History Auto racing 1894-1942

Jim..... Thanks for filling us in on what really went on in Trenton.

 

".............
Theodore E. “Pop” Myers, who began working at the track in 1910 and would stay until his death more than 40 years later, was asked in 1952 what they did about it. He told an interviewer that Fisher and Jim Allison decided to stock up on some race cars. They formed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Team Co. and purchased two Peugeots.

Myers said track operators owning race cars was a dubious business practice, so the “situation” was not publicized.

“Arrangements were also made with the Maxwell Motor Car Co. for the lease of four special Maxwells. In addition, the IMS team procured three Premier specials with engines designed and manufactured almost identical and exactly the cubic inch displacement size of the Peugeots.”

To manage the team, they hired Eddie Rickenbacker, a young driver from Columbus. In 1927, he bought the track.

As America teetered on the edge of World War I, the Speedway partners decided an autumn day of racing in 1916 might provide a little financial cushion against the expected dry spell ahead. The day consisted of three races, with Johnny Aitken winning all three in one of the Speedway cars. Gate receipts barely covered expenses (only 10,000 people showed up) but since six of the 16 cars in the field were Speedway property, the track paid itself almost half the $12,000 purse.
............................."

http://www.antiquetrader.com/article/indy_500_marks_its_first_century/






"Louis Chevrolet was involved with Billy Durant and the founding of the Chevrolet Motor Co. in 1911; the first “500” where he appears as an entrant was in 1915. His radical little car was the “Cornelian.” Of monocoque construction, it was powered by a 103 cid Sterling engine. Chevrolet started 23rd and dropped out after 76 laps."

http://www.antiquetrader.com/article/indy_500_marks_its_first_century/




"Nr. 12 from the series Prophet without honour by Cyril Posthumus.
Published by Motor magazine, drawing Brian Hatton.
Louis Chevrolet designed and raced to 20th (dnf) in the 1915 Indy 500."

The Cornelian



"The cycle car was powered by a Sterling engine and boasted a light weight of 500 kg displacing 103 cubic inches. The car, which featured a uni-body, independent rear suspension and a "suicide front axle," qualified Louis Chevrolet for the 1915 Indy 500 with a qualifying speed of 81.010 mph. Unfortunately for Chevrolet and Blood, the car never finished the race. On the 77th lap, it broke a valve, forcing Chevrolet out of the action, ending up with an unimpressive 20th place ranking."
from allexperts.com


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"These cars used four-cylinder Sterling engines that proved not durable enough. By 1916 Chevrolet engines replaced them."

http://home.earthlink.net/~scrippsbooth/sbOLDCARS.jpg

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"1915 Cornelian Racer
Blood Brothers Machine Company. Kalamazoo, Allegan, Michigan.

The Blood Brothers had already made a car under their own name from 1902 to 1906, and in 1914 they returned to the auto mobile business, this time with a cyclecar which they called the Cornelian. It had a 1688cc 13 hp 4 cylinder Sterling engine, shaftdrive and, very unusual for the time, integral construction and independent rear suspension. Introduced at the New York Automobile Show in January 1914, it was priced at $435. An encouraging number of orders led the brothers to move from Kalamazoo to a new factory at Allegan, which they occupied in March 1915. A Cornelian gained a lot of publicity when Louis Chevrolet drove one in the 1915 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, the smallest engined car to race there. However, this did not help sales, and Cornelian production ended in October 1915, after only about 100 had been made."


http://www.motorsnaps.com/v/Cars+C/Cornelian/1915+Cornelian+Racer.jpg.html

 

http://www.mlive.com/penaseeglobe/index.ssf/2009/07/auto_racing_is_in_the_blood_of.html

"There are few other Cornelian racecars in existence but #13 also found a permanent home.
"They should have known better than to name a car #13," Pahl said.
The car was originally sold to a Kalamazoo man before it suffered mechanical problems and the man returned the car. The car was fixed and later sold to a Grand Rapids man, who was also unhappy with it and returned the car.
"An oil rich sheik liked that racy little car," Pahl said. In 1915, #13 was transported by rail to New York and placed on a ship bound for the Middle East, from where in never returned.
When a German submarine torpedoed the ship, the car eventually settled at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean."

 

How does the Cornelian in Bill Smiths Speedway Motors collection in Lincoln Neb. fit into the above story?

 

See Robert Dick's comments here... http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=69034

Here's Miss Blevins oiling the valve gear on the 1913 Delage copy in the Weightman special, I mentioned earlier Joe Dickinson seems to have had one of these too but Stutz don't seem to have campaigned them.

 

Interesting story from November 10, 1949 (Chatham Courier) of old number 16 and Peter Helck. It looks like James Melton also had keen interest in the car.

I hope I have the scaling correct for viewing.

Vintageride

 

Why would Louis Chevrolet have chosen to use a Sterling engine in 1915 in place of an engine he had assisted to develop?

By 1916, Chevrolet engines were available in sufficient quantity to replace Sterling engines at Scripps- Booth. Chevrolet was also advertising his Frontenac conversions.

Would none of these have been ready for testing during 1915 at the "500" to showcase the Chevrolet durability?

(Sterling engines were used with success in fast cruising/race boats with men like Jack Beebe also doing significant modifications).

 

Why would Louis Chevrolet have chosen to use a Sterling engine in 1915 in place of an engine he had assisted to develop?

Mr Fire,

Is there a MissFire ? The Cornelian was a supposedly a production (100) road car built by the Blood Brothers in 1913 and stripped down as a racer for publicity. Reminds me of the little Lotus hounding the Vettes at the vintage races.

