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1674-71 Carl Fisher ,. t the . • .. i, , ..,... z; : , ,.,..,.. ,, Indianapolis4,.... • . 5 , O * : :( ,. . rqi . . .. } ?Ta nom' .- .4. ; .... _^ .' _. '3,,« A COMPLETE PICTORIAL HISTORY x ; JOHN and BARBARA DEVANEY irn ' •• 5 ' I b:. ,' `*wY d'Ty} e{+� yo-}+4'�p '� '. - .... `. F �_,-� F tea.• ..«. • }y 4 ', !4.M 4 14:7', r•�IOFyM•. ,•Irr• 4 it- C 1 J i nye •� �-V �• ,.. 3 ..� 'r. il ;tL 1 t t� 4 .t a t , -! 1 '+ �C-�� •� •1. � goes P 'art i`ll` 111 j r: $"^ r sc '+' •,, t • i_ '"} '� 'p ofd ♦,. S ' 1.i. r I �� � � � / � pRESZ.4I �� ., >; A. , , •& 11 �i r 1 I. r ,,�� ii d „, , „‘ , 1.,. 4,, . ,. \ *.« IV. ; , , .. k jt 11 A„ ' .. i I + I,, ' 4. � . gid, :'t �IS a; i'y. f w t'J t •} e !+ ,rte. -„'. Ran`t!`M aalIy& ampany MIAMI • t)ADEF - • W f �' ; Chicago •New York•• �ar1 F an�`isco' PUBLIC IdBRARY.$YSTEM 411111111111111160 ' I Aa f: Q €GAcknowledgments In beginning our research for this book, our first call Many books on the "500" were insightful, notably was to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.The Speedway's 500 Miles to Go by Al Bloemker; Famous Indianapolis able director of publicity, Vice President Albert S. Cars and Drivers and The Indianapolis 500 by Brock Bloemker, was generous in providing information and Yates; and Lyle Engel's Indianapolis 500: The World's access to photographs. Charlene Ellis, the enthusiastic Most Exciting Auto Race. manager of the Speedway's photo bureau, patiently di- We are indebted tp the reporting of men like Bill rected us through thousands of old photos. We are also Corum of the New York Journal-American;Frank Blunk '` indebted to W. B. de Meza, director of public informa- and John S. Radosta of the New York Times;and Sports tion for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, for Illustrated's Kenneth Rudeen, Bob Ottum, and Robert F. 1his assistance in obtaining art and color photos, and Jones. Also invaluable were the weekly reports on auto F ^ x ! to the public relations staff at the Firestone Tire and racing by Ray Marquette in The Sporting News and the `.- Rubber Company. I 500-Mile Race Record Book, edited by Bill Pittman and ; Of great help in locating former "500" mechanics published each year by the Indianapolis News. We are tel. and drivers was Bob Laycock, executive secretary of the also grateful to Pete Sansone and Marty Stem of United Indianapolis 500 Old-Timers Club. Since many former Press International. And last but not least our thanks drivers and mechanics were dead, we went back to old to John Matthew Devaney, Jr., for checking the Top art" newspapers and magazines for some interview material. Ten statistics. Photo Credits g ' Authors' Collection: 25 t., 33 t.1., 34, 36 t.r., 39, 40, 101 b., 102, 104 1., 105, 107, 108, 109 t., 110, 112, ;, 44 t., 47, 49, 53 r., 56 t., 57 b., 59, 60 t., 61, 64 t., 113'b., 114, 115, 117 b., 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, n 65, 66 b., 69 t., 71 b., 77 1., b., 86 t., 91 b., 95 b., 129, 130 t., 131, 135 t., 137, 138, 140-141, 143, 144, 101 t., 104 r., 109 b., 113 t., 117 t., 118, 126, 130 b., 145, 149, 153, 154, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 162-163, 134, 135 b., 136, 148 b., 150, 152, 215 b.,235,238 166, 167, 168, 169, 171, 172, 173, 174, 176 t.,c., 177, ,1 John and Barbara Devaney: 9 b., 278,279, 282 178, 180 t., 181, 182-183, 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, Firestone News Service: 28 t.,94,95 t. 194, 195, 196, 198, 199, 202, 206-207, 208, 209, 210, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company: 272-273 212, 213, 215 t., 216, 217, 220, 221 b., 222, 223, 224, ;, Indianapolis Motor Speedway: 2-3, 6-7, 8, 9 t., 10, 11, 226-227, 230, 231, 232 t., 234, 239, 242, 243, 245, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 b., 26, 28 b., 247,250,251,254,255,257 t.,259,261,262,264,265, 29, 30, 32, 33 t.r.,b., 36 t.l.,b., 37, 41,43, 44 b.,45, 266,267,269,270,274,275,277,280,281 48,51,52,53 1.,55,56 b.,57 t.,60 b.,62,64 b.,66 t., United Press International: 132, 147, 148 t., 165, 176 b., .