100 Years Ago - the 1919 Indy 500

I thought I'd start the month of May off with a look at the Indy 500 from 100 years ago.

Gentlemen Start Your Engines

As the drivers of start their engines for the 2017 Indy 500, here's a quick look at the starting field for the 1919 race.

The Cole Aero-Eight Towncar

The Cole Aero-Eight Tourster as advertised in the January 1, 1920 issue of Life Magazine

Between 1909 and 1925 the Cole Motor Car Company produced 40000 automobiles at its Indianapolis plant located in the 700 block of East Washington street. J.J. Cole intended his cars to compete with GM's Cadillac in terms of luxury and quality. His cars were assembled with parts that had been manufactured by other companies, but he still managed to be innovative, producing the first four-door bodies, de-mountable rims, motor-driven tire pumps, and being the first manufacturer to utilize electric headlights and self-starters.

The Cole plant located in the 700 block of East Washington St.

If you were to buy a Cole, you may have been came into the showroom after being exposed to their innovative promotions. A gas-filled balloon or Cole cigar may have enticed you to come in to see what the brand was all about. Or you might have seen a Cole pace car at the Indy 500 and fancied yourself a speedster. Then there was the sports angle, with a baseball team promoting Cole on the diamond. If you did come in to see a Cole, you likely would have been scared off by the price; in 1918 prices ranged from $1995 for a touring car to $3795 for the Aero-Eight Towncar

Imagination couldn't keep Cole afloat. Through the 20's sales declined and eventually the abundance of budget friendly models targeted at the growing middle-class automobile owner drove the company out of business. Cole's doors closed in 1925 and soon after the founder, Joseph Cole, died at the age of 56.

Indy 500 - Born Out of Blood and Smoke

Here's a 2011 interview with Charles Leerhsen, author of Blood and Smoke: A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and the Birth of the Indy 500.

Indy 500 - Bob Sweikert

An eerie photograph from a Champion spark plug ad that aired in the March 12 issue of Life Magazine. The driver in the car at the top of the ad is Bob Sweikert. He was born in Los Angeles, California on May 20, 1926. He grew up with automobiles, working at a local Ford dealership in Hayward, CA. He would have been an airman in World War II, but a knee injury suffered during training at Lowry Field, Colorado kept him sidelined until after the end of combat. In 1945 he was honorably discharged from the Air Force.

Sweikert competed in four Indy 500 races, winning the 1955 contest and placing 6th in 1956, the year of the ad. June 17, 1956 of that same year he would be killed in a sprint car race in Salem, Indiana, a wreck that was caught on film.

Indy 500 - The Mystery of #49

On one of my trawls through the internet, searching for Indy 500 imagery to share with you during race season, I came across this little gem. It's a nineteen-teens era car, obviously in sad shape, sitting in the middle of what appears to be a field, but the information that came with the information was (to say the least) sketchy. The image came from the archives of the Indiana Historical Society, usually a very reputable resource with detailed notes on the photographs in their digital archives. In this case, though, the only information available was the title "Car 49, Wrecked" and the date of the photograph listed as 1919.

Undaunted by the challenge, I started digging through the resource for all things factual - Wikipedia - and I made a discovery. There was no car number 49 in the 1919 Indy 500. From 1915 through 1919 starting position was determined by car speed during a single qualifying lap, so it is possible that the driver of number 49 wrecked during this lap, so I made a check.

Details on the 1919 race are spare, but they do exist. I can tell you that Howdy Wilcox won the 1919 race, that it was the last year for single lap qualifying, and that supposedly a band played Back Home Again in Indiana as Wilcox (a Hoosier) made his final lap thus cementing the song's association with the 500, but there is no record of there being a wreck during qualification. It seems unlikely that something as dramatic as a car wiping out would be left out of the historical record, so I'm doubting the Car 49 wrecks before qualifying scenario.

Next I decided I'd go back through history to find the first instance of a car with the number 49 participating in the 500. We know that there was no Indy 500 in 1917 and 1918 due to World War I. In 1915 and 1916 there was no number 49 in the race. In fact you have to go all the way back to 1914 to find a car number 49 involved with the Indy 500.

That car was driven by a one-time Indy driver named Ray Gilhooley. Ray drove the Isotta entry for that year's race, starting in 20th position and wrecking in lap 41 and finishing in 27th position out of 30 entries. He never led, didn't sit on the pole, and never raced in another Indy 500. Interesting note, in the article to the right (clipped from the May 1919 issue of Automotive Industry magazine) a 500 entry couldn't even be backed by a woman because "women have no standing with the contest board of the AAA).

It'd be another 15 years before another car number 49 would compete, but the 1929 entry (driven by Wesley Crawford) went out due to carburetor problems, not a wreck. There's also the small fact that by the late 20's, Indy cars looked like the Stutz Black Hawk shown at the left. Gone was the ride-along mechanic and the Beverly Hillbillies squared-off grill so definitely no match.

