Hoosier History Live!

On Saturday April 30, 2016 (yesterday, as this is written) I was the featured guest on the "Hoosier History Live!" radio show. My job was to talk early Indiana-born race drivers entered in the first few Indianapolis 500s as well as the races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909 and 1910 that preceded the inaugural "500" in 1911. One of the drivers was Charlie Merz whose National that finished seventh in the first Indianapolis 500 is still running in vintage racing events.
 
Below are the notes I developed for my use during the run-of-show:

Show Notes – Hoosier History Live
 
Joe Dawson
·      Born in Oden, Indiana
·      Lived at 2828 Illinois Street with his parents
·      He was only 22 years old, youngest winner until Troy Ruttman in 1952
·      He lived in the basement of the house with a stash of cigars, peanuts, racing and sports newspapers. He had college and sports team pennants on the walls. It was his “man cave.”
·      He worked for Nordyke & Marmon, his father was a supervisor there. He started at age 17 as a stock boy.
·      The press called him, “The Indiana Whirlwind.”
·      Competed in three “500’s”: 1911, 1912 and 1914
·      Marmon, National pulled out of racing after winning
·      Dawson led only two laps at the “500,” the last two in 1912 – was on loan from Marmon to National.
·      Was five laps (15 miles) down to Ralph DePalma
·      He won six other races at IMS: five-mile sprint races in 1910 & 1909 and the 200-mile Cobe Trophy as well as the 100-mile Remy Grand Brassard in July 1910.
·      He won at Atlanta Speedway in November 1910 – 100 mile race, two-mile red clay track
·      Should have won the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup but struck a spectator late in the race and distraught, came to his pit and lost time. Finished second.
·      He survived a brutal end-over-end flipping accident in the 1914 Indianapolis 500. He had some serious back injuries and while he recovered to test drive cars he never returned to wheel-to-wheel competition.
·      He moved to Philadelphia, worked for Marmon there and was also an American Automobile Association official.
·      He drove the Marmon “500” Pace Car in 1928.
·      He drove his winning National in pre-race festivities for the 25th “500” in 1937 and remarked on how much smoother the track was because by then the turns were paved with asphalt.
·      Died June 18, 1946
 
Ray Harroun
·      Why retired?
o   Engineer first
o   An early aviator, became a flight instructor
o   Won eight races at IMS in addition to the “500.” Other big one was the Wheeler-Schebler 200-mile race in May 1910. Also with the Marmon Wasp.
o   Article about that in this year’s Indy 500 program.
Charlie Merz (at Crown Hill)
·      National employee for many years.
·      Only 17 when he partnered with Jap Clemens, who was 41 years old (born during the Civil War) at the time to set the world distance covered record for 24 hours at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in November 1905. The track was lit with Prest-O-Lite gas headlights. (1,094 miles covered)
·      He won one race at the Speedway during the inaugural races in August 1909 – a 10-mile sprint.
·      He was involved in the terrible accident during the 300-mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race that killed two spectators (James West & Homer Joliff) as well as his riding mechanic Claude Kellum.
·      Only 21 years old, he struggled emotionally, announced his retirement.
·      With the track paved, he was lured back to the first big race meet in May 1910 where he finished second in the 100-mile Prest-O-Lite Trophy.
·      He raced in four Indianapolis 500s with three top-ten finishes of third, fourth and seventh.
·      He finished seventh at the 1911 Indianapolis 500 – and that car still races today in the pre-War class of the Sports Car Vintage Racing Association, the group that organizes the Brickyard Invitational (Brian Blaine).
·      In 1913 he had perhaps the most spectacular finish in Indianapolis 500 history when his Stutz racer burst into fire with one lap to go. With his riding mechanic standing on his seat directing the flames away with his jacket, Merz drove to the finish.
·      Merz retired from racing after WWI, stayed in automotive industry founding Merz Engineering (tools and gauges) in 1927. He was Indianapolis 500 chief steward from 1935-1939.
 