*c 67, 69 b., 70, 71 t., 73, 74, 75, 77 t.r., 79, 80, 82, 83, 180 b., 184, 193, 200, 203, 205, 219, 221 t., 229, a'•`? 85, 86 c., b., 87, 88, 90, 91 t., 93, 96, 97, 99, 100, 232 b., 237, 240, 246, 248, 252,257 b., 260,271 s L, rr a3 • w;; Copyright© 1976 by Rand McNally&Company Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data All rights reserved Devaney, John. Printed in the United States of America by Rand McNally&Company The Indianapolis 500. r Includes index. 1. Indianapolis Speedway Race. ISBN 0-528-81844-9 2.Automobile racing-Biography.I. Devaney, Barbara, joint author.II.Title.GV1033.5.I55D47 First printing, 1976 796.7'2'0680977252 76-23129 ISBN 0-528-81844-9 j :s A fj x : "The Greatest Automobile Race Ever" "We're talking about the greatest automobile race $200,000 to build the Speedway on some 300 ever put on anywhere on the face of the earth. acres of farmland located 15 minutes by car from Everything connected with it is going to be big- downtown Indianapolis. ger and better than ever before... .This is going The Speedway opened in June, 1909. Two to be the greatest crowd attraction of all time." wooden grandstands, with seats for 15,000 spec- Speaking with characteristic optimism was Carl tators, faced a 2.5-mile loop of track. Since the 1 Fisher, co-owner of Prest-O-Lite, an Indianapo- track was not yet ready for car racing, the first 1 lis headlight manufacturer. He was also president event was a balloon race. Auto racing began at of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 1908 he the Speedway in August, 1909. The opening had conceived the Speedway as a showcase where event of the three-day program was a 5-mile dash the manufacturers of automobiles and accessories that was won by a Stoddard-Dayton with an r r could prove that their products were fast and average speed of 57 miles an hour. The first day's I durable. Fisher and his partners spent almost main event was the 250-mile Prest-O-Lite Trophy Racers at the Speedway have come a long way z since 1910,when an 4111 Overland (opposite page,top)used a propeller in a 5-mile race against a plane flying above it.The car, %� f+ aver hour, 6miles fur IIs i- \ hour,lost by four j seconds. Right:A ✓ modern Coyote-Fall could traverse a football field In a second. Its �i, engine,only slightly larger than a f Volkswagen's, is +� 11111, I, K turbocharged to exceed 200 miles an hour. / Driving the car Is Janet ---`" t,:. Guthrie, proving that more than cars have come a long way. q 6 y y' 3 race. The tar-and-gravel track was soon pock- marked by the pounding of the cars' hard wheels. One driver was temporarily blinded when he was struck in the eye by a flying stone. Another driver and his riding mechanic were killed when their .$ car hit a pothole and flipped. The race was won by Bob Burman, whose Buick averaged 53 miles an hour. Hasty track repairs permitted the second day's events—a series of shorter races—to pro- ceed without serious accidents. Then came the f climax of the three days of racing: the 300-mile ,..4114 �m I - ,' Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race. Drivers ducked k and dodged through dust and stones from the disintegrating track. One car plowed into a group of spectators, killing two of them and the car's mechanic. Another car hit a chuckhole and ca- reened off the track. After 235 miles the race had to be halted. An embarrassed Fisher promised a .t new track. Only 63 days later,more than 3 million bricks, ' each weighing ten pounds, had been laid over the old surface. In the setting sun's rays the bricks glowed red; they would give the Speedway a i,.. F name it has kept—the Brickyard. In 1910 the Speedway held a series of races on the Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day • ' weekends. Crowds dwindled to as few as a thou- f. • ,, r •` sand spectators. Fisher realized the Speedway had c a, t Top left:The Speedway's first president,Carl Fisher. r t He and partners Jim Allison,Frank Wheeler,and Arthur ti' a Newby,Indianapolis businessmen,built the Speedway at a total cost of more than$500,000.Fisher later spent a fortun,developing a Florida swamp called Miami Beach.He died in 1939.Opposite page,top:Speedway president Anton(Tony)Hulman delivers the traditional starting command:"Gentlemen,start your engines." Below and right:The main gate in 1909 and today. Now,as then,the Speedway won't disclose exactly how many fans go through its gates. x i * i . . i A__. jrw , k. w l �"y�� y 1uh.er.