In the end our mystery car is Gilhooley's Isotta from the 1914 race. It's doubtful this is an image from the back straight where Gilhooley's racing career seems to have ended. Initially I thought even the infield of the track would have been better groomed than what's pictured here, but then I recognized the banked track in the background (initially it just looked like a cloud bank). The image had to have been taken on Saturday, May 30th, the day of the 4th Indy 500 documenting the final resting place of Gilhooley's number 49.

Indy 500 - Newsreel of the First Indy 500

1911 and for the first time a race was held at what would become the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This lovely video comes from Patrick Smith's YouTube collection.

Indy 500 - The Kurtis 500M

In 1955 Indy 500 body maker Frank Kurtis designed and built his own version of a sporty roadster. The Kurtis 500M was a soft-top convertible that, according to Popular Mechanics, would top out at 125 mph and purr like a kitten in traffic. Kurtis planned on producing the 500M in Glendale, California and offering it to the public at a price of $6000,but his dream never really flowered.

Kurtis produced 22 street legal cars between 1948 and 1949 and the design gradually transformed into the Madman Muntz-Jet, which sold from 1950-1954. Kurtis made another foray into the street-legal market in 1954, with 500KK, 500S, and 500M series, all based on a version of the successful Indy 500 Roadster chassis, still only 18 roadsters were ever produced.

Proof, I guess, that success on the track doesn't always translate into success on the street. Still, the 500M is something to look at.

Indy 500 - Pyroil (Again) - 1934

Another Pyroil ad this morning, this time an earlier one. In 1934 the company wasn't claiming to have won six of the ten Indianapolis 500 races and they didn't have a dog spokesperson. My favorite is Barney Oldfield who gained fame for driving an Allis-Chalmers tractor at over 64 mph. Sounds like he was a big hit at the La Crosse county fair!

New Yorker Louis Meyer went on to be the first ever three-time Indy 500 winner, claiming the trophy as a rookie in 1928, in 1933, and in 1936 and he's credited with starting the tradition of drinking milk in the winner's circle. Meyer also was the first winner to receive a gift of the pace car, another tradition that continues to date.

Bill Cummings was an Indianapolis native who competed in nine Indy 500's, only winning in 1934. I'm not quite sure why the geniuses at the ad agency decided not to mention that he won the actual race in '34, opting instead for the brilliant statement that he won the Pyroil trophy using Pyroil. The Borg Warner trophy was commissioned in 1935 and wouldn't be presented to the winner of the 500 until the 1936 season.

Indy 500 - Pyroil Scores Again!

Pyroil seems to have a problem with counting. In the ad copy they state "Six of the ten winners of the 500 mile Memorial Day race at Indianapolis kept their racing machines lubricated with the help of Pyroil." The problem? Well, in 1947 when this ad ran in Popular Mechanics there had been 31 winners of the Indy 500, not ten.

There isn't much in the way of history for Pyroil online. My search only turned up more ads and a few MSDS sheets, but nothing in the way of when the company was founded or by whom. We do know it was located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, but not much more. Pyroil products are still available, now marketed under the Valvoline brand.

Jerry the talking dog was sort of the animal equivalent of a side-show act, barking words for the boys in veteran's hospitals around the US at the behest of his Pyroil masters. Didn't find too much on Jerry, either, but I did locate a site with a good (autographed no less) photo of the little whippet!

By the way, I'm not exactly sure how many cans of Pyroil for Aircraft Engines the company sold, but it seems a little strange that they'd run an ad for it in Popular Mechanics. Back in '47 were there that many people with their own planes in need of lubrication?

Indy 500 - 1956 Pace Car

The official pace car for the 1956 Indianapolis 500, the Desoto Fireflite! Looks more suited for the parade than the race!

Indy 500 - A Saucer for the Track

Frank Kurtis proposed this super-streamlined "racing saucer" for Chapman Root in 1955 and it appeared in the May 1955 issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine. Kurtis would go on to complete the car design, known as the Sumar Streamliner. The Streamliner generated 400hp.

In 1955 the Streamliner would be driven by Sam Hanks, Tony Bettenhausen and Jimmy Daywalt. Daywalt qualified at 139.416 mph. In 1956, Bob Sweikert, Cliff Griffith and Elmer George drove the car. That same year, Marshal Teague attempted to qualify the Streamliner for the Indy 500, but ran out of time. In 1959, Teague drove the car at Daytona International Speedway and reached a speed of 171.80 mph.

Indy 500 - Views from 1925

I discovered these two illustrations of the 1925 Indy 500 in the June 1925 issue of Popular Mechanics. Interesting to note the wooden surface the cars raced on that year as shown in the bottom image.

Pete DePaolo

Pete DePaolo would go on to win the 1925 race. He had to turn his car over to a backup driver while getting his blistered fingers treated in the infield hospital. By the time he returned he'd dropped to 5th position and would have to race his way back into the lead.

DePaolo has the honor of winning the first Indy 500 where the average a speed of the participant cars was over 100 mph. He also nearly had the honor of killing Adolph Hitler in the 1934 Avus race outside of Berlin. During that race DePaolo's car threw two connecting rods which barely missed Hitler who was watching from a track side box. That definitely would have been the biggest racing achievement ever!

