The controversial 1948 Milwaukee 100

In recent years, there has been a lot of criticism of INDYCAR’s officiating of races but some recent research has found that head-scratching decisions are nothing new, witness the bizarre events that surrounded the 100-mile American Automobile Association (AAA) championship race held on August 15 1948 at the Milwaukee Mile.

 

 

 

In 1948, the Wisconsin Centennial Exposition held at the State Fair Park in Milwaukee from August 7 to August 29 celebrated Wisconsin’s leadership roles in agriculture, food production, manufacturing, and transportation. Racing of all types was an important part of the Wisconsin Centennial Exposition with a “twenty day program of speed” on the slightly banked one-mile fairground dirt track. .

The racing schedule opened with midget heat races on August 7 with the midget 100-lap feature on Sunday the 8th, followed by ‘hot rod’ races on August 9, with races for the AAA ‘big cars’ scheduled for August 10 and 11.  Motorcycle racing was on tap on August 12, and then on Friday the 13th the track hosted the “Jimmy Lynch and the Death Dodgers” auto thrill show and antique automobile races.  

The 100-lap AAA championship car race was on tap for Sunday August 15. The schedule then called for four days of harness horse racing before Frank R Winkley’s “All- American Thrill Circus” auto thrill show returned the track action to four wheels instead of four legs.

Something new was on the card for August 21 and 22, with stock car races that climaxed in a 100-lap feature before four more days of “Grand Circuit” horse racing. Motorcycle racing returned to the schedule on August 27th and 28th before the grand finale on the 29th, the track’s inaugural 200-mile AAA championship race.

At 2 PM on Friday August 7, the midgets kicked off the racing action with qualifying, followed by a five-lap dash for the fastest qualifiers, and then three-ten-lap heat races to set the 33-car field. Admission into the grandstand for the first weekend of races was 30 cents for children and 60 cents for adults in addition to the 40 cents adults paid to attend the Exposition.

 

 

Paul Russo won the 100-lap midget feature August 8 1948

 

Saturday afternoon, the midget starting field set off for 100 laps around the mile dirt track racing for a total purse of $7500. Ray Neuman’s midget flipped three times after his car flew a front tire and crashed into the outer wall on the 93rd lap. Paul Russo of Kenosha Wisconsin won the feature in a record time of one hour, ten minutes and 11.33 seconds, which bested Ray Richards’ two-year old record by over eight minutes. Neil Carter of Toledo Ohio finished in second place with Henry Banks in third position.     

 

Dick Fraizer won the 'hot rod' races on August 9 1948

 

On Monday afternoon August 9th, the Wisconsin Auto Racing Association Inc. ‘hot rods’ took to the track and Dick Fraizer from the tiny town of Messick Indiana (then as now so small it didn't have a mailing address)  set quick time in qualifying with a lap of 43.72 seconds. Ticket prices for the grandstand were much higher than for the midgets, at $1.00 and $1.50.  Tony Martinek of Chicago won the 10-lap semi-main in 7 minutes and 47 ½ seconds then Fraizer won the 20-mile feature race in 14 minutes and 1.43 seconds over future Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Pat Flaherty and Ray Erickson.

Sadly, the semi-man winner Tony Martinek, a 23-year old three-year veteran of ‘hot rod’ racing would perish in an accident September 25 at the ¼-mile asphalt surface Rockford (Illinois) Speedway. Martinek’s machine ran over the rear of Ronald “Luckless” Kaplan’s car, overturned and slid upside down for approximately 50 feet.  Martinek’s death from a basal skull fracture marked the third fatality at Rockford Speedway during the 1948 season which led to Hugh Deery taking over the track’s operation.        

 

Rex Mays came within one lap of sweeping

both the AAA 'big car' races

 

Unlike the earlier midget races, the AAA Midwest series ‘big car’ races set for August 10 and 11 were run as two stand-alone programs and each offered a $5000 purse. Rex Mays was the fast qualifier on Tuesday the 10th, as he posted a time of 38.72 seconds, then went on to capture the first 5-mile heat race. Leland “Lee” Wallard won the second heat race and Tony Bettenhausen the third heat race while Charles Van Acker won the consolation race. Mays led all 25 laps in the feature race and finished in sixteen minutes and 36 seconds ahead of Dick Fraizer and eventual 1948 AAA Midwest ‘big car’ champion Travis “Spider” Webb. 

On Wednesday afternoon, Mays was again the quick qualifier and he set a new track record of 37.31 seconds on a wet track with Dick Fraizer the second fastest qualifier.   Because of the misting rain, AAA officials elected not to run any heat races, but extended the feature race to 30 laps to give the 12,000 fans a good show. Once again Mays led away from the pole until the race was stopped on the 12th lap after an accident in the third turn.

Paul Russo’s car, formerly driven by Cavino “Kelly” Petillo, had blown a tire and rolled over twice with Russo thrown out of the car but he escaped with minor cuts. For twenty minutes the track crew cleaned up the track then the race resumed with May still in the lead. Mays held the lead until the final lap when his car ran out of fuel which handed the win to fellow AAA Eastern ‘big car’ racer Tommy Mattson in the Culp Offenhauser.  Mays’ #1 Bowes Seal Fast Special coasted across the finish line in fourth place behind Tommy Hinnerhsitz and Lee Wallard.  

Mattson had finished the 1947 AAA Eastern big car season in second place behind Mays, and he would finish third in both the Midwest and Eastern AAA ‘big car’ championships. Tommy, from Wilmington Delaware got a shot at the Indianapolis ‘500’ in 1949, but crashed his car into the pit wall during practice on May 21 in a crash that was described as “driver hit wall in pits as he attempted to go into garage area too fast.”

