Ernest Moross

While there is no record of Moross enjoying exceptional success as an athlete, he is likely to have developed contacts with other participants, including Oldfield and Carl Graham Fisher who later founded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909.

Moross first began work with Barney Oldfield when the driver signed on to the Peerless racing team to drive the infamous "Green Dragon" racer in 1904.

Moross made arrangements with county fair horse tracks and Pickens would paste broadsides on store fronts, telephone poles and barns to publicize the coming event.

Journalist Betty Blythe rode "shotgun" with Bob Burman August 17, 1909, and then wrote a feature article about it that appeared in the Indianapolis Star the following day.

Moross purchased Oldfield's team for $13,500 before the 1911 season and shortly after the driver was suspended by the AAA for staging an unsanctioned match race at Sheepshead Bay against World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Johnson in October 1910.

Moross and Burman continued to work together in 1912 and 1913, introducing a new 300 HP "Jumbo" Benz and set a new one mile dirt track record of 75.24 MPH at Brighton Beach in September.

Ernest Moross in Indianapolis Star photo, May 27, 1910
An obstacle course complete with wooden ramps and a path that traversed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's landmark creek ditch in the southwest corner of the track was a featured event at the May 1910 race meet at the Brickyard.