Maude Yagle--Ahead of Her Time

Maude A. Yagle is a unique part of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway history. She is the only woman to ever own the winning car. This is particularly unusual as women, even those that owned race cars, were not permitted in the pits until the 1970s. Yagle followed her car’s progress from the grandstands across from the pits.
 
Here is the story behind her car’s historic win. On April 22, 1928, Philadelphian Ray Keech set a world’s record on the white sands of Daytona Beach at an average speed of 207.55 miles per hour driving the 36-cylinder White Triplex ‘Spirit of Elkdom.’ Going into the wind on the first one-mile lap, his average speed was 201.56775 mph. With the wind at his back, his return trip was 213.90374 mph.
 
Keech was an established dirt track racer who raced primarily in the northeast. Four days later, Frank Lockhart was attempting to shatter Keech’s record when the tire blew on his Stutz Blackhawk racer. The car somersaulted down the beach and Lockhart died from his injuries after being ejected from the car.
 
Maude Yagle and her Philadelphia real estate developer husband, Edward, bought a rear-wheel drive car from the Lockhart estate for $6,100. The car was entered into the 1928 Indianapolis 500 with the owner listed as M. A. Yagle with Ray Keech as the pilot. Along with the racer, they hired Jean Marcenac as the mechanic. He had been the mechanic for Frank Lockhart.
 
It was Keech’s first time driving at Indianapolis. He qualified 10th with an average speed of 113.421 mph. In a remarkable drive, Keech finished fourth with an average speed of 93.320 mph. For the second half of the race, a fuel line was leaking onto his leg causing serious burns. The car’s winnings for the fourth-place finish was $2,500. Two weeks later, Keech won a 100-mile race at Detroit and went on to win a 100-mile race at Salem, New Hampshire, and a 100-mile race on the dirt track at the New York State Fairgrounds. He finished the year second in the championship standings.
 
In 1929, Yagle returned to the Indianapolis 500 with Keech at the wheel and Marenac as the mechanic. Keech qualified sixth for the race and took the lead after 160 laps. He went on to win the race with an average speed of 97.583 mph. The winnings totaled $31,350.  Sixteen days later, he was racing on a board track at Altoona, Pennsylvania when Rob Robinson’s racer hit a hole in the boards, shot to the top of the track then slid slowly down the track. To avoid Robinson, Keech veered slightly and one of his tires hit an uneven spot on the track causing him to lose control of the car. His car overturned and he was crushed underneath it.
 
Maude Yagle returned to the Indianapolis 500 in 1930 with the same car now known as the Betholine Special with Frank Farmer as the driver. Farmer qualified 11th but crashed during the race and finished 21st. She tried again in 1931. The car, now known as the  Pedrick Piston Ring car, had an undersized engine, couldn’t keep up with the more powerful racers. Farmer was scheduled to pilot it but four days before qualifying, he abandoned the Yagle car for the Jones-Miller car.
 
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