At the time, there were doubts whether the crew could repair Bill Sheffler’s Offenhauser in time for the final weekend of time trials, but the work was completed on Sunday, May 28. Unfortunately, Mattson spun into the infield during practice and he was replaced by fellow “rookie” Manuel “Manny” Ayulo who bumped Ralph Pratt from the starting field at the last possible moment.

Mattson would become one of the victims of the high-banked Salem Speedway the following year. At the start of their AAA ‘big car’ heat race on July 24 1949 the front-row cars of Erling “Chick” Barbo and Mattson locked wheels then both machines then flew off the banking in turn one and landed on top of several passenger cars parked below.  Barbo died instantly while Mattson was transported to the Memorial Hospital in Bedford, Indiana passed away less than two hours after the crash.

After two days of motorcycle races and the auto thrill show at the end of the second week of August 1948, the AAA contingent reassembled on Sunday the 15th for the championship car race. The day’s first controversy erupted when the AAA race Chief Steward Llewellyn "Ike" Welch rejected car owner Andy Granatelli’s entry of Dick Fraizer as the driver of the Grancor (Granatelli Corporation) Special Kurtis-Kraft 2000-Offenhauser. 

 

 

 

Milwaukee 100 AAA Chief Steward "Ike" Welch

 

“Ike” Welch from Maywood Illinois reportedly attended his first ``500`` automobile race at the Indianapolis Speedway as a ten year old boy in 1911. After college Welch began working as an AAA at the Speedway in 1922 and was elevated to the role of Chief Observer in 1931. The Chief Observer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was responsible for administering “rookie” driving tests and insuring on-track safety during practice. Welch never told a driver whether he had passed the rookie test; instead Welch walked over to the successful driver and gave him a shiny penny.   

To support Fraizer’s rejection, Welch told Milwaukee Sentinel sportswriter Tony Ingrassia that “as a matter of precedent only drivers that have been competing regularly for the last year on the AAA circuit are allowed to compete.” When pressed, Welch reiterated that the AAA had a rule that said that “championship races are for drivers competing regularly on the circuit.”

For his part, Rex Mays told Ingrassia that he was sure there was no AAA precedent to keep Fraizer from competing and was quoted:  “why, Red Hodges drove at Dallas this year and he is a newcomer.” Historical records show that Mays was correct; Texas “outlaw” driver William “Red” Hodges had driven the “Gabby Hall Special” in the Arlington Downs 100 in his first and only AAA championship appearance.

Ingrassia’s editorial in the following day’s Milwaukee Sentinel questioned whether AAA officials and racers were afraid of the “Hoosier Hotshot,” as Ingrassia heard no legitimate reason to bar Fraizer from racing Sunday.  The editorial refuted Welch’s claim of precedence, as “Johnny Mantz made his first start in a big car championship race at Indianapolis this year, and Mack Hellings (who took over the Grancor #59) had only one championship race on his record according to Mays.” Mays’ memory was correct about Mantz’ record, but faulty concerning Hellings’ record as he had three previous AAA starts, all in 1948.

For his part, Fraizer told Ingrassia that a small clique led by Duke Nalon had led to his ban but that Rex Mays, Tony Bettenhausen, and Mel Hanson were on his side. Ike Welch said “I hate to ban Fraizer since he is a good driver and has done a commendable job, but I had to follow precedent.” Fraizer was certainly skilled and experienced enough as he had won 10 hot rod races in a row during the 1948 season and had finished second to Rex Mays in Tuesday’s AAA ‘big car’ feature. Whatever the reason for the rejection, Fraizer’s name does not appear in the AAA records for this event.

The 23,913 race fans that filled the State Fair Park grandstand watched as hometown driver Myron Fohr qualified the hometown Marchese Offenhauser for the pole position with a lap of 40.11 seconds, followed by Spider Webb and Johnny Mantz. Mel Hanson qualified Paul Weirick’s supercharged Offenhauser powered car fourth fastest, while Hellings, Fraizer’s replacement would start from eight position.  

Five drivers failed to make the 18-car starting field; George Connor, Johnny McDowell, local midget racer Johnny Dietz, Bill Holland and George Lynch.  After qualifying, George Lynch, who resume listed a couple of previous AAA ‘big car’ starts, replaced Charlie Rogers as the driver of the “Jewell Special.” The participation of Dietz and Lynch both seem to have been in direct conflict with “Ike” Welch’s stated reason used to disallow Dick Fraizer. Looking back a historian must ask the question - what did the AAA have against Dick Fraizer?

 At the drop of the green flag, pole sitter Myron Fohr led the first 27 laps before he pitted for tires which handed the lead to Emil Andres in Carmine Tuffanelli's  Kurtis Kraft 2000 entered by mechanic Charlie Pritchard. On the 35th lap, “Mutt” Anderson’s car driven by Ken Fowler from Dayton Ohio broke an axle and the loose wheel jumped the inner retainer wall and rolled into a crowd of 200 fans in the infield. 

Two members of that crowd, 40-year old Alma Hogdson and her 10-year son, Gaylord were struck by the loose wheel but were given first aid and released.  Andres continued to hold the lead until lap 85 despite having problems with his Offenhauser engine. With four laps to go, Ted Horn passed Andres on the backstretch then was first under the checkered flag followed by Mantz, Andres, Rex Mays, and Tony Bettenhausen.

 

Johnny Mantz was declared the Milwaukee 100 winner

 

After the race as Horn celebrated in victory lane, other drivers complained about the results and the AAA scorers rechecked the pair of mechanical scoring tapes. After their check, AAA officials revised the order of finish and moved Ted Horn to third place with Johnny Mantz declared the winner followed by Andres, Mays, and Wallard in fifth. Promoter Tom Marchese of Wisconsin Racing Associates offered reporters no explanation why Horn received the checkered flag, but in retrospect, scorers apparently became confused during the race by the large number of pit stops, which was unusual for a 100-mile race.

