If you need more information than the details provided by Bob Hanson, you might read either of these books. I'm providing an Amazon link, but both are available at my local public library, which is where I read them.
http://www.amazon.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
Cheers,
Fred Rednor - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
> Eddie McDuffee was just another among a host of better
> racers in the US
> during the late 1890s. That particular event
> advertised by the button was
> one of an entirely new variety. The contests
> would be promoted by the Track
> owners, but such races were generally frowned upon by
> the League of
> American Wheelmen (LAW) which felt that such excessive
> cash prize races would
> ultimately cheapen the noble sport. They
> nevertheless drew great crowds,
> enough so that the track would put up $1000 of the
> total and the two managers of
> the racers would then both pitch in to make up the
> additional $500 for
> what would be a one-on-one "winner takes all"
> contest.
>
> I'm sure there was considerable side wagering among the
> fans, so the LAW
> officials were probably quite right. However, behind
> it all, the REAL
> concern of LAW was having no direct control over such
> competitions.
>
> LAW numbered nearly 100,000 members at that time and much
> of the governing
> membership consisted of the Vanderbilts (or their sons) and
> the affluent
> lot who had no need for such tainted prize money and
> could afford to remain
> pure amateurs.
>
> The professional racers themselves could not even be
> members of LAW and
> were considered second class citizens in a way... but they
> still had to pay a
> $2 registration fee to enter in LAW sanctioned
> events. The riders were
> almost looked on as jockeys in equestrian races... or
> perhaps even the thoroughbred race horses.