Fast Diggers: Frank Hoffman to Butte and Beyond, 1901

 Frank J. "Dutch" Hoffman surely ranks among the most successful of Los Angeles' bicycle racers of the 1900s' first decade. Hoffman's exploits while racing in Los Angeles will be documented in the second volume of Fast Digs. His successes, however, were not limited to the local tracks and roads. When the 1900-1901 season at the downtown velodrome came to an end, Hoffman, along with the professionals who had been racing in the city, and a select group of amateurs, travelled to Salt Lake City to race at the Salt Palace track before moving on to Butte, Montana for the opening of a new saucer track in that city.

In the middle of June 1901 work on a new saucer track at Butte (on East Park, between Ohio and Arizona) was being rushed in order to have it ready for opening on the 29th. The track was to be a nine-lap oval, with a seating capacity of 4,000, and built under the supervision of T. O. Angel, who also built the Salt Lake City and Los Angeles tracks, using 212,000 feet of lumber.

(*note of interest: This was not the first board track to be built in the city of Butte. In July 1896 the city commissioned a track to be built at the athletic grounds for the specific purpose of hosting the women's circuit races that were all the rage in the eastern states. Late in the month Helen Baldwin, Tillie Anderson, Ida Peterson, May Allen, Frankie Mack and Frankie Nelson arrived in the city for their six-day race - two hours each evening for six days - which began on the 27th before a crowd of 2,000 spectators. Remember, this was three years before Los Angeles had its first board track.)

photo of Hoffman from the Butte Daily Post, 1 July 1901

Interestingly, since the racing season was still ongoing at Salt Lake, that many of the top riders would leave the city for Butte put the two tracks in direct competition, and prompted the manager at Salt Lake to the "unsportsmanshiplike measure" of banning the departing riders from participating in any forthcoming races at the Salt Lake track. With the heavy-handed proclamation affecting their abilities to make a living, the riders agreed to make their departure from Utah as soon as possible. On the Butte end, John B. King, manager of the Butte Athletic Association, noting that several riders had written saying they were out of money, affirmed that Butte would "take care of the boys and put them on their feet." With that, Hoffman joined the exodus whose numbers also included Iver and Gus Lawson, John Staver, Jack Burris, H. Haydock, Artie Bell, J. P. Gunn and S. H. Sharman, arriving in the city on the 25th of June.

Riders began practicing on the track on the 27th, and interest in their warm-ups continued to increase over the next two days, resulting in a crowd of nearly 3,000 on hand for a cold night of racing to open the track on the 29th. The racing did not finish until 11:00 that night. Hoffman had runaway success on opening night, winning the three races in which he was entered. He started off by winning his two-thirds of a mile qualifying heat, after starting from scratch; with a time of 1:23 he beat out Joe Rayburn (120 yards) who finished 2nd, and Frank Hahn (100 yards) who took 3rd. The final of the two-thirds mile fell to Hoffman in a time of 1:21 2/5. A one mile open was run without qualifiers, but the result was the same, with Hoffman taking 1st in 2:21, over Robert Allen, Rayburn, and [?] Deville.

The Butte spectators became quite familiar with Hoffman over the next couple weeks, as his winning ways continued with little abatement. On the 30th of June he won a one-mile handicap in 2:08, beating Allen (2nd) and Rayburn (3rd), then beat the same two riders to the tape at the end of a one-third mile open race, winning in forty-five seconds. Hoffman's string of wins grew longer on the night of July 1st before 4,000 spectators, beneath a moon that "shone brightly." The weather was perfect, and the "Boston and Montana band rendered some of its choicest pieces in the infield," when Hoffman, starting from scratch, beat Rayburn and Allen in 1:19 1/5, during a two-third mile handicap race.

The next races took place on the 4th of July, though the two day gap held no deleterious effects for the Los Angeles racer who won a one-mile handicap from Allen, Rayburn, and Barnett in 2:05 3/5. Hoffman won again, the following night, in a one and a half mile handicap, finishing in 3:15, ahead of Allen and Rayburn. On the 6th, Hoffman collected the winners purse of $15 in a one-mile amateur handicap, with Allen and Barnett finishing 2nd and 3rd. Hoffman's winning time was 1:56 2/5. Hoffman also circled the track in a five-mile motor-paced exhibition, riding the quickest of the five miles in 1:39. The local riders finally figured out how to beat Hoffman, and on July 7th he suffered his first loss, loosing out to Barnett in a one-third mile handicap race, in which the Butte racer was given a seventy yard lead over the speedy Hoffman, who closed to within a bike length at the tape. Rain fell on the 9th and the races were cancelled to the disappointment of one-thousand fans. Luck held with the locals when racing resumed on July 10th; on that night Barnett, with a 130 yard advantage and Royce, with 165 yards both beat Hoffman to the tape in a two-thirds mile handicap.