With the revised results were posted, Tony Bettenhausen protested his demotion to a sixth place finish while Andres also protested, claiming that the race ended a lap early but both protests were denied by the AAA stewards.  Although Horn was awarded the winner’s trophy in victory lane, Mantz and car owner J C Agajanian received Marchese’s check for $4,053, the winner’s share of the race’s $16,850 purse. Years later, the records vary on this event; some records credit Mantz with leading only the last lap, while other sources credit him with leading 20 laps.  

 

Myron Fohr won the pole for the Milwaukee 100

 then won  the Milwaukee 200 mile race two weeks later

 

Two weeks later, when the AAA championship cars returned to the Milwaukee Mille for the first-ever 200-mile race, Myron Fohr was triumphant, but not without help. At lap 111, third-place starter Fohr pitted and was relieved by Tony Bettenhausen, as his Sparks “Big Six” powered Thorne Engineering entry had retired. Race leader Mantz crashed his Agajanian entry on the 135th lap, and Bettenhausen proceeded to build up a large lead, and then turned the Marchese entry back over to Fohr on lap 178.  Fohr beat Johnnie Parsons to the checkered flag by 16 seconds, with Ted Horn in third a lap behind.

Attrition was high as only nine of the original 22 cars finished, with ninth place finisher Paul Russo was 33 laps behind the winner. Nevertheless, the precedent had been set and the August date for the AAA championship cars at Milwaukee became a 200-mile affair.   

Despite his loss of the disputed victory at Milwaukee two weeks earlier, by finishing in third place in the 200-mile race,  Ted Horn collected enough points to clinch the 1948 AAA National Driving championship, his second of three consecutive titles. On October 10, in the final race of the 1948 AAA season, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds one-mile track at DuQuoin, Ted Horn crashed fatally after a wheel spindle broke on his car during the second lap of the race.  The great champion was just 38 years old.

 

 

The wreckage of Byron Horne's Granatelli FD

car that led to the 1949 AAA "no dentures" rule

 

On May 25 1949, following the violent May 2 near-fatal crash by Byron Horne during his rookie test in which he received severe cuts from his dentures, the  AAA Contest Board issued an order that all drivers with false teeth had to remove their dentures before going out on the Speedway’s racing surface.

To enforce the new AAA rule, “Ike” Welch, as the Chief Observer, was given the unpleasant task to peer in the mouth of each driver before they went out onto the track. Welch continued to work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the Chief Observer until his retirement in 1963, and he passed away in 1986.

Aside from a few local newspaper articles there was little publicity about “Ike” Welch and the AAA’s mishandling of the August 15 1948 race at Milwaukee. One can only imagine the reaction in today’s social media environment if INDYCAR banned a driver without a clearly stated reason, or fouled up the scoring of a race and awarded the victory to the wrong racer in modern times.

 

All the black and white photographs that accompany this article appear courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies.

‘Doc’ Williams at the Indianapolis ‘500’

Part four- from 1941 to 1949

Doc's 1941 qualifying photo

In early 1941, Merrill ‘Doc’ Williams was nominated as the driver of the Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis’  Offenhauser-powered Cooper front-wheel drive machine entry for the 29th edition of the International 500-mile Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the ‘Indiana Fur Special.’

Joseph Davidson founded the Indiana Fur Company in downtown Indianapolis during the eighteen nineties and after his death the company was operated by his widow before she turned over the operation of the business to her two surviving sons Herbert and Fred. The Indiana Fur Company first sponsored a car at the Indianapolis in 1938 with car owner Paul Weirick and driver Frank Wearne. In 1939, Indiana Fur sponsored a car scheduled for Louis Tomei which never arrived, and in 1940, sponsored the car owned and driven by 1935 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Cavino “Kelly” Petillo.

On the windy first day of time trials May 17 1941, “Doc’s” red #36 was the first car to make a qualifying attempt and he shocked the railbirds by posting an average qualifying speed of 124.014 miles per hour (MPH) in a car that debuted at the Speedway thirteen years earlier. With a strong wind blowing north to south, many veterans elected to wait to make their timed run, and only twelve cars qualified the first day.  Williams’ time held up as the day’s fifth fastest, and ninth overall, so on Decoration Day 1941, the ‘Indiana Fur Special’ started the ‘500’ from the middle of the second row.    

In an informal poll conducted during the annual Champion Spark Plugs 100 MPH Club banquet, attended by 16 of the 21 surviving members,  ‘Doc’ was not mentioned as potential ‘500’ winner, as six members selected Mauri Rose, while two each selected Rex Mays and Wilbur Shaw to win the 1941 500-mile race. In a nationwide newspaper article published on the eve of the ‘500,’ famed United Press International sports editor Harry Ferguson picked Shaw as the 5-to-1 favorite, Mays 6-to-1, Rose 10-to-1, while Ferguson gave ‘Doc’ 15-to-1 odds of winning.

Williams’ 1941 500-mile race was disappointing as the crew fought to fix a leaking radiator before the car was retired with just 68 laps completed. The 100 MPH club odds makers were partially correct as Rose won the 1941 ‘500,’ but not in the car he started, as he had replaced Floyd Davis in the “Noc-Out Hose Clamp Special” on lap 72 after his original entry retired.  At the driver’s party held the next night after the race, “Doc” who had won $620, requested Speedway management increase the minimum award for race starters from $500 to $1000. “Doc’s” demand was supported by race co-winner Floyd Davis and Frank Wearne, but the Speedway paid no additional money.  

On December 7 1941, the Japanese military attacked United States forces on Pearl Harbor, and 22 days later, under pressure from local labor unions due to sabotage concerns, Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner and President Eddie Rickenbacker canceled the 1942 running of the ‘500.’ Racing at the big oval would remain suspended for the duration due to the consumption of rubber and gasoline.    