� ..� 4 �, ...-0%,--4.—......-, � e ,..--4- . tx 4 • F to provide "something different" from the usual ,i) '1, programs offered by the speedways and dirt 6 ' • l tracks that had popped up across the Midwest. He decided on one super race—a mammoth 500- ' j mile grind over the bricks,the equivalent of a trip , +, lam. 1from Indianapolis to Washington, D.C. The race ' • ., pmt would be long enough to give those who paid the $1 general admission their money's worth, said awry ` tig / 44 Fisher,but would end before dusk. And the purse + would be the biggest ever for an auto race: $25,000 would go to the top ten finishers, with \ 4 $10,000—what most Americans earned in ten years—to be paid to the winner. 1 ' Today the race still claims to offer the biggest a :, prize in sport—more than a million dollars. Most 1/4 of the bricks have been glossed over with asphalt. :` ' ....),••+TowerinB steel-and-concretegrandstands now look down on the starting line. Attendance at practice days, the two weekends of qualifying, .1'/ 0., ) and then the race—what has come to be called . ,4141111511 "Thirty Days of Indy"—totals close to a million. I The Indianapolis 500 has outlived 500-mile races 1 4 at other speedways and is still the most famous f auto race in the United States. "There's only one Indianapolis," says A. J. Foyt, winner of three onrushing walls that can dismember a car with "500s." "It pays the biggest purse, it pulls the one metal-screeching kiss. In the 1960s drivers most drivers, and it's the biggest challenge of still eased off their throttles through most of the a them all." turns; but now drivers "stand on it" through two Driving a car at the Indy 500 has been de- or even three turns. An extra mile an hour scribed as a sensation akin to flying a jet past a through the four turns—purchased with a nerve- row of trees, with three or four other jets at your testing brush of those deadly walls—can mean nose and tail. The cars boom down the 3,300- victory and a first prize of a quarter of a million 1 foot straights at better than 200 miles an hour, dollars. {I streaking toward one of Indy's terrifying left- Today's fiberglass, winged creatures look no handed turns. As the cars swerve out of the more like the steel boxes of the first "500" than banked turns, they swing frighteningly close to a mosquito resembles a wheelbarrow. Most of 11 i 4.• •- y • i y • 1,., S � ®�!iq Hran •�`ti,, b gl INDIANAPOLIS ' • r4.0.--_- TORSPEEDWAY .--_ AI IARC. .i- ' . 9N te. .., j „ ' cr i 1.i . . r /, t 1 ; .cig -. ,,..., 7.� _• f •mow. _. Athe early engines were huge 600 cubic-inchers wthat produced about 200 horsepower, compared p to the nearly 1,000 horsepower of today's turbo- charged 160-inch engines. The driver of today reclines in a form-fitting cockpit; the early driver - - sat atop a hot, banging engine, his body bruised r _* by the jarring ride on hard springs and wire- spoked wheels. r:r The track today is officially the same size as it ,'" was in 1909: 50 feet wide on the straightaways, 60 feet on the turns. But the turns are wider be- �I�1� cause there are no inside walls as there were in V 1 I( the early days. Today a driver can swerve out of !. ti'' trouble onto an apron or the infield grass. In -.