Yahoo Autos Motorcycle Chariot Races
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Yes, these really did happen…
The history of motorcycles is filled with all kinds of oddities, from board track racing to a Harley-Davidson which was designed to be steered from the sidecar. Another strange aspect of the past is the motorcycle chariot races.
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Yes, as unbelievable as that sounds, starting in the 1920s people would strap motorcycles to a chariot as if they were horses, then race against similar setups on a dirt track in a large stadium with throngs of cheering crowds. If that sounds like some strange Roman game, there’s good reason since inspiration for these odd competitions came from a movie set in Rome.
It was Australia of all places which first invented this admittedly dangerous and incredibly cool form of motorsport, although people in New Zealand, the United States, and Europe claim they started the trend. With the success of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ in 1925, people were absolutely fascinated with everything about it, including the exciting chariot race sequence. With the public thirsty for more of that kind of action, someone saw an opportunity to use modern technology to really amp things up.
Riders would don all kinds of Roman-like costumes to wow the crowds, including robes which would dramatically flow behind them as they sped around the dirt track. They would also wear helmets with stylized finishes to imitate the movie’s costumes. Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were often the only two characters racing, but sometimes they mixed things up and had more people and different characters at the helm.
Sometimes these events would be held at wood tracks, which obviously added to the challenge. One such location was the old Charlotte Speedway, which was constructed back in 1924.