On January 6 1942, Speedway vice president and general manager Theodore E. “Pop” Myers resigned his position as he told the Associated Press that he “had no more active duties with the Speedway.” Eddies’ brother, Al, took over Myer’s management duties. Eddie Rickenbacker, a former fighter pilot reportedly offered the 1,025 acre Speedway grounds to the government for use as an aircraft testing grounds as it had been used in the First World War. The offer was not accepted, likely because the Speedway’s infield was not large enough to accommodate a runway longer enough for the larger and faster aircraft then being used.  

The Speedway remained padlocked and an Associated Press article published over Memorial Day weekend in 1943 described the Speedway as “a ghost area,” as “grass grows in the track and the grandstands show the effects of two years of disuse.” On August 29 1943 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company used the Speedway to conduct a 500-mile test at a maximum speed of 35 MPH of experimental Celanese passenger car tires.

In February 1944 the Speedway was used to record the first 5000 miles of a test of tires recapped with synthetic rubber as part of an overall 25,000 mile test that was mostly conducted on public roads in a fleet of three well-marked passenger cars. In August 1944 Howard Chown, chief of the Indianapolis American Legion voiture #145 announced that his group had an obtained an option to buy the Speedway and its assets, and that a post-war committee would be formed to discuss financing, but nothing ever came of this proposal.

On November 29 1944 Wilbur Shaw ran a 500-mile test in the former Boyle Valve Miller front-drive two-man car in order to test new synthetic rubber Firestone tires. During the test, Shaw noticed the alarmingly bad condition of the Speedway and grounds and after talking to Rickenbacker, Shaw began his search for buyers of the Speedway. 

Shaw realized his dream to save the Speedway when on Wednesday, November 14, 1945, in Parlor D at the Indianapolis Athletic Club, Terre Haute Indiana grocery executive Anton Hulman Junior signed papers which completed the purchase of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from Rickenbacker.  “Pop” Myers, now over 70 years old, immediately rejoined the Speedway Corporation as vice-President and General Manager and in that role, reopened the Speedway’s office at 444 North Capitol Avenue on November 19 1945.

In the run-up to the first post-war Indianapolis 500-mile race, the April 1946 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine mentioned “Doc” Williams as the “tentative driver” of the supercharged 500 horsepower overhead valve V-8 race car that was being developed by W.C. “Bud” Winfield and Leo Goossen to be known as the “Novi Governor Special.”   Apparently based on this speculation, the Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis entrusted the Copper front-drive machine to Clarence “Chet” Miller for the 1946 ‘500,’ with Merrill Williams listed as the entrant.  

Chet Miller in the Cooper FD in 1946

However, at the May 1 filing deadline, “Bud” Winfield entered the “Novi Governor Special” with no driver listed, with “Doc” entered as the driver of a “four-cylinder Offenhauser” powered car owned by the Hughes brothers of Denver Colorado who had entered a Miller front drive for Louis Tomei in the  1941 ‘500’ as H-3 Racing.  “Doc” did not make the 1946 starting field, but Ralph Hepburn set new one and four-lap qualifying records in the “Novi Governor Special” and Chet Miler made the field in 17th position in the Offenhauser-powered Cooper front-drive. Neither car finished the race; Hepburn stalled in the pits on lap 121, while Chet retired with a broken oil line on lap 64.

For the 1947 ‘500,’ Merrill “Doc” Williams got the opportunity of a lifetime as result of the American Society of Professional Auto Racers (ASPAR) controversy. Before the May 1 deadline for ‘500’ entries was reached, a “drivers’ union” had been formed, led by car owner Joseph Lencki with veteran Ralph Hepburn as the group’s nominal president. ASPAR demanded that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway double the 500-mile race’s total purse to $150,000, a demand which Wilbur Shaw, as President of the Speedway Corporation flatly refused. The entry deadline passed with ASPAR claiming to hold 35 entries. When the Speedway opened for practice neither Lencki nor Shaw had changed their original positions. 

As the first weekend of qualifications approached “Novi” car owner Lew Welch, who had promised Tony Hulman that his popular pair of cars would appear, replaced his drivers. Ralph Hepburn and Sam Hanks were replaced by veteran Cliff Bergere and “Doc” Williams. 

This was an ironic turn of events, since “Doc” had voiced complaint about his share of the purse in 1941, and now he became the beneficiary of the ASPAR driver walkout over the low purse.  Welch probably would have preferred someone besides “Doc” but many veterans such as Chet Miller were ASPAR supporters, and “Doc” did have extensive experience at the Speedway with front wheel drive race cars.   

  

"Doc" in his trademark red helmet receives 

instructions form the Novi crew

The pair of ‘Novi Governor Mobil Specials’ were among the seven cars that qualified on May 17 the first day of time trials but not without some drama. Bergere spun in the morning practice session and wound up in the turn one creek, and then after repairs, qualified with an average speed for the ten mile run of 124.957 MPH. That speed was fast enough to start from the middle of the front row, but was 2 MPH off Ted Horn’s pole speed in the former Boyle Maserati.

Before he took the green flag to qualify, "Doc" spun into a drainage ditch 

“Doc” spun out during his warmup laps and the #54 ‘Novi Governor Mobil Special’ wound up with its nose partially into the drainage ditch at the north end of the track. The car was not damaged, and after a quick cleanup, “Doc” qualified for fourth starting position at 120.733 MPH. 

Car owner Welch was angry with both drivers, as he claimed the “Novi” was capable of laps that averaged 140 MPH, a speed which would not be recorded at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for seven years.  Welch tried to wave off “Doc” on the final 2 laps of his 4-lap qualifying run, but ‘Doc” claimed not to have seen Welch and completed his time trial.  Legend has it that Welch fired “Doc” on the spot after qualifying, but the legend is not true.