� �� l,; 1911, with the turns like alleys, newspapers pre- _—/ - dicted blood and carnage for the first "500," as 40 cars banged around the oval. Perhaps know- , ,-,. +�'i `-, p 1 ing why some people come to an auto race—to IAm•' ? lab~• ' see sudden death—Fisher predicted: "We're go- • ing to have the biggest damn crowd anyone in �;� �� y � the country has ever seen." That prophecy was =., confirmed by the New York Times, which called ,,, =' ` ,r the crowd at the 1912 race the "largest ever to . ,'" "" =` attend a sporting event in America." Today's at- 11 tendance—estimated at more than 300,000 on 1 race day—is triple the crowd at a Super Bowl or •� 0,~� Kentucky Derby and more than the total at- tendance at all the games of many World Series. !, ! It is still the largest attendance for any single - ' day's sports event in the United States. -, For the first "500"—on Memorial Day of 1911—some 80,000 people streamed to Indian �tl i apolis by train, car, and horse and buggy, jam- - 1 r� f .;l 1�i hl ' ming roads around the Speedway. They filled the )rt n,/.14v.,, ,3-4l i' wooden grandstands breasting the front straight- i frf s•. away and lined the infield fence. There were grey-t. { u -. . ing men who had fought at Gettysburg and e younger men who had dashed up San Juan Hill - . with Teddy Roosevelt. Like millions of men and I • women in a mostly rural America, they were fas- -s , e cinated by those sputtering automobiles, the : ® speedy new machines that could catapult them beyond the horizon that had penned them in for • most of their lives. . They were equally fascinated by the daredevils pp ......� who drove these machines—national idols like ii brash Barney Oldfield, the bronze-faced Ralph 1 DePalma, and that unsmiling man in the pointy- tailed yellow Wasp, the one they called the Bedouin... 11 pl ll • A • 1911 INV.V.W.NPM A Wasp's Last Flight The Bedouin snapped the goggles atop his leather figured the mechanic was only extra weight. Be- i helmet. He swept his eyes over the gleaming fore the race other drivers had objected that Har- metal boxes lined up in front of him. The cars roun's Wasp was a hazard because he couldn't sat on the track in eight rows, five cars in a row. see behind him. Threatened with disqualification, From the cockpit of his yellow Marmon, in the Harroun had bolted a mirror onto the front of the sixth row, the Bedouin could see David Bruce- cockpit.He had given the Wasp—and automobil- Brown, a wealthy sportsman, in his maroon Fiat, ing—the first rearview mirror. and Spencer Wishart, another rich daredevil,) in Cool gusts of wind scattered spectators' straw a grey Mercedes that had cost over$60,000. hats as the starting time neared. Nearly 80,000 The white Lozier beside him drew the Bedouin's fans had pushed and shoved through the Speed- longest looks. Behind the wheel was Ralph Mul- way gates since they had swung open at 6:30 A.M. ford, considered to be the best road racer in About 50,000 people filled the four grandstands America. But the best at spinning around tracks that breasted the straightaway, and the other was the Bedouin. In his yellow Marmon he had 30,000 lined the railing on the infield. At exactly won the previous year's Wheeler-Schebler 200- 10 o'clock an aerial bomb exploded. Mechanics mile race and the 1910 American Automobile whirled starting cranks, and black smoke bal- .., `` Association driving championship. looned as the thunder of 40 engines filled the air. The Bedouin was Ray Harroun (the nickname Led by Speedway owner Carl Fisher in a pace came because of his Arabian ancestry), a Z9- car, the cars swung toward the south turn, year-old engineer with a somber, no-nonsense wrapped in a black cloud. They circled the track manner.When he wasn't driving,he designed cars at 40 miles an hour in the tight eight-row forma- and engines for the Marmon company here in tion. Dots loomed larger as the cars appeared out Indianapolis. He'd designed and built this yeliiow of the north turn at the top of the straightaway. ' Marmon,called the Wasp by newspapers. Now— Their distant buzz became a bellow as they sped though he had retired from driving at the end of by the stands in a flying start. The pace car the 1910 season—Harroun had been persuaded swerved aside, the starter snapped the flag, and . by Howard Marmon to drive the Wasp in the new the first"500" had begun. Indianapolis 500-mile