Cyrus Patschke- forgotten hero

Part three 

1912 - 1913 Retirement

In January 1912, his hometown Lebanon Evening Post newspaper reported that Cyrus Patschke had purchased an interest in the Ideal Automobile Company, a combination garage and Chalmers and Franklin automobile dealership located at 21 South Ninth Street. The article revealed that Cyrus would move back to his hometown from his current residence in Kingston New York.  Cyrus was named one of the company’s directors initially as the company secretary and manager, but he later was named a company vice-president. 

Cyrus did not race during the 1912 or 1913 season, as he threw his efforts into promoting his new business venture. Late in 1912, his late father’s estate was settled, and Cyrus and his wife moved into a bungalow on Hill Street in the 12^th Street Heights neighborhood that he had inherited from his father's estate.

During the winter of 1912, the Marmon ‘Wasp’ went on a brief tour of automobile shows, which began in New York, traveled to Chicago and then to Dayton Ohio’s Memorial Hall for a week before it closed it tour in Cincinnati, Ohio.  At its car show appearances, both Ray Harroun and Cyrus Patschke were listed as the “Wasp’s” drivers in the 1911 Indianapolis ‘500’ winning effort.    

1914 – out of retirement 

On May 23, 1914 came exciting news out of Lebanon – Cyrus Patschke had signed a contract to drive a second Charles Erbstein-owned Marmon entry in the 1914 Indianapolis 500-mile race as teammate to Joe Dawson, the winner of the 1912 Indianapolis ‘500.’ 

The reader will recall that Marmon had built three “long stroke” 445 cubic inch four-cylinder powered “special” road race cars, one of which Dawson drove in the first ‘500,’ with the remaining cars built later made their first appearance at the Santa Monica Road Races in 1911 driven by Patschke and Dawson.

The Marmon factory did not race the cars after the 1911 season-ending Savannah races, and by 1914 the three “long stoke” cars were in the hands of private owners.  The car that Patschke was scheduled to drive in the 1914 ‘500’ was of two “long stroke” Marmon race cars then owned by Charles Erbstein, a colorful Chicago based criminal lawyer.

However, for unknown reasons, this effort never came to fruition, as only Dawson’s Marmon appeared in the 1914 Indianapolis ’500,’ and Joe crashed on the backstretch on lap 46.  He swerved off the track to avoid running down a riding mechanic involved in an earlier accident and the Marmon rolled over. Joe sustained serious back injuries which would end his racing career.      

On May 26, 1914 Cyrus served as the referee for the automobile races held on the half-mile Lebanon Valley Fairgrounds. In an exhibition run, Louis Disbrow who broke the two-mile ‘world’s record” with a time of two minutes seventeen seconds, 1 and 3/5 seconds faster than the record time he had posted the week before in Johnstown Pennsylvania driving the Simplex Zip.

In addition to the record run, the program featured an Australian Pursuit, and the scheduled five-mile race was broken into a series of two-car match races due to “the considerable amount of dust which at times hid the racers from view of the 5,000 spectators” according to the next day’s Lebanon Daily News report. In reading the news reports, the author suspects that this was a “hippodrome” – a race for which the outcome was previously determined.

   

Curiously, the AAA scheduled two races far apart for the same day in 1914. There were two races scheduled at the 2-mile Pacific Coast Speedway in Tacoma Washington on July 3^rd and 4^th 1914 with Wilbur D'Alene scheduled to appear in Ernest Moross’ “long stroke” Marmon, while Patschke was set to drive a Erbstein “long stroke” Marmon on the two-mile dirt Sioux City (Iowa) Speedway in the 300-mile “Fourth of July Classic,” in place of the injured Joe Dawson.

On June 18, 1914, Patschke left Lebanon, bound first for Indianapolis where he spent a few days, before the Erbstein team left for Sioux City Iowa. While in Indianapolis, Cyrus tested the Marmon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and visited Dawson who was still confined to bed at the Methodist Hospital.

The Sioux City track had been built in late 1911 after its enthusiastic backers attended the first Indianapolis 500-mile race. The track set on a 400-acre property across the river from Sioux City Iowa in Stevens (now North Sioux City) South Dakota was initially built without a grandstand.  The investors later added a grandstand, designed to accommodate 10,000 spectators, and the 1914 “Fourth of July Classic” was the track’s grand opening.  

