 people attended the Taylor/McDuffee rematch at Charles River Park. Both were set to be paced by steam, though unfortunately Taylor’s machine didnít turn up so he used a petroleum one instead which failed and the Stanley again gave up after one and a half miles. At this point, the paying public were not happy and things didn’t seem to be going too well for McDuffee and the Stanley pacer, with two hugely publicised matches ending in failure.
On June 29, at Buttonwood Park, New Bedford, Massachusetts, McDuffee and the Stanley finally had some success, setting a new mile record of 1:31 2-5. Once this had been broken, it wasnít long before Harry Elkes achieved a time of 1:31 flat, paced by a ëmotor quadí. Between late May and June, the mile record fell six times in as many weeks, with such frequency the public and press were becoming fairly casual about the achievements. This sudden increase in record breaking most definitely coincided with the embracing of motorised pacing. Looking at the times over 1898-99 (listed below), one can see how rapidly the records were taken, with the vast majority happening in America.
The 1899 season continued with rapid record setting. McDuffee’s next notable attempt was on July 28 at New Bedford, where he achieved 1:28. It can also be seen by the shaving of seconds rather than fractions that the pace teams were getting better at an exponential rate, thanks to their increased familiarity with the new pacers. For the Stanley tandem, it was becoming clear that in distances up to a mile, it was very good, but beyond that, it suffered.
Still employing the Stanley tandem, McDuffee would continue to take back his mile record every time it was taken, especially by Taylor, who took the record back on August 3, achieving a time of 1:22 2-5 at Garfield Park, Chicago. Not only did he take the record, but he did it behind a steam pacer provided by the Stearns Company. The machine was built in three days at the Stearns factory, mostly by ‘Birdie’ Munger, and used a Stanley engine.
McDuffee and Ben Munroe both rode paced five mile record attempts at the Buttonwood track on October 10. With times being taken for each mile, it was reported that McDuffee rode his fifth mile in 1:21. This is a staggering time, not only in comparison to Taylor’s 1:22 2-5, but after already riding four miles previous.
Above: Artist impression of Eddie McDuffee paced by the Stanley steam tandem using a wind shield for the first time at the Buttonwood track on October 10, this would pave the way for a new catagory in America for shielded riding.
The Cycle Review speculated that wind shields may well have been in use and from this point onwards there was controversy, as Taylor’s attempt was done without a windshield and the debate was whether having a shield should be considered as a separate record, due to the advantage. A follow up article confirmed use of a “traverse shield 42 inches wide and reaching within four inches of the track and one foot above the head of the rider following”. According to the same article, shielded attempts would not be recognised in America but in France they would be recorded within a ëwind shieldí record. What was causing the controversy at the time was that reports from the Buttonwood track omitted any reference to wind shields.
This whole story culminates in a week-long session at the Garfield track, with McDuffee and Taylor vying for the coveted records up to a mile, on the week of November 8. Both riders were being paced by their steam tandems. McDuffee was first out of the traps, setting new records as Taylor watched on, his steam pacer having troubles. However, when Taylor did get onto the track, McDuffee initially struggled to keep up. By the Saturday, McDuffee was back on form and went for the mile record, equalling his controversial Buttonwood time of 1:21 with no windshield. Taylor attempted to equal this time but was ‘several seconds’ behind. Apparently, Taylorís pacer was ‘perceptibly’ slower and it was highlighted that the tanks mounted at the rear of the Stanley pacer gave a wide surface area for McDuffee to tuck behind, each of the tanks being 15 inches wide. This was duly noted by officials and McDuffee’s time was not accepted as a standard time, due to the tank arrangement on the rear of the Stanley. When Taylorís manager Sager approached Fred Gerlach to ask whether Taylor could run with the same arrangement, Gerlach advised against it, as it would be treated in the same manner. After discussions, McDuffeeís record was considered to be put into this new class and Taylor’s 1:22 2-5 would remain as the standard. McDuffee’s manager Culver agreed to this and so a new category for shielded riding was created.
On Tuesday, November 14, at the track while the McDuffee team were trying to reduce the record to 1:20, he announced he was considering retiring after the season was over. At the same time, Culver announced that he was scouting for new stars for his team for match races in Paris. This was to be McDuffee’s last big record attempt before retiring from track racing.
'“In the first place, I’ve been in the game nine years and desire a change, and secondly I am offered a position with an automobile concern in New York for the winter and am likely to settle in some such business. Again, I am having trouble training down to the proper weight for good riding and I think I am entitled to a rest.”
Taylor would return to Garfield Park on November 15, with the steam pacer fitted with ‘two large metal wings... in the form of a large V.’ With this arrangement, he achieved a 1:19 mile, while he also went on to break the third and half mile records. Unfortunately, McDuffee was unable to make a counter attempt as the Stanley tandem had been shipped out of the windy city; shortly after, his manager Culver also left. There was a rumoured disagreement between the two and McDuffee departed a day later.
When asked about the dangers of motor pacing, McDuffee said in an interview, “I’d rather go down five times behind quints and sextets than mix it up once with a motor machine. Thereís not only the machinery to tear you up, but there’s a boiler to burst, with 150 or 200 pounds pressure, not to mention a gasoline tank thatís just as likely as not to explode in the event of a tumble. The present-day pace follower, you see, must take his chances of not only being scraped, pounded or ground to death, but of being roasted and boiled as well... A man who engages in that sport takes his own life in his hands, and those who think that the pace-follower is too well paid should stop and think a bit.”