History 1932 Indianapolis 500

"I'm very happy to have won the race, I enjoyed the ride very much"



Rich

 

The mechanics that rode along in the race cars were the ones with really big kahunas.

 

Thanks for the video,,this one I have never seen. HRP

 

Thanks Ryan, that two man Hudson in the photo was once part of the Tiny Gould collection, it sold to a collector in England. Has anyone seen it recently? Bob

 

Great stuff Ryan! As Billy Arnold goes over the wall, you can see a wheel tear off the car. If memory serves me correctly, the wheel went on to land in the front yard of a home, killing an 11 year old boy named Wilbur Brink. Regards, Dave.

 

Seeing a car go 100+ MPH in 1932 must've been pretty amazing. The exhaust sound is neat too. Mostly Miller straight 8's I'd guess?

 

Arnold retired from racing after the '32 Indy 500.His riding mechanic,Spider Matlock,also died in the crash.Arnold went on to earn his Phd at MIT and retired in 1945 from the U.S. Army as a 1 star General,having served under Eisenhower.He developed water skis(considered a pioneer of the sport)owned a construction company,and auto dealerships.

 

500 mile grind, no place for a weak man.

 

Indeed ( but I think you mean Cajones). As a junior high kid I got to know Jerry Houck who was the riding mechanic in the '32 winner. He used to take photos of the surrounding cars in the field on the parade lap with a 35mm. One that I remember was "Wild" Bill Cummings waving back at him. The history of that winning Miller Hartz ( well at least the distinctive front drive unit) is amazing in it's many iterations. The car started life as the "Detroit Special" (perhaps a reworked Miller) but I can't verify that, in 1927 with a new front drive unit designed by C.W. Van Ranst. The car was owned by Cliff Durant, yea son of Will Durant. For the '32 race the car was redone for the two man formula with a new Curly Wetteroth chassis (or perhaps a Miller chassis modified by Marcenac, Houck, and Wetteroth) and a Leo Goosen designed Miller 182 C.I. unblown two valve straight 8 to fit the two man formula, owned by Harry Hartz. According to Jerry Houck, early in the month of May while practicing the car jumped out of gear and some valves met pistons and their qualifying attempt would be delayed while the engine was repaired. They eventually qualified with a pretty good speed but started back in the field due to their late qualifying run. During the race they were making progress toward the front but had overheating problems and had to pit for repairs. Lore has it that Jerry made a new radiator cap gasket out of chewing gum, but he never told me that. Late in the race about the time they took the lead the car jumped out of gear again but this time driver Fred Frame clutched it and jammed the car back in gear. Jerry instinctively leaned over the shifter and held it in gear until Fred tapped him and pointed up so Jerry could see the checkered flag fall on them as they won. The cool thing is the longevity of the front drive unit, it first appeared in 1927 and saw it's last race in 1947, in the interim it had at least 3 chassis (maybe four if you count the rebuild after the '34 Peter Kreis accident) in those years if it attempted to qualify it did and competed in 12 indianapolis 500s and had a first, second, third and a fourth. It also saw Milton, Horn, Frame, and Tony B. in the cockpit. Sorry for the ramble but the history that goes with it is amazing to me.

 

29AVEE8, Thank you so much for that info on the 1932 winner! I'm looking at the photo of the 1934 Peter Kreis wreck in the Fox 500 book. So sad, I never knew that was the same car that won in '32. Bob

 

Great stuff-thanks for sharing and thanks to IMS...At the 42-46 second mark, I could not help but notice Benson and Henry Ford II shaking the driver's hand.
The Deuce spent several Months of May at Indy-IMS own photos show him there over several decades. I have to wonder if the later ('35) Miller-Ford fiasco made The Deuce obsessed with having Ford seen as winners in the racing world as he helped launch Total Performance in the early 1960's that defined so much of Ford's racing success via Shelby, Stroppe, Holman Moody, John Wyer, Bud Moore, Lotus, Cosworth, Alan Mann, Kar Kraft and many others. Sometimes humiliation can be a tremendous motivational force-especially if your family name is on the line and you are the Young Lion Scion of said family.

 

Great video, and I always get a kick out of the music that precedes old news reels. I wish they would do it before the nightly news.

 

Very interesting news reel and other posted information. Thanks!

 

Sorry for the ramble but the history that goes with it is amazing to me.

Ramble on anytime. Really enjoy hearing the story. Wish I could have been there.

 

That Hudson that you chose for the lead picture on this one is one of my favorite race cars ever. So damn pretty!

 

Glad you appreciated a longer story than I had originally planned. You know I am sure, that the last version of the car, as it competed from '39-'47, the single seat version now resides in the IMS museum. It still has the Van Ranst front drive and the 182 Miller that it has had since 1932 in it, although it picked up a centrifugal blower in about '37 or '38 as the two man formula evolved to allow it ( you can't really see it as it sits inside the cowl). The story I have heard is that the car was in Karl Kizer's shop for some repairs and the owner(s) never paid for the repairs. So I have heard Karl acquired the car for charges and eventually when he became the curator of the IMS museum it became the first car in the collection. I think that D. Davidson corroborated this when I asked him a few years ago. If anyone has better info on that I would gladly be corrected.

 

I'm going through my stuff looking for 1932 INDY stuff. This is a post card advertizing photos taken by F.M Kirkpatrick, photographer for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That is the 1932 lineup of drivers and crews. Bob

 

13th place finisher Tony Gulotta gets a photo-op with a couple of "notables"

 

Last Photo. Could that be Henry Ford, Edsel Ford,Henry Ford II as a youngster, and Eddie Rickenbacker? Who is the rest?


Ago

 

Henry looks like he's just told his grandsons to stand in front of the Studebaker script on the chassis. Bob

 

This rules!!!!!

Any idea who the spoked wheels where made by?

 

Yeah thats the Ford clan- Henry2, Benson, Edsel , Henry1 and Eddie R. Don't know any others, just a film crew I reckon.

 

In 1932, before the perpetual B-W trophy, they handed out a REAL trophy!!

 

I'll second that, as another early Indy car fan I really enjoyed reading that.

The best part is I get to add a few more two man Indy car photos to my inspiration collection for my roadster.

 

I've been wondering why Gulotta was chosen for this piece. There were several other Studebakers in the 1932 race along with lots of other cars and drivers who might have been more well known. Or maybe it was just his lucky day.......

 

somewhere stashed away i have a 1932 popular mechanics featuring the Cummings diesel indy car. lots of innovations in those early days.

 

Awesome video, thanks for sharing!

 

Fixin to go racing.

 

Of the 40 cars that started the 1932 INDY 500 only 10 covered the 500 miles. Bob