1909 & 1910 – First Races
·      1909
o   Track rushed into service
o   Motorcycle races a fiasco just a week before
o   Track probably did not have time to “cure.” It was tar and crushed stone, but that was not an unusual surface. Lots of use of public roads and horse tracks in the day.
o   Cars wore ruts into the running surface; there were several accidents with two particularly awful on the first and third days. There were five fatalities: one driver, two mechanics and two spectators.
o   Lt. Governor Frank Hall called for a ban of auto racing in Indiana.
o   Track was paved with 3.2 million bricks in autumn 1909.
·      1910
o   Three race meets: May, July, September
o   May was first Memorial Day weekend races
o   Numerous races of varying lengths
o   Longest was Wheeler-Schebler Trophy, 200 miles (Trophy in IMS museum)
o   Other feature races: Prest-O-Lite Trophy, Speedway Helmet, Remy-Brassard, Cobe Trophy
o   Attendance fell off and in September 1910 the founders decided on the one major race of the year, the “500.”
 
Johnny Aitken
·      Winningest driver in IMS history with 15 victories – in 1909, 1910 and 1916 in the little known September “Harvest Classic” where he swept all three races of 20, 50 and 100 miles.
·      Star driver of the National Motor Vehicle Company team, and a star employee of the company.
·      First driver to lead the “500” in 1911.
·      Only raced in two “500’s”
·      Retired after the first 500, but came back in 1916 to win the pole
o   Exceptionally close relationship with Tom Kincaid who was killed at IMS in 1910
·      He was team manager of the National team who won with Dawson in 1912.
·      He also managed the Peugeot team who won with Jules Goux in 1913.
·      Died in October 1918 – victim of the great influenza pandemic.
 
Relief Drivers
·      Over 300 drivers in history
·      The last was Jaques Lazier who stepped in for Robby Gordon in 2004
·      Only six have been a part of winning efforts
o   Cyrus Patschke (1911, for both Harroun & Dawson, spotted Harroun for 35 laps)
o   Don Herr (1912, 36 laps)
o   Howdy Wilcox (1923, 40 laps)
o   Joe Boyer (1924)
o   Norman Batten (1925)
o   Mauri Rose (1941)
·      Rose & Boyer get credit as co-winners because they finished the race, took the checkered flag.
·      Harroun said after 1911, “No man should drive 500 miles.”
o   Wheels were artillery-grade hickory, track brick
 
Howdy Wilcox (at Crown Hill)
·      Raced in first Indianapolis 500 and ten others.
·      Started with National
·      Won in 1919 driving a Peugeot copy
o   Reverse-engineered by Allison Engineering
·      Drove relief in 1923 for Tommy Milton’s win
o   Not credited as two-time winner
o   Led for 40 laps
·      Killed at Altoona board track in 1924
·      Son Howdy Wilcox Jr. founded the “Little 500” bicycle race at IU in 1951.
·      He also founded and served as president of the IU Foundation.
·      He was a born promoter, founder of a PR firm, helped build the “500” Festival organization.
 
Barney Oldfield
 
·      Two Indianapolis 500s, 1914 & 1916, finished fifth both times
·      Won four sprint races at IMS in 1909 and 1910
·      Won gold-plated Overland touring car for fastest mile record
·      First 100 mph lap at IMS – in old, illegal car
·      First 60 mph (mile-a-minute) at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1903
o   Event promoter: Carl Fisher
 
Tom Kincade
 
·      National employee
·      Very close to Aitken – called them the “Indigo Twins”
·      Won at Atlanta Speedway in May 1910
·      Won the 100-mile Prest-O-Lite Trophy in May 1910
 
“Farmer” Bill Endicott (Montgomery, Indiana)
 
·      Three “500s,” 1911-13
·      Fifth in ‘13
·      The elder half of first siblings to race in “500,” younger brother Harry
·      Called a hero in 1911 for warning fellow drivers of an accident at Latonia track
·      Owned a farm in Crawfordsville
·      Cole, Case driver
 
Add:
 
·      Motors and drive trains were high tech
·      Young generation embracing the industrial age
·      32 telegraph operators and hundreds of miles of telephone wire comms system at track
·      newspapers across the country
·      Silicon Valley-like. Everyone networking – Marmon, Cole, National, Stutz, Empire, Overland, Premier,
·      Fisher had his own airplane manufacturing business briefly