Andrew M. Homan

In a fine introduction, Andrew M. Homan leads the reader to expect a good tale about the excitements of six-day bicycle racing and one of its legendary riders, Reggie McNamara. It makes a good précis for selling the book, both to publisher and readers. Unfortunately, his book falls short of delivering.

One problem is that this is not a competent biography. The author lacks the materials to make it so and has to overuse words and phrases such as “probably,” “presumably,” “possibly,” “perhaps,” “a lot of,” “most likely,” “must have,” “no doubt,” “likelihood that,” and “one can imagine” to fill in missing details—details that are conjecture. This is wholly unsatisfactory, especially in proportion to the few things that reliably can be, or at least are, reported to us about McNamara.

Another problem is the account of the six-day races. The races, which at sites such as Madison Square Garden would last well over 20,000 laps (!), drew large crowds worldwide in the early decades of the 20th century and their stars were paid as handsomely as stars in any of the other professional sports, baseball included. The mystery is why any of this is true, something Iron Mac fails to make clear. Homan tells us that some of America’s biggest celebrities would come to the races (e.g., the Marx Brothers, Alice Roosevelt, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, William Randolph Hearst). What captured their attention? The 20,000-plus laps? At Madison Square Garden, frankfurters were sold, people could smoke, and a band played. Was that enough to cause folks to wait in long lines for tickets? To stay all six days of the event, as some fans would do?

Maybe some excitement lay in the risk spectators ran. Homan shares a report from The New York Times: “Thieves infect the Garden this year like they always have, but they seem to become more daring each year. One’s watch or money is never safe there, and his overcoat is almost certain to be lifted if his eye is off it…Complaints have been made this week…of various kinds of hold-ups, but there is never anyone to be found who fits the crime.” If Iron Mac had more detail of this quality I’d sing a less critical tune.

Too bad. Reggie McNamara was a tough guy. His story, while not in sport overly unusual (except for length of career), sounds more interesting than it is in this book, an impression supported by an essay composed by McNamara himself which Homan wisely includes. It is the best thing in the book and causes one to regret McNamara did not succeed in writing his own memoir.… (meer)

I don't think I even knew that motor-paced bicycle racing had been a sport before I read this book! I picked it up more or less at random - I am interesting in the general history of bicycling, so I figured this would work as another patch in my quilt.

This is a rather skeletal history, pretty much a series of races, results,... and blood-curdling crashes! Spoiler alert - just about everybody dies on the track! This was a brutal sport!

This book covers Walthour's career from its start around 1895 up to the start of the Great War in 1914. Walthour kept racing up until 1923 and lived into the 1940s, but that period just gets a couple paragraphs. The real peak of Walthour's career was around 1906. It was in Europe where motor-pace races drew huge crowds and paid big money, though it was plenty popular in the USA as well.

Even though Walthour was a quiet man, this book could have been considerably fleshed out with what people were thinking - somebody around the track must have left some record! But anyway, Homan does a good job of introducing us to the sport and its popularity in its time. Even though it is not much more that a series of race reports, I was never bored reading it at all.… (meer)