On June 28, Patschke joined Barney Oldfield, Gil Anderson (both in Stutz racers), millionaire racer Spencer Wishart in a Mercer and Harry Grant in a Sunbeam in practice at Sioux City Speedway. Cyrus set the fastest time in practice with a lap of one minute 29 seconds, but “did not do his best being handicapped with spark plug trouble,” according to The Daily Times of Davenport Iowa.

That same day, far from Sioux City in the Bosnian capital city of Sarajevo, the visiting Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated, an event which would lead to the start of World War One a month later and eventually prevent racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during 1917 and 1918, although the AAA continued to sanction races throughout the War.  One of the racers at Sioux City, Eddie RIckenbacher (the original family surname spelling) would become a national hero during World War One and later own the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

Qualifying runs were held in Sioux City on July 1 - each car entered was required to complete one two-mile lap in one minute 42 seconds, or an average speed of 70 miles per hour, to be eligible to start the 300-mile grind. Ten cars qualified that first day, led by Wishart who posted a time of one minute 27 4/5 seconds, but Cyrus was not among the qualifiers  

Patschke’s four-cylinder Marmon suffered a repeat of its 1911 American Grand Prize troubles, as a cylinder loosened from the crankcase in practice before qualifying commenced.  Car owner Erbstein told the Sioux City Journal that his yellow Marmon would be repaired and ready to try to qualify again the next day, On July 2, five more cars qualified for the starting field, led by Patschke who recorded a one minute 29 second lap. Three cars - two Stutz entries and the Moon - were too slow.   

At 11 AM on Saturday July 4, sixteen cars and drivers, arrayed in rows of three, faced starter Fred Wagner for the race’s 45 miles per hour rolling start, and Wagner displayed the red flag to start the race. This starting method was used after pioneering aviator Matt Savidge refused to take to the air and drop signal bombs as originally planned due to high winds aloft.

Front row starter Bob Burman took the early lead followed by Mulford, Wishart, Anderson, Patschke and Oldfield. Meanwhile, Rickenbacher steadily moved his Duesenberg up from his 13^th starting spot. On the fifteenth lap, the engine in Burman’s Peugeot faltered which left Wishart driving the Mercer in the lead.

Over the next 55 laps, the lead traded three times between Wishart, Tom Alley in a Duesenberg and “Billy” Knipper’s Delage. On lap 89 of the 150-lap race, Rickenbacher surged past Knipper into the lead and held on the rest of the way and won with an average over 78 miles per hour.

Confusion reigned among the scorers during the race, and several scorers thought that Patschke won the race as he passed Rickenbacher late in the race, but Wagner presided over a review of the scoring. The final finishing order listed Rickenbacher the winner, with Wishart in second place, 47 seconds behind Eddie at the finish. Patschke, in his overheating Marmon, finished third, thirteen minutes behind Wishart, with Gil Anderson fourth and Ralph Mulford in fifth place in relief of Alley, who was burned when his Duesenberg caught fire on lap 77. 

Cyrus and Lou Heineman were entered as the drivers of Erbstein’s pair of Marmon racers for the next AAA race, the Chicago Auto Club Trophy race on the Elgin Illinois road course scheduled for August 21, 1914, with Charles Luttrell the designated relief driver for both cars.   However, at the end of July, it was announced that Cyrus Patschke had retired from racing at the request of his wife, Millie.  Charles Erbstein then sold the car designated for Patschke to W H Harris who nominated Mel Stringer to drive the Marmon at Elgin. 

Life after racing

In June 1915, Cyrus resigned from the Ideal Automobile Company and began construction of his own garage at 1105 Cumberland Street in his hometown. Patschke’s Garage opened in October 1915 and enlarged it in 1918. 

In March 1919 the garage grew again as Cyrus bought a 150-ton Firestone solid tire press to service truck tires and in December 1919 he and partner John Knull added parts sales to the garage business.   In an interesting twist, in 1923, Cyrus became a dealer for Oldfield Tires manufactured by Firestone and promoted by his old racing rival Barney Oldfield.  

