History Auto racing 1894-1942

Dang Mr. Fire!! I wish you could have posted this a couple of weeks ago as I just got back from Easton for the Waterfowl Festival. My folks live on the south end of town...I would loved to have went to this address and shot this area today for you. As for racing cars on the Delmarva peninsula during this era, I'd have to say I don't know where they would race locally back then....maybe Georgetown, DE? A most curious picture-thanks for posting! -Mark

 

Harrington, DE had regular Big Car races since the twenties - the Kent & Sussex Fair in late July/early August was traditionally the first stop on the AAA fair circuit. I have the following main event winners:

1924 Tommy Reed (NMRA)
1925 Jimmy Gleason (NMRA)
1926 Russ Snowberger (NMRA)
1927 ?
1928 Bob Robinson
1929 Bob Robinson
1930 Bill Albertson
1931 Fred Frame
1932 Billy Winn
1933 Billy Winn
1934 Billy Winn
1935 Bob Sall
1936 Tony Willman
1937 Ben Shaw
1938 Paul Young
1939 Rex Records
1940 Tommy Hinnershitz
1941 Harry Harper (PJARC)

1946 Ted Horn
1947 Bill Holland
1948 Ted Horn
1949 Johnny Mantz
1950 Mike Nazaruk
1951 Bill Schindler
1952 Tommy Hinnershitz
1953 Tommy Hinnershitz
1954 Johnny Thomson
1955 Tommy Hinnerhsitz
1956 Buddy Powers (URC)
1957 Bert Brooks (URC)
1958 Beau Clerke (URC)
1959 Lou Johnson (URC)
1960 Hal Rettberg (URC)
1961 Johnny Dodd (URC)
1962 Hank Rogers (URC)
1963 Jimmy Maguire (URC)
1964 Bill Brown/Don Gillette (URC)
1965 Larry Dickson/Lou Johnson (URC)
1966 Earl Halaquist/Lou Johnson (URC)
1967 Earl Halaquist/Bob Wilkey (URC)
1968 Lou Johnson/Bob Wilkey (URC)
1969 Dick Tobias (URC)
1970 Tommy Dickson (URC)
1971 Leroy Felty (URC)
1972 Harry Benjamin (URC)
1973 Dick Tobias (URC)

 

I believe you got me there...

I was thinking Tarbet still had the Duesenberg chassis in '32, but it was obviously replaced by that time. That explains why I couldn't find the blister on the bonnet for the carbs that was on the Duray car...

Thanks for correcting me! You've done your homework... I'll go sitting in the corner!

 

Wow, Toby Tobias, Tommy Hennershitz, Leroy Felty, Ted Horn thats's like the who's who of local racing right there!!

 

Michael, Do you know what Jimmy Gleason was driving in that 1925 race?

 

I was hoping Michael might shed some light on this one...



I see Fred Luelling was the local star at Exposition Park Raceway, San Luis Obispo and Eddie Meyer winning a 1923 4th July AAA event there and Fred scoring two AAA wins at San Jose in his Fronty that year.

edit:

http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/slovault/2010/09/18/racing-at-exposition-park/

 

Well, I can only make an educated guess: perhaps the Fis(c)her & Jacobs Special, apparently a modified Ford with a Mercedes(-type) radiator.

Sorry, but apart from the first names of the drivers (which your subsequent post has) I can only guess about the venue, perhaps San Luis Obispo, or San Jose? Thanks for the article, by the way, I didn't have that one so far.

EDIT Looking again, I believe the track is San Luis O. because of the banking. I don't think San Jose was banked at all.

 

Thanks Michael, I think it could well be the 4th July event Meyer won.

 

Michael, If that was the Rajo Ford #54 F&J Special it was owned by Hamilton Carpenter in Philadelphia. He had Al Aspen, Jimmy Gleason and R.J.Johnson as drivers of his stable of race cars, and Ira Vail drove his MILLER in the INDY 500.

 

That would be the remains of a '14 GP Peugot under all that...

 

Don't sit in the corner to long, I just got lucky with my guess!

 

http://www.bleedinggreen.com/GG2002/gg-03-25-02.html







http://www.bleedinggreen.com/GG2002/gg-03-25-02.html

 

http://www.bleedinggreen.com/GG2002/gg-04-08-02.html

















http://www.bleedinggreen.com/GG2002/gg-04-08-02.html

 

Thanks for that, Bob, and yes, I believe that's the car I was thinking of, although it seems there were a number of F&J Specials running at the time. I cannot seem to make out the year on that invoice, can you tell me when exactly Carpenter purchased the car from F&J? This is most interersting...

