The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-03-12
HEAD 0F SOUTHERN
 LEAGUE BOOSTS THE
 SPEEDWAY PROJECT
R. H. Baugh Is Elected Vice President of Organization. Confident That It Will
 Prove Big Asset

Robert H. Baugh, president or the Southern Baseball league. has accepted the vice presidency of the Birmingham Motor speedway, and has announced that he is ready to work and boost for its ul- innate success. When seen by an Age Herald reporter last night MT. Baugh was
 enthusiastic over the proposed project,
 and said that he was glad to be one or
 the men who will be interested in the full fillment of the building of one of the
 worlds greatest speed tracks.
 When asked when the actual work of construction would be begun, MT. Baugh replied Work will undoubtedly be start ed in the course of the next few weeks. Birmingham of all the cities in the soueA was picked out as an ideal spot for the building of a speedway which will do credit to the United States have not
 gone into this proposition without due thought and much consideration. am thoroughly familiar with the plans of this organization, cannot help but realize the immense good it will do Birmingham and am therefore ready and willing to do whatever Is possible to make this project big success.
 with such men as August (Gary) Herr
 mann, Solon Jacobs, Dan w. Mccarthy Charles B. Rice, G. T. Brazleton, Selder D. Maddux and others. this proposition is
 bound to go through without any trouble Every one who stops to think can easily realize that Birmingham will be made the Mecca for tourists from all sections of the United States and, in fact. thu world People will flock here from al sections of the country to witness the | races which will be of international in terest.
 "A track such as will be built in Bir- mingham will have no peer anywhere. Ii
 will be distinct achievement in the pro- gress of the southland. The Chamber o1 Commerce and the Rotary club of Bir- mingham have already indorsed the pro- | feet, and inasmuch as these two organ l izations consist of some of the keenest business men in the city, one cannot fail
 to recognize the merit in this proposition When this track is built Birmingham can point with pride to this big project and say, We did it.
 "Birminghaw will have the only speed. way in the entire south. There are sev- | eral tracks in the east, and every one | of them hsN been an unqualified success | from all standpoints. Several years ago
 when the Indianapolis motor speedway project was placed before the people ther& was great deal of skepticism on the part of the public, so have been reliably informed Many of them considered il an experiment. The story goes that Carl
 Fisher and his associates were so firm in l their faith that the building of this speedway would be a sound venture that they pooled their interests among a small group of men and built the track on their own hook.
 statistics show that the first race net ted these men more than 90 per cent on their original investment. Then people clamored for the stock, but none was available The stock has never been put on the market, and could not be bought al l any price today. Land in the vicinity ot l the Indianapolis motor speedway was bought in the beginning at less than $2O( an acre. Real estate quotations for prop. erty in that vicinity are today al "a minimum of $40o0 per acre. During ths
 three weeks of preliminary tryouts by