Frank Wheeler

Frank Wheeler was the oldest of the four founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the least well known. He was born in 1863 in Manchester, Iowa.
 
He came to Indianapolis as a traveling salesman from California in 1904. In Indianapolis, he met George Schebler, who along with Harry Stutz, designed one of the first successful carburetors for internal combustion engines. He provided the money to establish a manufacturing plant and the two men became partners in the Wheeler-Schebler Company, one of the largest manufacturers of gasoline engine carburetors in the country. The company expanded its product line to include the manufacture of magnetos and small electric motors used in ignition systems. He bought out George Schebler in 1915 for a reported $1 million.
 
While little is known about his life prior to moving to Indianapolis, Wheeler would say frequently that “this is the third fortune that I have made without assistance.”
 
Between 1912 and 1913, Wheeler built a Mediterranean-style villa, “Hawkeye,” on a 30 acre track adjacent to Carl Fisher's home on Riverside Drive, which is now Cold Spring Road. He instructed Philadelphia architect William L Price to design “a home that was luxurious without being ostentatious.” The property included a 320 feet colonnade to connect the house with a four-story water tower and a seven-car garage. It also had a gazebo overlooking a man-made lake with an island from which gondola rides were launched, a Japanese tea house, and fruit orchards. Wheeler was passionate about his garden. He supervised the planting of every tree, and the cultivation and care of the orchard. There is a postcard of the house and part of the gardens.
 
Based upon the success of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wheeler joined several other businessmen to build a racetrack in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. They formed the Twin City Motor Speedway Association with the planned cost of the track being $900,000 on 400 acres of land. The track opened on Labor Day weekend in 1915. The promoters anticipated a crowd of 100,000, but there were only 28,000 paying customers. This was attributed to the high cost of attending the race. A second race was run on the track on July 4, 1916. While management cut the price of general admission,  it wasn't enough to induce crowds to the race. After the race, the AAA representative W. C. Barnes recommended to the AAA that no more races be held at the Speedway until there was a change in management. The Speedway was closed and is now the site of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
 
Wheeler also enjoyed visiting Miami Beach during the winter season beginning in 1919. He was known for his love of outdoor sports.
 
At the time of his death, he was president of the Wheeler-Schebler Carburetor Company. He took his own life at about 7:00 AM in the bathroom of his home on Riverside Drive in Indianapolis. The contents of both barrels of a shotgun entered the left side of his head.  At the end of February, he injured his foot and contracted blood poisoning. He was despondent because of a prolonged illness with diabetes and because of the death of Seymour Avery, secretary-treasurer of Wheeler Schebler. Avery took his own life because of illness by shotgun on February 28. 
 
The family thought they had removed all the firearms several months previously after Wheeler became despondent. Wheeler found the shotgun in a gun case in the storeroom on the top floor of the residence where several other hunting guns had been stored for years. His doctor said “Mr. Wheeler had formed a morbid habit of brooding over trifles, which, had he been in normal health, would have received no attention at all.”
 
If you know of someone who would enjoy this article, please forward it to them. If someone sent this to you and you would like to be added to my subscriber list, please let me know at sigurwhitakerbooks881@gmail.com.