The May 20 1947 issue of the Rushville Republican newspaper reported that the day following his spin, “Doc” complained of severe pain in his side. On Monday May 19, “Doc” Williams gave the American Automobile Association (AAA) stewards a written statement that was he “convinced I am not in shape to drive such a fast car.” AAA officials accepted his resignation in “the interest of safety,” and authorized Welch to nominate a new driver. Unfortunately, many newspapers nationwide reported only that Williams said he was quitting the race because the car was "too fast." 69 years later, it remains open to speculation whether “Doc” made the decision to quit or was coerced by Welch.

After Marv Jenkins was considered and rejected as a replacement, Jimmy Jackson and Herb Ardinger each tested the ‘Novi Governor Mobil Special’ and Ardinger had a front tire come apart on the front stretch at speed. Welch selected Ardinger who had driven Welch’s supercharged Offenhauser powered ‘Chicago Rawhide Special’ in the 1937 and 1938  500-mile races   Ardinger with Chief Steward Jack Mehan's approval was allowed to keep the car’s original fourth place starting position (nowadays he would have to go to the back of the field). Meanwhile, on May 21 the ASPAR standoff ended, but because of the delay an additional qualifying period was held on May 29 which added two car and brought the starting field to thirty cars.

At the drop of the green flag on race day, Bergere shot in the lead with the new #18 Kurtis-chassis ‘Novi Governor Mobil Special’ and led the first 23 circuits until he had to pit for new front tires, but eventually retired on lap 63 with a burned piston. 

Ardinger in the meantime, was too conservative for Welch, who called him in on lap 69 with the #54 ‘Novi Governor Mobil Special’ nine laps behind the leaders and put Bergere in the car. Cliff drove the last 130 laps and finished in fourth place, seven minutes behind second-time winner Mauri Rose.

"Doc" poses with a monkey in the garage area

it was not reported whether the  monkey made any suggestions

For the 1948 Indianapolis ‘500,’ “Doc” Williams was back behind the wheel of the familiar Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis Cooper front-drive chassis that carried the #47 and was entered as the “Ford Moyer Special.” Car owner “Fritz” Holliday had apparently entered the car with Moyer’s name to honor a long-time Speedway personality who had been ill at home for over a year. 

Ford Moyer born in Findlay Ohio in 1897, started as a racer on the rough-and-tumble Hoosier dirt-track circuit in the nineteen twenties at tracks that included Hoosier Motor Speedway on what is now Pendleton Pike in Indianapolis and Funk’s Speedway near Winchester Indiana. In a 1950 interview with United Press International, Wilbur Shaw related that “when I broke in, my hero was a guy named Ford Moyer. He was a big handsome guy and it surprised me when later on he became my mechanic.”

In February 1931 Ford was one of three men along with Clessie Cummins and Indianapolis racer Dave Evans who drove the first diesel-powered transcontinental truck run.  The trio drove a Reo retrofitted with a Cummins diesel engine in shifts non-stop from Lansing Michigan to New York City a distance of 959 miles in the first diesel truck to make a long-distance service run.  

Working with Shaw, Moyer helped build the Shaw/Gilmore entry that won the 1937 Indianapolis ’500;’ Al Bloemker's 500 Miles to Go book related that “He (Wilbur) toiled side by side with Ford Moyer on body and chassis for many weeks.”  When Shaw joined the Boyle Racing Team, Moyer went along. In the 1950 UPI interview, Shaw related a timeless story "Moyer was my mechanic in 1940 when I went after my third Indianapolis victory. But a week before the race the old shoes of mine turned up missing. I'm not superstitious, but it jarred me. The day of the race, I went into the garage and there on a shelf was an exact duplicate of the pair of shoes that I had lost. Moyer had even rubbed grease and aluminum paint into that brand new pair of shoes to make them look like an exact replica of the shoes which had been stolen—or mislaid.”

In the victory lane “bull pen” in 1940 over the nationwide radio broadcast,  Shaw extended a "thanks-much" greeting to his crew: Cotton Henning, chief of the Boyle Valve racing team staff,  Bob Jackson,  Ross Hadley, “Pern” Cornelius and Ford Moyer, who did the behind-the-scene work in the pits. The Indianapolis Star said that his competitors described Ford Moyer as “a talented, skillful mechanic, an unsung hero behind the scenes in aiding many successful drivers always ready with sound mechanical advice,” and that “Moyer's practice was to wrap each disassembled engine part individually.”

During the period he worked with Shaw, he owned and ran the Ford Moyer Garage at 409 North Talbott Street in Indianapolis near the Indianapolis Star office at 307 North Pennsylvania Street. The Indianapolis Star article described Moyer’s shop as “a popular hang-out for big-time race drivers, and it was there that Moyer tinkered on Shaw's car for many long hours.” Before he became too ill to work, Moyer had last worked for the Century Tire Company on 933 North Capitol Avenue.

“Doc” Williams qualified the 21-year old ‘Ford Moyer Special’ for the 1948 ‘500’ on Saturday May 15 with a four-lap average of 124.151 MPH to start from the sixth position.  Sadly, four days later, Ford Moyer died in his home at 5995 East 30th Street never having a chance to see “his car” in the race.

In the Star's Moyer obituary article, Shaw, a close friend for many years, paid tribute to Moyer as "one of the grandest men I ever knew and among the finest mechanics in the racing business who was noted for the meticulous care with which he nursed racing cars.” Moyer was survived by his wife and was interred in Washington Park East Cemetery.

"Doc" poses with his sponsors from Clarke Auto Company 

Before the 1948 ‘500,’the Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis # 74 Cooper gained a sponsor and started the race as the ‘Clarke Auto Company Special,’ with sponsorship from the two-year old company owned by Ed Clarke with a sales lot at 921 East Washington Street in Indianapolis.  Unfortunately, the ‘Clarke Auto Company Special’s’ day ended early when either the clutch or the ignition (sources vary) on the car failed on lap 19. At the driver’s banquet, “Doc” Williams got a check for $1300 for his 29th place finish.  This marked the end of the Cooper front-drive chassis at the Indianapolis; after 21 years it was not entered again.