race. A big blue National, driven by Johnny Aitken, All the other cars in the race were two-seaters, charged out of the front row and into the lead. • hippy enough to carry a driver and a mechanic Close behind was Ralph DePalma, one of the (who watched instruments and kept an eye on nation's most famous drivers, in a red Simplex. traffic coming from behind).Harroun's Wasp was These two whirled around the oval at better than sculpted long and narrow, the cockpit flared, its 80 miles an hour, only a couple of seconds apart. tail pointed, and it was a single-seater. Harroun The Bedouin hung back at a restrained 75 12 yA L�' P. . r, 1 916 , 1 1 4 �f I The "500" Goes 300 i , "Who the hell does he think he is?" Carl Fisher passed, but Fisher curtly turned him away. The II snapped at T. E. (Pop) Myers, the Speedway's race had asserted itself as bigger than its parts. new general manager. Myers had just told Fisher Only 21 cars lined up for the start of the"300." that Ralph DePalma, the premier attraction in The crowd was noticeably sparser than in pre- racing, had demanded "appearance money"—at I vious years-70,000 was one optimistic estimate. least$5,000—to enter the 1916 race. Favored to win was the hawk-faced Eddie Rick- Fisher's partners wanted to give DePalma the !enbacker, like DePalma and Oldfield a pioneer I money. Some of the shine of the race had faded racer on dirt tracks and at county fairs. His white as other speedways staged 500-mile races. This Maxwell, designed by Ray Harroun, was partly L, year Fisher had decided to shorten the race to owned by Fisher. Rickenbacker had won two big i 300 miles. He had made the decision for a num- races, in Brooklyn and Tacoma, to bring home 1 ber of reasons.Some fans had argued that a"300" more than $50,000 in the past 12 months for j would be more exciting. Moreover, with the guns himself and Fisher's Prest-O-Lite racing team. of World War I still barking across Europe, no Rickenbacker had won a front-row spot by J'. new machines would come across the Atlantic; qualifying at better than 96 miles an hour. On and in America only Arthur and Louis Chevrolet the pole was Johnny Aitken in an old Peugeot and the Duesenberg brothers, Fred and August, and right behind him was stumpy Dario Resta, were rolling new racers out of their shops. Most "a driving master," one critic had called him, in of the 1916 entries, as a result, would be older another Peugeot. cars, and Fisher thought that few would survive At the start Rickenbacker arrowed his white a 500-mile grind over the bricks. Maxwell into the lead and began to edge away His partners argued that since a 300-mile race from the two pursuing Peugeots. But near the 25- might not draw the throngs that had jammed mile point Rickenbacker veered off the track with E 1, i downtown Indianapolis and its hotels for the pre- a broken steering knuckle,his car through for the vious races, the presence of DePalma would help day (Rickenbacker finished sixth in the other 1 to swell the attendance. But Fisher was adamant: Maxwell as a relief driver). Aitken's Peugeot 4 He would not pay DePalma or anyone else. slipped into the lead. But when Aitken stopped A few days later Barney Oldfield—he and De- I for 20 seconds to change a tire, he came out in ! Palma were jealous rivals—asked Fisher for the I second, Resta's Peugeot a gleaming blue and ` same fee that DePalma was getting. Fisher as- I white speck in front of him. II sured Barney that DePalma was not receiving a Streaking through the sunshine, Resta's Peu- fee. "We don't need DePalma or anyone else that geot roared over the first 100 miles in an hour much," Fisher said. Barney entered. DePalma and seven minutes. Behind him clung Aitken's tried to sign up after the entry deadline had Peugeot. After 172 miles Aitken peeled off into 1 35 I 9. w., r 4 r I -•� • I 'ii i �C w; ., Na 1 . V° .fit-- // Spectators get a view of s" ti� .,–,‘„,,,,,„..,,,171 / • the race perched . r - �� of 4 ,; / . atop the family car. * .4.9* r yp--+4^ ,�. Automobile prices were 4 on their way