History Found 1920s/30s Indy car history

They are the real deal. Some are amazing shape. Others are incredibly brittle where I glided them into folders with gloves on, and I’ll let a professional scan them later.

My father was only 60 he was born in 1959 and was born in Reno NV. He went to a Indy race in the 80s. My father worked a summit racing for many years.

Ernie T. Personally signed and wrote notes to Glenn. And on the front of the box it says

to Jeff. From Glenn. “Racing days”

We’re finding more clues as we go.

Been literally scanning the last 4 hours. And I’m maybe 1/4 of the way done. Haven’t even gotten into the newspaper stuff.

Definitely was a friend or more to Ernie t. Most of the stuff here is of his career. And stuff after. So it’s Glenn’s collection during and after Ernie’s death In 1934


Thank you.
Brian C.
Reno NV

 

I have shared a number of these twenties and thirties Brave Racers and their Near Coach-built Vehicles as has been said they were a huge influence on the Go Fast Scene...

Condolences to You and your Family with the passing of your father.

 

Who is Glenn Cookson? How does he connect to your father?
Phil

 

That’s an incredible collection, you see Old Indy programs but not pit passes.


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Thank you very much for taking the time to scan, & then share. My favorite era is the 20's->late 30', indy & board track, w/some dirt track thrown in. This stuff is great to see. I've read about it, but not seen good close-up pics of it.
Marcus...

 

Man you found the mother load thanks so much for sharing it with us.

 

It's like Christmas morning, opening up a box of treasures. Way cool stuff!

 

Gold mine of wonderful stuff. Collections such as this don't pop up very often!

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum curators/docents may be of some help to you in piecing the puzzle together, especially when you add the fact that you're putting together a book. If not, I bet they could put you in contact with a subject matter expert (collector/historian). They would certainly love to see the collection, even though it's not for sale.

Good on you for planning a book and sharing. The stuff is too good to stay boxed up i a closet.

 

Thanks for sharing this great box of history . I'm sure you are going to get
plenty of help putting it all together . Looking forward to the rest of the story

 

Carothersbs, about wearing gloves while handling these papers. A few years ago, my wife was in England, doing research for a book. At the Hampshire Records Office she was looking though papers that were 200 to 300 yeas old. She assumed she would be wearing gloves, but the people there said they don't do that any more, because they found the additional clumsiness in handling old papers was causing more damage than oil in your skin would.

 

Incredible, rare find for that era. I have all that stuff and the promotional items for the 1965 Indy 500 to go with my Pace Car. Look forward to following this thread.

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Monumental find....ultra cool!

 

Thanks for all that scanning and sharing !

 

25 hours of combined scanning over 3 days. 6 ibuprofen, and a bunch of eye drops later. It’s all scanned.

This is the coolest project I’ve personally been able to take on.

I love this type of stuff as it is. And the probability of my father just having this stashed away essentially for a life time. Insane.

I asked my mother today if she knew anything about it and she said oh yeah. “It was in our lock box at the bank.” I’m guessing when they divorced, he just threw it in a box with other boxes.

More details coming soon. Thank you all for the advice. Let me know if you would be actually interested in buying a book. Guessing I have a couple hundred scans.

I’ll be reaching out to some historians tomorrow.


Thank you.
Brian C.
Reno NV

 

Looks like you dad put a lot of thought & time into that scrapbook.

That is something to be proud of and thank you for sharing. HRP

 

Yeah I don’t think he put it together. I think someone els did. Cause that binder seems super old. I think “glenn” started it in the late 20s and didn’t finish it. Then started just throwing it in the box.


Thank you.
Brian C.
Reno NV

 

Thank you so much for posting that treasure! The Ernie Triplett car has been in the Bob McConnel collection for years, finally got a total restoration about five years ago. I got to see it at the Hershey meet, fantastic car and restoration. Bob

 

Finding all that stuff, and piecing the story together will be a fun project. I can see a few things that may be connected. A few years after Ernie Triplett was killed his wife married West Coast Midget Racing Champion Bob Swanson, he drove the Sampson V16 at INDY in 1939 and 1940 powered by the MILLER 16 that was in the STUTZ Black Hawk Special that killed Frank Lockhart on Daytona Beach. The Sampson car was repainted and ran after WWII in the 1946 INDY 500, Stilled carried the same number, "32"

Bob

 

The Danny Hogan car would be driven in the Vanderbilt Cup by Bob Swanson, one more link to the collection. Bob