"Doc" with Tom Saraffof

For the 1949 ‘500’ Williams drove Tom Sarafoff’ s  255-cubic inch Offenhauser-powered Miller front-drive car originally built in 1928 for Cliff Woodbury.  With a history similar to the “Fritz” Holliday Cooper, the car had been widened in 1930 for the AAA “Junk Formula” rules by “Cotton” Henning to create the successful Boyle two-man car.

In 1938, Henning narrowed the chassis and enclosed it in new bodywork and it was raced by the Boyle team through the 1941 season.  During the war, Mike Boyle sold the car to Jimmy Jackson, who raced it in 1946 and 1947 before he sold the car to Sarafoff.  Unlike the Holliday Cooper, the car was quite successful in its later career following its conversion back to a single cockpit car - in five appearances in the ‘500’ from 1939 to 1947, it never finished out of the top six.

Sarafoff born in 1893, described as “of Middle Eastern descent” built a chain of “greasy spoon” diners near defense factories in the Terre Haute area during World War Two, but by 1948 there were just two “Tom’s Diners” located at  1900 Maple Avenue  and  638 Cherry Street in Terre Haute.  In 1948, Sarafoff entered the white #10 eponymous car for veteran Louis Tomei crewed by his friend Bill Watts and his brother-in-law Steve Nyers, but it failed to qualify.

In 1949, “Doc” Williams was one of 15 qualifiers on the first day of time trials, May 14, and posted a four-lap average speed of 125.161 MPH.  Everything seemed to be on track until practice on May 21st. Veteran Chet Miller had originally been named in March as one of three drivers along with Leland “Lee” Wallard and Harold “Hal” Robson to drive for the three-car Indianapolis Race Cars Incorporated (IRC) a partnership of local men formed to buy the assets of the Boyle Racing Team after the death of Harry C “Cotton” Henning in December 1948. 

Chet Miller was slated to drive the “biggest money-winning car ever at the speedway” the ex-Boyle Maserati that Shaw won with in 1939 and 40 then Ted Horn had compiled a post-war record of two third place finishes and  a fourth place in three races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. IRC named journeyman and former riding mechanic Ed Metzler as the chief mechanic but after numerous problems with all three cars, Metzler was fired and replaced by Peter DePaolo and Art Sparks after the first weekend of time trials in which none of the IRC entries participated.     

Chet Miller climbs out of the burnt Saraffof Special

On the 21st, Chet Miller took the already qualified #66 “Tom Sarafoff Special” out for a carburetor test, the engine caught fire and damaged the car, but the 46-year old Chet escaped unharmed.  Chet did not drive in the 1947 ‘500’ due to his ASPAR membership, then in 1948 had quit the Lew Welch  “Novi Grooved Piston Special” along with teammate Cliff Bergere over handling concerns created by the Novi’s new huge fuel tanks. 1949 was not shaping up so well for Chet either, and on May 25 he resigned the IRC Maserati ride and was replaced by California midget champion Fred Agabashian.

The volunteer crew worked long hours to repair the fire damage to the “Tom Sarafoff Special” but in the end it didn’t matter. On May 29 the last day of time trials for the 1949 ‘500,’ Emil Andres in the “Tuffy’s Offy” Kurtis 200 owned by Chicago crime figure George “Babe” Tuffanelli, was one of five drivers, along with Agabashian, to “bump” their way into the 33-car starting field.  Emil’s run of 126.042 MPH knocked “Doc” Williams from the ‘500’ field

Tom Sarafoff entered his ancient Miller front drive chassis twice more at the Speedway. In 1950 rookie Cliff Griffith passed his rookie test in the car but never attempted to qualify and then in 1951 Norm Houser son of Thane Houser 1926 ‘500’ competitor failed to qualify.   Sarafoff bought the Agajanian “featherweight” Kurtis 2000 chassis which had started from the pole position in 1950 and entered it in the 1952 ‘500’ with Cliff Griffith and finished  ninth.

In 1953, Sarafoff entered the Kurtis for Bob Sweikert, but Bob quit the team before the Speedway opened and drove for Al Dean during the 1953 AAA season.   Dayton Ohio’s J. Carlyle “Duke” Dinsmore then tried the car but was too slow to make the field. In 1954, Cliff Griffith one the comeback from serious burns suffered in a 1953 Indianapolis practice crash, tried but on quit on May 12 as he explained “one hand doesn’t fully work and there’s no use kidding myself I don’t feel comfortable above 124 MPH.” After George Tichneor failed to make the 33-car starting field, Sarafoff sold off all his racing cars and equipment.

"Doc" poses with his wife Esther and their daughter

1949 would prove to be “Doc” Williams’ final appearance at the Speedway as a driver. Williams’ son Johannes reported in a 1994 interview with the Franklin Daily Journal that “he moved his family to Michigan where he worked as a test track driver and later purchased a motel in the Detroit metropolitan area.” 

Historical research shows however, the “Doc” Williams had a number of legal scrapes after his racing career ended. The first came in January 1950, as Williams and two other men were arrested in Michigan and charged with breaking and entering, larceny, and possessing stolen property after the theft of $4000 from a suburban Detroit area drug store the day before.

The outcome of that 1950 burglary charge is unknown but in May 1955, “Doc” was in Federal Court in Detroit, this time charged with concealing over $23,000 in assets during bankruptcy proceedings.  Williams’ estranged from his wife Esther, filed for bankruptcy in January 1955 and claimed $18,000 in debts and no assets. After filing, Williams disappeared and later the bankruptcy referee learned that his wife had sold a motel they owned and that he received $23,453 as his part of the proceeds on January 27. 

