The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-11-27
ALL AMONG THE WHEELMEN
Shall 'Cycle-R Riding Remain Amateur
or Become Professional Sport?
Talk Of . Racing League-Zig-Zag Clubs
Turkey Run Was q Pretty R~ace-Alleged
Interview with Johnston Denied.

The question Of whether bicycle race
riding shall remain in the calender az an
amateur sport. or whether it shall take on
the more profitable garb of professionalism
is one which is causing more and more dis
cussion as time proceeds. Eastern papers
recently published the statement. which
was widely copied. that the Jersey Skeet-
err Arthur Zimmerman. and Walter
Sanger had been matched for q mile race
1t 81, 900 3 side. The information was
given out to be authentic, and it caused
widespread That the brightest
light of the cinder : path should
be first to digress openly from
amatenrism seemed almost incredible,
yet many saw in it the beginning of the
snd. Since then the story has been fatty
denied by both of the men whose names
were used in connection with il, and the
question seems to have resolved itself back
to how long it will be until some one does
do what it has been said Zimmerman IN
tended, and other riders follow sheep-like
into a new era of racing. Colonel Pope.
who is at the head OF one OF the largest
icy Gle manufactures in the world, is said
to be openly in favor of cash prizes. and TO
be doing all he can to lnaugurate that sys-
TEN. Many other men prominent In ath-
ietics and sport of the legitimate kind,
are also interested in IL. which led TO
the talk some time ago Of forming a racing
league in the big cities. There cannot be
SO much smoke without some fire. and il is
not at all improbable that the day of pros
fesslonal racing Is not far distant. Col.
Pope's motif" is Thought by many to be
purely mercenary. He, as we'll as many
others similarly situated. pays men large
salaries TO ride his wheel, and then, per-
haps. pays a half dozen more TO keep still
about il. With cash prizes for racing
8hta hrsfnO nE THnEa -nntA A0nhtlnaa h2
done away with. Open professionalism
might about as well be INDUCED in as TO
ride under the present system with the l..
A. w. racing board blind to the shortoom-
inRe OF the members OF the league, but il
Is the sincere hope of all lovers of sport for
its own sake that such will not be the case.
The prettiest and most closely contested
road race ever run in Indianapolis was the
annual turkey run of the Zig-zae Club on
Thanksgiving day. There were thirty men
1t the start. on North Pennsylvania street,
at three minutes to 10 o'clock in the morn
ing, but only eleven of them finished. The
course was out Meridian street to where 1t
was interseoted by the canal and return, a
distance of about fifteen miles The time,
nifty -one minutes. shows that there was
very little loafing done. The riders were
punched all along the course, and tho
finish locked like the ending of a mile
-
dash. The first four men IN were all with
In n distance of twenty-five yards, and the
first three IN that many feet. Z. v. Minor
finished first, four feet ahead of Otis Lowe.
whose wheel was Tapped BY that of Carl
Fisher. Right behind the bunch was Tom
Hay. and the rest struggled. A finish of
that sort Is seldom seen at the end OF q iif-
teen-mlle course. The riders only award
Is q turkey. of which each of the first five in
received one. the first man having his
choice and the ext second. and so on.
They were given out at the clubhouse last
night. -
A cement bicycle track was built some
time ago in Paris on the plot of ground
which was used by Buffalo Bilr and his
Wild West show while in the gay French
capital. IL was christened the "Vendome
Buffalo, New York paper saw an ac-
count of IL, and rehasbed it into an article
OF q column In length. In which the beau
ties OF n new cement track in Buffalo. n. y,
were expstiafed on. The writer of It had
better consult his will and testament. and
see that 10 IL 10 his hiking IN case that Mr..
Cody should discover that anything asso-
clated with him had been Americanlzed.
Eastern daily papers are publishing
fake bicycle news with q regularity that
Il industrious. if not pleasant in the light
of the many exposes that lave been made.
1t now comes To light that the interview
with }. s. johnson. the man who made n
mile IN 1:56 80 At independent e. Ia, last
summer IN which he IL pnrported 90 have
said that the reason be conld not win from
Chicago and Eastern riders was because
they always got together 10 40" him.