Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Exactly 100 Years Ago on Daytona Beach... Continue reading the Original Blog Post
There is no other motor sport that demands the dedication of land speed racing. From the beginning to today it still is an amateur sport with no big sponsorship money to foul it up. In my opinion the people who participate in it will alway be my heroes for there relentless dedication to the sport. Danny Thompson is the perfect example of this.
I noticed in one photo, there were "moon" discs on the spoked wheels. But the picture I assumed of the record run did not use them.
If you want to read some wild stuff, look up board tracks. Some of them were pretty big and not maintained too well.
Milton had funded the car's construction. He was racing in Cuba when Murphy drove it. To add insult to injury, Milton's first run was slower than Murphy's, causing rumors that Milton had lost his nerve. After the tear downs he hit 156 even after swerving to miss a Model T that had driven onto the beach. Weather was closing in, so he wasn't able to rebuild (again!) and make a two-way run. He wasn't able to cash in on endorsements as he had hoped. All he got for his investment was a silver tea service from Goodyear. He never spoke to Murphy again and never forgave Fred Duesenberg, who he blamed for Murphy's run.
It may have been mentioned here before, but there is a book by Griffith Borgeson called "The Golden Age of the American Racing Car". The book is unequaled in its quality of writing, and it chronicled among other things Tommy Milton's land speed attempts.
Thanks for the tip on the book. I just ordered a copy off of eBay. It is my understanding that Milton was awarded a record by the AAA. It's just that the foreign organizations did not recognize it. It wasn't until five years later that Sir Malcolm Campbell hit 150 and landed the FIA record. Regardless, Milton's car was indeed officially timed at 156 miles per hour in 1920 and that was an extraordinary accomplishment.
Here it is a year or so later, after Miltons friend Jimmy Murphy won the 1921 French Grand Prix in a Duesenberg. The Grand Prix cars are sitting in front of the Duesenberg Indianapolis show room, with the 150 mile-per-hour car painted up in Duesenberg livery in the showroom window. The second picture shows it inside the factory.
Pictures of the car under construction, and after the 156 mph run with the paint on the hood scorched. The fire at 156 mphcaused Milton to run it into the Atlantic Ocean to save it.
I just heard back from Randy Ema. He said Auggie Duesenberg towed it to the scrap yard shortly before the company was sold to Cord. The engines may have been saved but only one engine survives today. Too bad it got scrapped.
Wild Times...and a catalyst for the evolution of the movement we revere here...and incredibly dangerous...I continue to marvel at the things and speeds realized by the primitive and many times elegant monsters...thanks for sharing @Jive-Bomber... Additional thanks to all the others adding to this adventure in Land Speed Competition...
The Jalopy Journal