“Doc” was then indicted in March on fraud charges but did not appear. During the May 11 hearing, “Doc” explained to Judge Ralph Freeman that he had gone to Germany for his health and was unaware of the charges against him. Williams again claimed he had no assets and related that he had lost $4000 in “one fling at the gaming tables in Reno Nevada.”

Again, we do not know how the fraud case turned out, but “Doc” was indicted again for perjury in Federal Court in Detroit a year later. This charge resulted after an inventory of a safe deposit box in his name in a bank in Marion Ohio which he testified under oath contained nothing of value was found to contain $2000 in $500 bills.  Williams pled guilty to the perjury charge on August 14 1956 in front of Judge Frank A. Picard. 

Williams faced five years in prison and a $50,000 fine but on October 16 Judge Picard sentenced “Doc” to two years in a federal penitentiary.  In 1970, Williams returned to his home state of Indiana and operated a motel near Centerville, Indiana his death in nearby Richmond on April 28, 1982 at the age of 69.

Merrill “Doc” Williams stands as a shining example of persistence as a driver at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Consider that he entered the race thirteen times, qualified for the ‘500’starting field five times but only started four races. In those four races, all behind the wheel of the same Cooper front-drive car, he only completed a total of 340 laps in his Speedway career with his highest finish coming in his first race appearance in 1936.

All the photos that accompanied this article appear courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies. 

‘Doc’ Williams at the Indianapolis '500'

Part three- from 1936 to 1940

Doc Williams poses in this photo from the author's personal collection

the year, photographer and location are all unknown

 

‘Doc’ Williams, the main subject of this article and the Cooper front-drive race cars intersected at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1936, as ‘Doc’ was paired with veteran ‘Dusty’ Fahrnow on the two-car Superior Trailer Team.   ‘Doc’ who had been employed at the Ford Motor Company in Detroit since 1933 reportedly resigned from Ford to take advantage of the Gauss/Goldberg opportunity.  

In just one year, conditions had changed dramatically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In order to enhance the impact of the AAA “junk formula” rules and encourage the use of passenger car engines over pure racing engines, races teams were given a limited amount of fuel with which to qualify and then complete the 500-mile distance.

In 1935, the fuel limit for the race was 42 ½ gallons (11-3/4 miles per gallon average) and after the race, testing found that winner Kelly Petillo had two extra gallons, second place Wilbur Shaw had three leftover gallons, and fourth place finisher Floyd Roberts had five gallons in reserve, while only one car ran out of its entire allotment during the 1935 race. With those results in hand, for the 1936 ‘500’ the fuel allotment was reduced to just 37 ½ gallons, or a 13-1/3 miles per gallon average.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway facilities had been improved as the turns on the 2-1/2 mile oval were repaved with new asphalt, which improved the grip of the tires through the corners, although lap speeds did not increase. On the safety aspect, the concrete apron on the inside of the track’s corners had been widened, and a new outside reinforced concrete retaining wall built which was perpendicular to the racing surface.

One of the Race Car Corporation’s partners was Fred T. “Fritz” Holliday who had been involved at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1927, when he was one the owners of the ‘Jynx Special’ driven by rookie Wilbur Shaw.  The ‘Jynx Special’ was the supercharged Miller rear-drive in which Jimmy Murphy had been killed at the Syracuse “Moody Mile” in 1924. During the 1927 ‘500,’ Shaw became fatigued and Holliday suggested that young Louis Meyer relieve Shaw. Together the pair who would score six Indianapolis victories between them, brought the “Jynx Special” home in fourth place in 1927. 

Holliday was a 1920 graduate of Yale University, and a former vice-president at the family’s J.W. Holliday & Company steel company based in Chicago, although “Fritz” lived in Indianapolis. In 1935, “Fritz” and his brother started the Monarch Steel Company. As a partner in the Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis, Holliday continued to own the Cooper front-drive race car up until his death in July 1951, and was a long-time friend of Anton Hulman Junior, and was partner with Hulman in the ownership of the 98-foot, 103-ton yacht Marmot which was berthed in Michigan City Indiana.

After “Doc” qualified for the ‘500,’ the Franklin Evening Star newspaper proclaimed on May 25 1936 that “Doc Williams is back, with a new car, nerves of brass and silver dollars, and is ready for his fourth and by far his greatest assault on the 500.”  The article continued that “after four years of worry and work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Doc has got the best combination money can buy. 'Doc' was quoted "I'm out for gold and glory, with the emphasis on the gold. The glory won't buy sandwiches."

 

The Evening Star article described his qualifying run: “Doc not only the smallest but the youngest driver on the track, and his riding mechanic, brother-in-law, Ray Short, both were so light that they bounced around on those rubber cushions like balls on a feather bed." The article noted that ‘Doc's’ father, Dr. Walter J. Williams, was at the Speedway to see his son qualify. Williams’ teammate ‘Dusty’ Fahrnow did not make the 33-car starting field with the #55 Cooper front-drive ‘Superior Trailer Special,’ but the details of 'Dusty’s' failure to qualify are unknown. 

During the race, on the 26th lap 'Doc’s' machine and Babe Stapp’s ‘Wheeler’s Special’ driven by Louis Tomei brushed together in one of the turns but both cars continued.  On lap 192, the ‘Superior Trailer Special’ Miller engine exhausted its fuel supply and the Cooper front drive machine coasted to a stop and was placed 16th. Clearly the AAA rule makers had gone too far in further reducing the fuel allotment for the 500-mile race, as six other entries ran out fuel during the last 20 laps.