down, . . . �. newspapers said,but a F. �"' • Reo cost$1,500,a sum 1,„,,,, . �• many Americans didn't ' , earn In a year.There `F were two smashups inI the race.One driver i fractured his thigh, `4, y a ;r l another his skull S j 4 r1 the pit with a broken valve, his car one of ten Edward Towers: that would not finish the race. Eight miles ahead Slipshod scoring in ..,- of the second-place car, a Duesenberg, Resta raised high a hand, a signal to his pit that he Ralph Mulford, who finished third in 1916, had , I would come in on the next lap. He pointed at the come in second in 1911. Edward Towers, a rid- right rear tire; he wanted it changed. The treads ing mechanic, later said: Mulford always insisted looked sound,but a blown right rear tire had cost he won that first '500' in 1911. In those days the a . 1'" him the race a year earlier. In the pit he also took scoring was slipshod. They'd have a scorer as- on fuel, losing a minute, but he screeched back signed to watch one or two cars to check on their onto the track still far ahead. Over the next 125 speed and how many laps they'd covered. But the 'P• miles he held the Peugeot at 80 miles an hour scorers weren't experienced men. And Ray Har- and finished with an average speed of 84 miles an roun and Joe Dawson were from Indianapolis hour, well below the record of 89. For the fourth driving Indianapolis cars.I know the car I was in, straight year a foreign car had won. with Wild Bill Turner, we were placed eighth in It had been a dull race.Fisher decided to switch that 1911 race, but we were pretty sure we back to a 500-mile contest—but he would have finished sixth. Oh,yes, sir, there was some home- to wait three years to see it. town scoring. 1916's TOP TEN .I Race open to cars with a piston displacement of 300 cubic inches or less. IA'' 5 NO. DRIVER CAR ENGINE CYL. BORE STROKE D SPOL.N TIME* MPH WINNINGS} -,: ._, 17 Dario Resta Peugeot Peugeot 4 3.620 6.650 274 3:34:17 84.00 $12,000 t 1. I 1 Wilbur D'Alene Duesenberg Duesenberg 4 3.750 6.750 299 3:36:15 83.24 6,000 t 10 Ralph Mulford Peugeot Peugeot 4 3.600 6.700 274 3:37:56 82.59 3,000 14 Josef Christiaens Sunbeam Sunbeam 6 3.180 5.900 299 3:46:36 79.44 2,000 15 Barney Oldfield Delage Delage 4 3.720 6.300 275 3:47:19 79.18 1,700 4 Pete Henderson Maxwell Maxwell 4 3.750 6.750 298 3:49:56 78.28 1,400 29 Howdy Wilcox Premier Premier 4 3.600 6.700 274 3:54:31 76.75 1,200 26 Art Johnson Crawford Duesenberg I 4 3.750 6.750 298 4:01:54 74.41 1,000 'Vfn24 William Chandler Crawford Duesenberg 1 4 3.750 6.750 298 4:02:43 74.16 900 9 Ora Haibe Osteweg Wisconsin I 4 4.340 5.000 296 4:03:10 74.02 800 i •For 300 miles. f Speedway prizes for winning entries.Total awards in rape,$31,350:Speedway prizes,$30,000;accessory prizes,$1,350. r,. ,' 37 t, II 1, ,w : a .0*-, ' .,' e''' ` 1 i 1 4 1919 Mielonell•Weee . ,,., ,.1 ,. , Another Tortoise and a Hre In November, 1918, only a few days after World Estimates of the race day crowd, on a sunny I War I ended,Carl Fisher left by train from Miami morning, ranged between 75,000 and 125,000. Beach, where he was carving a resort out of a The packed stands contradicted predictions that swamp, for Indianapolis to plan the 1919 race. postwar America had become too sophisticated During the war the Speedway's gates had leen for auto racing. After band music, aerial bombs, shut to the public; its garages sheltered Army the playing of "Back Home in Indiana," and the r I planes, its brick track was a landing strip. When national anthem, the crowd saw the popular fa- j; Fisher announced that the race would be resumed vorite—DePalma—blast his big Packard to the 4. on Memorial Day, 1919, some editorialists called front. He whizzed around the first 100 miles at the Speedway's "race to death" an insult toi the 92 miles an hour, a record for the Speedway. dead of World War I. Fisher ducked some of;the Hanging close behind was Louis Chevrolet, in darts by holding the race on Saturday, May 31, one of his Frontenacs.Far back,in a patched old the day after Memorial Day. blue and