Arizona republican., 1917-10-07
INTERNATIONAL
 IN CHARGE IF
 FA|RCONTESTS

Discussing the automobile races at the Arizona State Fair this year, Sec retary Zachau of the State Fair com mission, said last evening that they promise to be the biggest gasoline at traction the fair has ever offered, with faster time and a better opportunity for the breaking of records than has heretofore been possible. The racing will be held under the auspices of the International Motor Contest Associ- ation, which now conducts the auto mobile racing events on 90 per cent of the dirt tracks in America.
 This announcement has been delayed somewhat in order that the fair com mission might seek every avenue of in formation on the subject before mak- ing it's final decision, knowing that certain interests would be affected by changing from the paternalism of the American Automobile Association, which has hitherto supervised the rac- in2 on the state fair grounds track. | There is no desire to antagonize any 1 one, but the advantages offered by the 1 l. M. C. A. have so far outweighed the ] possible disappointment in the follow | ing of the A. A. A. from the standpoint | of the public generally, that the com mission could not conscientiouSly close l Us ty lO LItlI lUl6ItSl.
 1 Without in any way criticising the | A. A. A., it is universally believed to | be the reigning power in fostering pro- fessional automobile racing-indeed | has become, and perhaps rightly so 1 from the standpoint of the professional, i both autocratic and arbitrary. Chiefly, it's world events are given on specially made tracks with which fair ground tracks are usually outclassed, though 1 it has properly sought to control as many of the latter as possible for Ob- l vious reasons.
 This brought to the fore the very l natural question whether state and l other fair ground tracks were to be maintained for the benefit and enter tainment of the public, with whose money they were constructed, or for the greater dignity of the A. A. A. So l far as speed is concerned, membership in the A. A. A. adds nothing to a drivers skill, and if has the car and the ability he can make just as good time outside that association as in it The superstition that a record is not a record unless it is made under the aus pices of the A. A. A. has long ago gone into the discard, for in this country there is no more merit in the theory ot the divine right of the A A. A. thar | J kings. Knowing that this question haC been pertinent and troublesome ont for the big eastern state fairs, Mir Zachau made tour of investigation during the summer After voicing tn, above sentiments he spoke specificall, as follows concerning the comments o
 the representative of the A. A. A. il the evening paper:
 '' l visited the Iowa state fair, wei
 known as one of the largest and mos
 successful in the country, and goin;
 as far east as Chicago, held confer
 ences with representatives of the I. M
 C. A., and have been conducting cor
 respondence both by letter and wire
 with the management of the Michigan
 Minnesota and other of the bigges
 fairs in the nation l find that the
 M. C. A. not only delivers the good
 in point of speed and exhibition an
 that their individual drivers are i
 constant contest with each other fo