Indy 500 - Your Own Private Blimp?

May is the month of the blimp here in Indy, but back in 1930 Goodyear foresaw a futuristic era when we'd all hop aboard our private dirigibles for the family vacation. This ad from a 1930 issue of Boy's Life touts the company's growing fleet of airships and its usefulness as a luxurious means of long-distance transportation. Eighty four years later, in an era of airlines working on a way to charge you for the contents of your bladder, I'm not so sure the American consumer wouldn't be well served by the ability to choose LA via blimp from their list of travel options.

Indy 500 - Champion Spark Plugs (1941)

A Champion spark plug ad from 1941, in seven months Pearl Harbor would be bombed and the US would be propelled into World War II, ending competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for five years. This is the first Champion 500 ad I've seen that breaks free of the old "all-seeing spark plug" meme.

Foods of the 500 - Friendly Franks

With May being the month most associated with racing here in Indiana, I thought that I would use my usual Wednesday foodie slot to feature the dishes many race fans might be cooking up over at 16th and Georgetown. We start off with hot dogs or, in the parlance of this 1941 American Meat Institute ad, friendly frankfurters. I'm not sure if the whole friendly shtick owes to the looming threat of the Axis powers in Europe and the Pacific, but I guess it's better than militant, angry frankfurters. In 2001 they would have been called freedom-furters or something equally asinine, so I won't poke too much fun.

Nearly forty years after Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle and the meat packing industry still was trying to convince Americans they weren't eating the severed digits of some poor slob working nineteen-hour shifts in a Chicago weenie-skinning operation.

The weenies themselves look pretty innocuous, just like the dogs you might get out of an Oscar Meyer package today, but it's the inset that I find disturbing. Exactly what is smeared on that hot dog? I think it's supposed to be mustard, but why is it smoldering?

Indy 500 - Howard "Howdy" Wilcox 1915

Howard "Howdy" Wilcox grew up in Crawfordsville, IN and drove in his first Indy 500 at the age of 22. In 1919, after leading the race for 98 laps, Wilcox won his first and only Indy 500.

Indy 500 - The Mercer Porter-Knight

The Mercer Automobile Company intended to enter the Porter-Knight Mercedes shown here in the 1915 Indianapolis 500, however my research shows no Mercer entries competed in that race. Mercer had entered cars in previous 500's without a win, and they faced a changed race when they  attempted to qualify for the 1915 race. In 1913 the field of competitors had been reduced to the 33 as a safety precaution and, apparently, the smallish Porter-Knight didn't make the cut. It's a spunky looking little car, though. Kind of reminds me of a Model T bucket hot rods.

Indy 500 - Louis Chevrolet's 1915 Cornelian

Louis Chevrolet, the founder of the Chevrolet car company, was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Canto of Neuchatel in Switzerland, but he honed his mechanical skills in Beaune, France. In 1900 he emigrated to Montreal, Quebec where he worked as a mechanic. in 1901 he moved to New York where he eventually wound up working for the French auto manufacturer de Dion-Bouton.

In 1905 Chevrolet was hired as a race car driver by FIAT. The arrangement with FIAT apparently didn't work out since a year later he was working for a Philadelphia-based company developing front-wheel-drive for automobiles, but Chevrolet's interest in racing did not wane. In 1909, Chevrolet raced for Buick, participating at the Giant's Despair Hillclimb.

On November 3, 1911 Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company with William C. Durant (ousted founder of General Motors Company), Durant's son-in-law Dr. Edwin R. Campbell,  and William Little (maker of the Little Automobile). They established the company in Detroit  and by 1917 Durant had bought a controlling interest in General Motors and Chevrolet was folded into GM.

During this time Chevrolet continued racing and in 1915 he finished 20th in the Indianapolis 500 in the Cornelian, a car he designed with Howard E. Blood. Though it didn't win, the Cornelian has the distinction of being the only chain-driven car to compete at the Speedway. Chevrolet would go on to compete four more times in the 500, placing 7th in 1919, but failing to earn a spot on the Warner-Borg Trophy. The connection with Indianapolis continued through the family, though and Chevrolet's brothers Arthur and Gaston both competed in the race with Gaston winning in 1920.

Louis Chevrolet died in Detroit, Michigan on June 6, 1941 and is buried in Holy Cross and Saint Joseph Cemetery in Indianapolis. He's memorialized at the entrance of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame where his bronze bust greets visitors.

Indy 500 Ad - Champion Spark Plugs

We're kicking off May's Indy 500 themed ads with this one from the folks at Champion. Champion Spark Plugs has been linked with the Indy 500 for a long time, and much of the time they've employed what I like to call the "beam me up" ad. Typically, a big alien mother ship spark plug hovers over some 500-themed scene, shooting out a power beam.

This particular example comes from the July 1947 issue of Popular Mechanics and is a little more impressionistic than what would become the typical Champion ad. I was attracted to the old-style car with its art deco lines.