white Peugeot, the happy-go-lucky Again the race would stretch 500 miles for a Howdy Wilcox restrained his enthusiasm and his purse of $50,000 plus accessory prizes. French heavy foot as he noodled along at a steady 85 a; factories shipped over four new Ballots,valued at miles an hour. $120,000. Driving one was the 1914 winner, On the 44th lap Arthur Thurman's car over- Rene Thomas. The Chevrolet brothers entered turned and he was killed. An hour later a Roamer ' four of their new Frontenacs, and the Hudson exploded, cremating the driver and mechanic on :,, factory sent five new six-cylinder stock cars.',The the track.These were the first deaths at the Speed- Ot Duesenbergs, who had moved their shop to New way since 1911. Jersey, entered four cars. Ralph DePalma came At the 150-mile mark DePalma veered in for a �_t ' in a ponderous 12-cylinder Packard, its displace- pit stop and Chevrolet zoomed into the lead. Be- r`' t ment of 299.2 cubic inches just under the limit of hind him the expensive French Ballots shook �, ' 300. apart as they pounded over the bricks. Cars t;. piloted Thomas his Ballot through a streamed into the pits and many did not come out qualifying lap at 104.7 miles an hour—a Speed- (only 14 of the 33 cars finished the race). Near l' way record—as the 100-mile-an-hour barrier was the halfway point both Chevrolet and DePalma t' f`; penetrated by seven cars. Thomas won the!pole had to make lengthy pit stops, and they watched 1, position. (This year the qualifiers on the first day Wilcox roll by in the Peugeot to take the lead. were placed ahead of later qualifiers who might Cars rushed at Wilcox, then had to swing in for ' ''" have faster times, a rule that still stands.) repairs and came out too far behind. Wilcox held IF 38 i a: , z`eF x,. a x , . ,; i , I 11 9 2 4 mil's r i.V•W e se eeliel . , . , .. , , , 1 1 , , i ., 1 Here Come the Howlers His topcoat flapping in the cool breeze as he stood and other car makers had talked Carl Fisher into in the pit, Fred Duesenberg frowned s he continuing the "500." As his involvement in de- watched the four leading cars buzz by th 250- veloping resorts in Miami Beach and Long Island mile point of this "500." The four leader were increased,Fisher had lost interest in the race.The I powered by Miller engines. In fifth place bung a Speedway's grandstands needed renovating, but Duesenberg. Angrily, Fred Duesenberg waved in Fisher was reluctant to siphon $200,000 from in- the car. He turned to Joe Boyer, famous Ior his vestments sunk into real estate to pay for the heavy foot, and told him to replace the driver, work.And he expressed doubts about the value of L.L.Corum."Catch them,"he snapped at Boyer, the race if it were to be primarily a sporting pointing to the distant Millers,"or burn this ship." event rather than a test of automotive perform- The Duesenberg brothers had come to the race ance. But, swayed by Ford, he continued the race determined to blunt the rush to Harry Miller's new while he and his partners looked for someone to A engines—nearly half the entries carried them— buy the Speedway. and make a Duesenberg a winner after eight years Gunning for a second "500" victory, which 1 of trying. They showed Gasoline Alley something would put him even with Tommy Milton, Jimmy new: Three of their four entries were equipped Murphy had shot into the lead in the 2d lap. At ' with superchargers, or, as they were soon called the end of 250 miles, Murphy's closest pursuer _ on the Alley, "blowers." At high-rpm levels, was Earl Cooper. (Tommy Milton had dropped cylinder gases packed a weaker punch. Blasts of out early with a broken gas-tank strap.) But then air from a blower strengthened that punch,Euro- Joe Boyer, responding to Fred Duesenberg's ex- pean racers had found,but the Alley's mechanics hortations, came out of the pit at the wheel of ►, wondered if the new contraptions would hold up the supercharged Duesenberg to chase after Mur- over 500 miles. phy, Cooper, and two other Miller-powered cars. The three supercharged Duesenbergs impressed Boyer whipped by one Miller, then a second. At few in the trials, 104 miles an hour their best the 400-mile point he howled by the grandstands showing. Little Jimmy Murphy won the pole in a a mile behind Cooper's green Studebaker Special Miller with a 108-mile-an-hour run, and his rival and Murphy's blue Miller,closing relentlessly with and former mentor,Tommy Milton,took the No. 104-mile-an-hour bursts on the straightaways. 