There are many theories on the origins of the use of a checkered flag to end races. One theory is that horse races during the early days of the settlement of the American Midwest were followed by large public meals and that to signal that the meals were ready and racing should come to an end, a checkered tablecloth was waved. Another origin theory claim is that the checkered flag’s earliest known use was for 19th century bicycle races in France.

In a 2006 publication “The Origin of the Checker Flag - A Search for Racing’s Holy Grail”, the historian Fred Egloff follows traces to the origin of the checkered flag.

Glidden Tours

The Glidden Tours were promotional events held by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The AAA, a proponent for safer roads, acceptance of the automobile and automotive-friendly legislation, started the tour to promote public acceptance and bring awareness of their goals. The original Glidden Tours were held from 1902 through 1913. They were named after Charles J. Glidden who grew rich with as an early telephone entrepeneur, Charles Gidden  presented the AAA with a trophy first awarded to the winner of the 1905 tour.

At the turn of the century automobile travel was difficult as the road systems around the world were generally not well suited for the horseless carriage. To bring more awareness and sponsorship to the event, the AAA announced that the tour would be a "reliability and endurance" tour, a type of road rally. This attracted automobile manufacturers who competed to test their vehicles and use the events for advertising. The tours were gruelling events: cars broke down, were damaged by accidents, and encountered nearly impassable roads. Drivers and teams did repairs on the run and helped out other drivers having difficulties.

The tours went several hundred miles in the US and occasionally into Canada with time limits between checking stations and a point scoring system to determine a winner of each event. The checkered flag traces back to Sidney Waldon, an employee of the Packard Motor Car Company, who in 1906 devised the flag to mark “checking stations” (now called “check points”). Checkered flag see left.

Vanderbilt Races

The Vanderbilt Cup races were the brainchild of millionaire sportsman William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. in an effort to bring European style road racing to America. The Vanderbilts grew rich as shipping and railroad magnets.

Modeled in the Gordon Bennett races, the first race took place on Long Island, New York in 1904. Though it was a bit disorganized, it was a huge success. This led to a series of successful, well attended races every year until 1916. They were also run in Savannah (Georgia), Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and Santa Monica and San Francisco (California).


The earliest known photographic record of a checkered flag being used to end a race was from New York in 1906. Sidney Walden was was a member of the organisation committee of the Vanderbilt Races, introduced the use of the checkered flag at the finish line. Probably the Flag Man was Fred Wagner who was the flag man in many races to come.

Indianaplis 500

In 1980, USAC flagman Duane Sweeney started a tradition at the Indianapolis 500 by waving twin checkered flags at the end of the race. Previous flagmen had only used a single flag. Sweeney also marked the first use of twin green flags at the start of the race.

---

Sources

“The Origin of the Checker Flag - A Search for Racing’s Holy Grail”, by Fred Egloff, International Motor Racing Research Center 2006.

Wikipedia Charles Glidden
Glidden Tour 1909 photo's
http://moviedames.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/mysteryoftheleapingfish/