It was only 10 years after the first automobile, a 1903 “Curved-Dash” Oldsmobile from Jerome, which actually only drove from Jerome Junction after taking the train there.
Still, “much interest [was] created” when the Frontier Days Committee announced that it was increasing the cash prize money for the automobile race to $250 for first, and $150 for second place (approximately $8000 and $4800 in today’s money). The Weekly Journal-Miner explained that the extra prize money would ‘guarantee the entry of at least two cars from Tucson, two cars from Phoenix, and one car from Jerome, to race against a lone entry from Prescott.