3 spot (with a 105) in another Miller. Murphy heard Boyer's footfalls and saw he The trials took place only because Henry Ford couldn't match the supercharged Duesy's straight- An artist on the scene tells the story of this"500,"despite erratic spelling. L', S8 "Henry"(top r.)Is Henry Ford, the honorary referee. /� 1 , . 1 1928 iiieMeMAN' f f f 1, 1 One for a Plugger Slanted on a stretcher in the pits, Peter DePaolo third in 1927's race and put Meyer at the wheel. icould see the cars lined up for the start. During From the start, as the railbirds had figured, the trials he had bounced out of a spinning car Duray shot his front-drive Miller into the lead and and fractured his skull. Now he waved at the whisked through the first 100 miles in a record- crowd as it signaled with applause its delight at breaking 56 and a half minutes. Then his engine seeing him intact. "The little Italian," wrote one overheated and he fell back into the pack. At 200 reporter,"is lucky to be alive." j miles Jimmy Gleason's Duesenberg snatched first 04 I Not as lucky was another Speedway winner place and set a frantic pace;at the 300-mile point, Frank Lockhart,racing's golden boy after his vic' Gleason's average of 103 miles an hour was an- I tory as a rookie in 1926, had gone to Daytona other new record. By now Louis Meyer had crept Beach chasing a world record and died in blood from ninth place to third as cars fell into the pits. and sand. Of the 15 winners and co-winners of Only 19 were still running. q this race, six had died young and with their Gleason decided to pit for fuel and rubber and goggles on—Dario Resta,Howdy Wilcox, Gaston as he went in, Tony Gulotta's Stutz flashed by to 0 Chevrolet, Jimmy Murphy, Joe Boyer, and now take the lead. One of Gleason's mechanics acci- Lockhart. 1 dentally spilled water on a magneto, but it was Gone also from "500" racing was Carl Fisher; wiped off and Gleason whizzed out to try to catch He had found a buyer for the Speedway. In the the Stutz. The two whirled around the track at fall of 1927, former driver and World War I ace better than 100 miles an hour, two colored blobs Eddie Rickenbacker had joined a combine of Def never more than a few hundred yards apart.Back troit businessmen to pay $700,000 in bonds and in third hung Meyer,watching the specks battle in an unrevealed sum of cash for the 18-year-old the distance. He'd pitted once and he figured his plant. Rickenbacker was appointed Speedway tires and fuel would carry him the rest of the way president and T. E. (Pop) Myers stayed on as at a steady 100 miles an hour. general manager. The Stutz and Duesenberg blew by the 400-mile On the pole for this race, on a cloudy and cool point clinging to one another.At 425 miles,a soft Memorial Day, hunched Leon Duray in a front'; drizzle brought out the yellow flag, locking the " drive Miller Special. He had zipped through thg cars into their respective positions and slowing the trials at better than 122 miles an hour, a nec' pace to 80 miles an hour. But the rain soon record. Well back in the pack of 29 supercharged stopped and,with 50 miles to go,Gulotta still led, I cars sat 23-year-old Louis Meyer, a California with Gleason right behind him. Far back,in third, mechanic who had come here looking for a ride as buzzed Meyer. ` ! a relief driver (a year earlier he'd driven in relief Gulotta's Stutz roared toward the No. 3 turn. of Wilbur Shaw). For $5,000, a wealthy Boston Suddenly it shuddered and coughed to a stop, a friend had bought a used Miller that had finished fuel line clogged. Gleason's Duesenbergwhined lgg I, i 76 0 j 1i a t l I, 1