 

Good catch, yes, the radiator looks very much like a Peugeot, although the frame and the steering are certainly not. I wonder who it was who identified the car as a "1929 Bentley"!

Would be interesting to find out more about this car. There was a guy from Philadelphia, Bill Strickler, who ran a Peugeot in this part of the country from 1924 to '28 minimum - he actually finished 3rd with the Peugeot at the 1924 Harrington Fair event mentioned in a previous post.

 

Well, the radiator badge does look Bentleyish from a distance ...

 

Wonder if there is any connection to this Peugot that Zeke Meyer was driving at Pottsville June 7, 1924? The #24 is the ex Wishart Mercedes with the HISSO V8 with Larry Beales behind the wheel.

 

Re #5384

A driver named Lindley Bothwell tried to qualify an old Peugeot at Indianapolis in 47 or 48

 

Yes, and it is still in the family collection.

 

Resta 1913 French GP





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I thought the same thing but have been to busy to comment. Maybe this car has Peugeot drive train and axles put into a different frame along with a steering box from something else with smaller diameter rims and tires ?? Note the cutout in the hood for the carb?? It is in the same area it was on all of the Peugeots.

Compare the front brakes and axle profile on the two cars....Looks very close. Could it be a special made of old Peugeot parts????

Look at the third photo which clearly shows the pattern of the Peugeot center cap on the hub which is clearly visible in the first photo.

I think it is very interesting photo which I believe merits further study....

The photo was taken in Maryland and the gas station and the car in the background tell us that this is at least from the period of 1928-31 or later.

 

Note notation at top of photo.



same:






"Bill Pruett, mechanic and Ruth Wightman, driver, Stockton races, 1918, Mercer, no. 4, pole position."







"In 1910, Bill left school and went to work for the Kissel Kar[vi] (for four years before he went into the World War). Kissel built the first chain drive truck "that to my knowledge ever hit the streets of Los Angeles."[vii] Purchased by the city of LA to use as a garbage truck. "Many a time I took the chains off and boiled them in fallow."
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He later wrote: "In 1910, Harvey Herrick won the Phoenix Arizona auto race by leaving half the air out of the tires and riding the railroad ties for 60 miles. There was no set road to travel as there were no good roads in those days. Just so you got to Phoenix. The car was a Kissel Kar." He drove the Mercer cars to the old Ascot Park Track at Slauson and Avalon Blvd and traveled with the drivers as a mechanic. [viii] In 1918, he was the mechanic for Ruth Wightman who was competing against Nina Vitagilano in a women's 5 mile match race. This was only the second race held for women and only the first on a dirt track ever staged for women."

From: http://www.maryannlaun.com/Bill's story20030708.htm
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http://www.velocetoday.com/people/people_39.php

 

Mr. Fire, what is Fallow? Are you sure he wasn't soaking the chains in Tallow, which would be animal fat. Excellant pictures.

 

Nice pic Mr Fire on the 450 ci Mercer. I have often wondered what happened to these cars after 1916. I figured they went on the 2nd tier circuit but nice to see one.

Just curious what is the reason for the cutout on the right side hood top? Sometimes (as with the Newman Stutz for instance) they cutout an area for the cam tower. I have pictures of the type 45s engine and I cannot see why they cut out this area. They also cut out two holes just forward of the cowl. I am wondering if I am missing something obvious or if they maybe have a different engine under the hood.

Also seeing old Mercer pictures surface I wonder if anyone has any pictures of this Mercer bodywork? This is Pullen at Sheepshead in 1916 but I believe the cars ran at Chicago in 1915 with a different engine. Anyone run across any other pictures of this bodywork?

Cool story on the fairer sex having fun although with tragic results-Jim

 

Captioned........Enfield-Alldays






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A very interesting press photo.....

 

I was wondering about that, too, until I saw your picture: Zeke's "Peugeot" has a right-hand exhaust, and every other "Pug" I've seen exhausted to the left - now what about that?

You get to a point where your head begins to spin, and doesn't want to stop...

 

Excellent observations, thanks!

I can't stop thinking I've seen the car someplace, which is not as improbable as it may sound, since I've studied thousands of similar pics over the last few years. The cowl and steering gear look VERY familiar to me...