On July 10th, Hoffman returned to his winning ways, defeating Allen, Stern, and Stafford in a half-mile handicap, this after spotting Allen sixty-five yards. Allen ran a competitive race, and for Hoffman to beat him, the Los Angeles man had to ride at such a pace that he lowered the world record time (that he had set at Butte) for the distance on a nine-lap track. Hoffman picked up a $12 purse on 11 July, by defeating Royce, Barnett and Ferguson in a one mile handicap, finishing in a time of 2:02 1/5. With a seventy-five yard lead Allen, from Billings, had just enough in his legs to beat Hoffman in a two-thirds mile handicap that took place on July 12th, and then showcased his vastly improved speed by defeating Hoffman again on the 13th, again in a two-thirds of a mile handicap. 

On July 14th, Hoffman again improved upon his mile record time, lowering it by another second, to 1:48 4/5. "Hoffman could have reduced the record at least two seconds more it he had any one to urge him. During the seventh and eighth laps, when he caught up with the leaders, he loafed. He was handicapped to the extend of 180 yards and overcame this big gap in three laps. He kicked on the handicap and refused to race at first, but when Track Manager Hague told him he would disqualify him if he did not go on, he changed his mind. Hofman's [sic] race last night demonstrated that he can give all the amateurs in Butte, with the probable exception of Allen, a full lap handicap in a mile and beat them out. As a matter of fact Hofman belongs in the Iver Lawson class. In the amateur races he has a regular pudding in getting the money."

Two nights on, another Butte rider by the name of German, with a one-hundred thirty yard advantage, got the best of Hoffman in a half-mile race. Hoffman was able to collect money in a two-thirds mile race later in the evening, by defeating Allen (65 yards), Murphy (150 yards), and German (155 yards). The winning time was 1:18. Three local riders were able to get the best of Hoffman on the 17th of July, when Murphy (125 yards), Olsen (125 yards), and German (100 yards) placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd ahead of him in a half-mile handicap that was ridden in 0:58 4/5. On the 19th, Hoffman was able to overcome the usual large handicaps to win a one-mile race, defeating Barnett, Allen and McGeevea, in 2:00 3/5. He then repeated at the same distance three nights later (July 22nd), winning the $12 1st place money by defeating Allen (2nd), Murphy (3rd) and Barnett (4th).

A "mystery rider," who refused to provide his name, appeared in Butte on July 26th, a native of Chicago whom Hoffman recognized as a crack and a "hummer," and was expected to provide some additional competition to the Los Angeles rider. Crack or not, Hoffman took a pair of wins on the 28th of July, winning both a one-mile handicap (from Rayburn, Murphy, and Olsen), and a half-mile handicap (from Stern, Murphy and Hopper). The first race was won in a time of 1:59 1/5, while the second was won in fifty-nine seconds flat. Hoffman's final night of racing was on the 30th of July, and ended with a loss; in a two-thirds mile handicap, Hoffman made up the gaps during the race, but was then pocketed and finished out of the money. The next night he and fellow Los Angeleno, Artie Bell, left town.

As the racing season on the Butte track was drawing down, Hoffman travelled to Buffalo, New York for the National Cycling Association's national amateur championships, held at the Pan-American Stadium. Amongst the best in the nation Hoffman, largely, matched up and held his own. Championship races were held for quarter, third, half, one-mile, two-mile and five-mile distances, and with points accumulated from each used to determine the National Amateur Champion. Hoffman's appearance at the Championships started off well; he won his quarter-mile qualifier in 0:32 1/5, over L. E. Mettling of Boston, D. Sullivan, F. Ernest and A. H. Minie, but was unable to finish better than 3rd in the semi-final, behind New York's Marcus Hurley and Buffalo's Warren Zurbrick. Hoffman also won his third-mile qualifying heat on the same day, beating out Minie, T. J. Grady, W. L. Losee, E. E. Denniston and Willie Dobbins, with a time of forty-five seconds. In the semi-final, Hoffman finished 3rd again, beaten to the tape by Hurley and F. A. Moore of Ontario, Canada. On the first day of competition, Hoffman also raced a non-championship five-mile handicap, but did not place.

On the third day of competition (the second day was shortened due to rain), Hoffman won his half-mile semi-final in 1:04 1/5, beating out James Ingraham of Chelsea, Massachusetts. In his one-mile semi-final, Hoffman finished 2nd to L. E. Mettling who won in 2:15. The following day, Hoffman lost, in the "grand semi-final" of the half-mile to J. T. Ingraham (Ingraham would lose to Marcus Hurley in the final), and finished 4th in the one-mile final behind Marcus Hurley, W. L. Losee and L. E. Mettling. In a one-mile handicap race, Hoffman could manage no better than 4th in the third qualifying heat. Hoffman collected yet another 4th place finish, this one in the two-mile championship, held on the 10th of August, behind T. J. Grady, Marcus Hurley, and Charles McConnell. He was unable to advance out of his qualifying race in a half-mile handicap.

Hoffman likely returned to Los Angeles following the national championships, certainly by the end of the year he was back in the southland where he quickly returned to his winning ways, and won a half-mile race at Azusa, one of a series of races held in that city during Thanksgiving.