Does anyone know if Planche went racing with the Mercers ? Also looking for more on Van Ranst and his supercharged straight six DOHC aircraft engine born in New Jersey.

Paul

 

Well, I never...

Thanks for the education!

 

Two major misfires here, methinks. One, I don't think Louis had anything to do with the Cornelian other than driving it, and two, by 1915 Chevrolet the man and Chevrolet the car company were two very distinct subjects!!!

 

This is my grandfather. I would like to know more about car and track. I just went through this whole thread.. 5904 post... nada.. lol Thanks for helping.. His Name was Kenneth Caverly.. Im guessing late 20s early 30s..
He was in Oakland Mi around this time... then on to Hillsborough Fl sometime after early 30s..
Thanks...
Greg

 

Charles J. "Crash" Waller from Blakely (GA) drove a Scootis Special in the early thirties...

 

What's the thing in the slot on the cowl?

 

Good to see you over here Hommer, hope someone will ID the reason for that shifter in the cowl, I think it is for a Ruxtell rear, car may be Model T powered.

 

Nice shifter knob

 

Since we're still discussing engine design, I've been meaning to ask this question for a while but never got around to it.

Anyone know of Garnet G. Brown? The drawing below of an OHC engine is from a patent titled 'Lubricating System' and is attributed to him. Not sure what the engine is either but it's interesting.

 

Any more information on this person ? google didnt bring alot of info...found "crash" in a #33 in ky fairgrounds in 1933 july 4th race... thats it...Im doing genolagy on the caverly side... and im told im just like my Grandfather.. I have a buch of picturs of caverlys from late 1800' early 1900s.. Driving 1905 cadilliac... 1913 Mighty Michagan....and him in this race car..And its driving me nuts trying to figure out why hes in this car.. I have other pictures of him in an older home built race car from the 20s...I will post them soon...
Anyway.. Any help would be great... Every little bit and peace brings me closer to the answer...
Thanks
Greg

 

This is a car that I do not believe I have ever seen a photo of. The only information with the photo is evidently the drivers name which is Jack Wolfram and the car which is stated to be a Chandler.

The second photo shows the car and a crew of some form assembled in front of a factory building with a large sign out front. Could this be the Chandler factory ?

The only reference I can find to a Jack Wolfram is that he was the Chief engineer at Oldsmobile at least during 1949 when he rode in the Olds pace car with Wilber Shaw at the 500 that year.

Can anyone tell us more about the car or Wolfram ?

 

Kurtis wrote
" Not sure what the engine is either but it's interesting"

No way to have any valve overlap!

Herb Kephart

 

... and accessing the spark plugs looks to have been something of an - um ... er, challenge?

 

Hommer, the first photo of the car in the snow looks to be a Regal Underslung. The bottom photos show two different model T Ford based Speedsters.

 

Absolutely correct !
Not only dang near impossible to get to, but there isn't enough room as drawn to unscrew one all the way!

Oh well- would still be a neat pix for the shop wall.

Herb

 

I was thinking about that spark plug problem and thought that being a vee engine the plugs were probably staggered which would allow you to change them but not easily.

My gut feeling after Kurtis posted this was that this engine was like a lot of patent drawings, they show something that may never have even been produced.

Maybe someone will know more about this engine ??

 

Don't want to lead the thread too far off-line, but anyway:

*Mitsubishi Magna here in Oz, transverse V6 engine...rear bank sparkplugs were platinum (guess why!) but the penny pinchers still installed conventional plugs on the front bank.

*Second anecdote - quite a few years ago there was a lot of business in importing not-too-badly damaged muscle cars from the States. A friend was involved in same, and despite his being a very competent & resourceful mechanic, claimed that in a Mach 1 427 'stang the only way to change the plugs was to either take out the engine, or remove the front wheels and cut acess holes through the wheel arches. This is well before platinum plugs were around.

Thanks for your indulgence, and now back to the thread proper...

 

Crash Waller had a long if somewhat indistinguished career, 1931-49 minimum. He ran mostly in the South, Lakewood Park in Atlanta, Plant Field in Tampa, but also up north at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron! Mostly IMCA, but a few AAA starts at Lakewood. Best result (by far) I have for him is second to Buddy Callaway in a "Southern Championship" independent race at Lakewood, November 12 in 1933.

Btw, July 4 in 1933 I have him competing in Hutchinson at the Kansas State Fairgrounds, while also being entered at Lakewood for a AAA programme...

 

Would you know of any links or pic's of the track in plant field and lakewood ? FL ?
And thank you very much for info...what year would you guess that #7 is ?

update.. found pics of plant field.. it has a double white railing going around it... this picture has 1...

 

I see that you are trying to determine the location of the pic, but be aware that Plant Field or Lakewood were just the major venues Crash Waller ran, he more than likely raced every other weekend or so on many, many tracks in the South and elsewhere. It would be a major stroke of luck if you could find visual evidence for the location!

The note I have for Waller racing a Scootis Special is from 1933. Judging from the picture, that car was built in the mid-twenties, and possibly raced for a decade, but that's just guesswork.

 

Yes I know its not going to be easy.. but.. if you follow fence around to the left.. and then around the back.. it looks to be a pretty good size track... and nothing but palm trees in back ground..So.. with some hard hunting and alot of luck.. I will figure it all out sooner or later..Thanks for all the help and info...
Greg

 

Thanks to Bob Lawrence's Vintage Racing Web
http://winfield.50megs.com/Hutch_Nationals/Fair/4Jul1933.htm

 

^^ saw that web page few days ago.. were I saw the #33...who drove the #7 LOL
thanks guys..
Greg