As result of the late race attrition due to fuel starvation during the 1936 ‘500’, the fuel allotment rule was rescinded for 1937 and the #57 chassis for ‘Doc’ Williams was again powered by the Gauss U-16 “twin Miller” engine. The Race Car Corporation of Indianapolis was the official entrant for the second time and also entered a second Cooper chassis for mustachioed rookie driver Louis Webb which still carried a four-cylinder Miller engine. Both entries sported Superior Trailer Manufacturing sponsorship, and neither ‘Doc’ nor Webb made qualifying runs fast enough to make the 33-car starting field for the 1937 '500.'

Webb, a former Legion Ascot ‘big car’ mechanic and racer originally from Knoxville Tennessee who listed Beverly Hills as his home, had been around the Speedway since 1934 as a riding mechanic, but 1937 was his first time to drive on the big 2-1/2 mile brick oval.  

Louis Webb tried unsuccessfully to make the ‘500 field in 1939 in Walt Woestman’s McDowell powered machine and 1940 in Charles Voelker’s V-16 car  before he was killed at the Syracuse ‘Moody Mile’ on Labor Day 1940.  Webb’s Marks Offenhauser ran over the back of Cavino ‘Kelly’ Petillo’s machine and flipped end-over-end three times in front of the New York State Fair grandstand on the 18th lap of the 100-mile race.

1938 AAA engine displacement/weight sheet

For the 1938 ‘500,’ ‘Doc’ Williams’  entry, the 4-cylinder 248 cubic inch Offenhauser powered #46 ‘Ben Been Special’ was reportedly the only car on the grounds that still carried a riding mechanic, which was no longer required. The AAA “Junk Formula” rules package, in effect since 1930, had been scrapped in favor of the new international rules package which used a sliding scale of weight and engine displacement. Williams’ riding mechanic in the ‘Ben Been Special’ was again his brother-in-law Ray Short.

'Doc' Williams and Ray Short in the 'Ben Been Special'

photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

An article in the Logansport Press described the car as “a Miller type machine,” entered by first time entrant Ben Been who owned a LaSalle car dealer in the tiny Carroll County town of Burrows Indiana, although the author suspects Williams was the actual race car owner.  

The fastest laps ‘Doc’ ran all month were around 120 MPH, and he made his two unsuccessful attempts to qualify on May 25. During his third and final qualifying attempt on May 28, the ‘Ben Been Special’ spun as it exited turn two and into the infield. Williams and Short were uninjured in the incident, but they had run out of chances to make the 1938 ‘500’ starting field.  

For the 1939 ‘500,’ ‘Doc’ was again the driver of the "Miller type" front-drive machine now powered by a 270 cubic inch Offenhauser engine and sponsored by the Quillen Brothers Refrigerator Company of Indianapolis. On the final day of time trials May 28, there was drama as Billy Devore beat the clock to start his run then bumped out George Robson with a ten-mile run with an average speed just 2/10 of a mile per hour faster than Robson’s. When the final qualifying gun went off, Williams’ #36 was sitting second in line to make an attempt, so ‘Doc’ missed racing on Decoration Day for the second year in a row.    

‘Doc’ Williams’ sponsors, Carl L. and Clarence A. Quillen, started their commercial refrigerator business which sold units throughout the Midwest in September 1931 and had built their new factory building in 1936 at 1639 Lafayette Road just north of 16th Street on a lot which  backed up to the White River.  Their company slogan was "Our customers know that every Quillen product more than pays for itself."

'Doc' Williams in 1940

photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

By the 28th running of the International 500-mile Sweepstakes in 1940, the Cooper front-drive chassis had been narrowed and fitted with new bodywork that disguised its 1927 origins. ‘Doc’ qualified the red #36 ‘Quillen Brothers Special’ powered by 255-cubic Miller Marine engine into the starting field on May 26 with a four-lap average of 122.963 MPH for nineteenth starting position on the inside of the seventh row.

'Doc' Williams in 1940

photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

Williams was the only driver to qualify on the second weekend of time trials due to rain, which forced Speedway officials to stage qualifying runs on Monday and Tuesday in order to fill the 33-car field.  In a race marked with low attrition, the ‘Quillen Brothers Special’ finished 25th after the oil line broke on lap 61. For his second ‘500’ start in eight attempts ‘Doc’ earned $590.

The years following their 1940 Indianapolis ‘500’ race car sponsorship did not go well for the Quillen brothers. On January 21 1944, less than six weeks after the death of “Doc’ Williams’ original sponsor Clarence O. Warnock, Carl Quillen was killed when he lost control of his car as he drove through the north side of Indianapolis on his way home to Zionsville.  Carl’s car swerved across the centerline and struck a tree on the opposite side of the road. The car was demolished, and Quillen was thrown into the road where his lifeless body was found by Marion County Sheriff Deputies Glyndon Macy and Meritt Smith. Carl Quillen, survived by his wife and two sons is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.

Clarence Quillen's patent drawing for a refrigerated 

display case patent number 2513675

Clarence continued to run the Quillen Brothers Company which profited handsomely from selling refrigerators to the military during the Second World War, and on December 9 1945 announced plans for a 5000-square foot plant expansion. Quillen planned to install $75,000 worth of new equipment for the manufacture of two sizes of home freezer units and several sizes of Clarence’s patented design of display cases for national distribution.

Unfortunately less than three years later in April 1948 the firm filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy in Southern District Federal Court, a situation which Clarence blamed on the steel shortage which caused the 17-year-old company to “run out of cash." Quillen's petition showed that the firm had only $1 cash on hand, $51,513 in bank deposits versus $231,818 in debts. The plant and equipment of the Quillen Brothers Refrigerator Company valued at $230,000 were sold at a private sale on July 14 1948.

Our next installment will trace ‘Doc’ Miller's ongoing attempts to qualify the Cooper front drive machine at Indianapolis in 1941, 1946 and 1948 and his big shot at glory in 1947.