1918 and 1919 were years of heavy personal burdens for Patschke, as in February 1918 his brother-in-law Eli Attwood passed away suddenly at age 62, then a year later 1919, Cyrus and Millie’s infant son, Cyrus Junior passed away at less than four months old in Philadelphia’s Children’s Hospital, and two months later Cyrus’ mother, Sallie, passed away in Philadelphia at age 63   

In February 1920, Cyrus and Millie welcomed a son Fredrick (named after his great-grandfather) and then in January 1922 they added a daughter, Joan, to their family.  Fred studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Cincinnati then enlisted and served two years in the US Army in World War 2, then after the war returned to the University of Cincinnati and received his degree. Joan, a talented dancer, toured the country with the Littlefield Ballet troupe before she married in 1946 and started a family in Lebanon. 

    

Cyrus became a community leader and booster in his hometown and for a time served as president of the Lebanon Automobile Trade Association, but in 1937 he tired of running his own business and sold out to Reading-based E S Youse Company Inc.  The Youse firm sold auto parts and machine shop equipment on a wholesale rather than a retail level. 

Cyrus continued to manage the Youse Lebanon store until his death.  On Sunday afternoon May 6, 1951 Cyrus Patschke died of a heart attack at age 63 at his home. Cyrus reportedly had suffered heart trouble for several years but had worked a full day at the shop the day before.

Although forgotten by modern racing fans, Cyrus Patschke was a remarkable man whose racing career covered just four partial seasons over a period of six years and he took part in less than a dozen major races, of which he won three and scored four top five finishes.  

Most significant is that all of Cyrus’ accomplishments, including winning the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile race, occurred before he turned 25 years old. Cyrus who was inducted into the Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports hall of Fame in 1974, competed in and excelled in a wide variety of racing venues in the pioneering era- road races, long-distance races, track races and hill climbs.      

Cyrus Patschke- the forgotten hero 

part two 

1911- the year of glory

In April 1911, Cyrus in his role as a “racing expert” appeared with a Stearns owned by his employer, Guy Vaughn, as part of a demonstration run by a Commer commercial truck. The truck, loaded with four and half tons of furniture, traveled 109 ¾ miles from New York to Philadelphia at an average speed of 15 ¾ miles per hour. 

On April 15, 1911, Cyrus surprised even his closest friends when he married a Lebanon girl, Amelia “Millie” Rickes in Philadelphia, and the pair settled in Kingston New York. The bride was described in the Lebanon Daily News as the “prettiest of the clerical force at the Bon Ton department store,” while Cyrus was identified as a “daring motor racer.”

On May 7, 1911 W D “Eddie” Edenburn wrote a lengthy article in the Indianapolis Star newspaper that previewed the upcoming inaugural 500-mile International Sweepstakes to be held on the 2-1/2-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One section of the article attempted to answer the question of who would drive the two Benz cars recently entered by promoter Ernest Moross. 

Moross promoted former bicycle and motorcycle racer Berna Eli “Barney” Oldfield’s early barnstorming appearances, beginning in 1904, and later worked as the press agent and the contest director during the 1909 and 1910 seasons at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Moross bought Oldfield’s racing equipment after Barney was suspended by the AAA for his unsanctioned October 1910 match race against boxer Jack Johnson.

Following his defeat of James Jeffries on July 4, 1910, other boxers refused to face John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, so Johnson, an automobile fan, planned to race his cars. However, there was one huge obstacle to Jack’s plan – at the time, the AAA banned negro race car drivers from competition.  Johnson sent in an application using his birth name, and the AAA initially issued Johnson a racing license. When the AAA officials realized their error, they rescinded Johnson’s license and refunded his $1.00 license fee.

Barney Oldfield was a friend and business partner of Jeffries, and he made the startling claim that Jeffries had been “doped” prior to his losing match with Jack Johnson. Oldfield challenged Johnson to a three-heat $5000 match race at the Sheepshead Bay race track to avenge his friend’s boxing loss. 

On October 25, 1910, Oldfield, already under AAA suspension for taking part in an unsanctioned race in Readville Massachusetts, drove a 60-horsepower Knox against Johnson in 70-horsepower Thomas, and easily won the first two 5-mile heats. When news of the match race broke, the AAA Contest Board suspended Oldfield for a period of two years and Oldfield sold his racing cars to his old manager Moross.

  

In his article, Edenburn suggested Patschke as a leading candidate to drive one of Moross’ cars, which included two four-cylinder Benz, one whose engine displaced 444 cubic inches and the other equipped with a 520-cubic inch engine.  “Eddie” wrote of Patschke’s racing accomplishments in glowing terms. “Eddie” made one error however, as he estimated Cyrus to be “about 25 years old” when in fact Patschke was just 21 years old.  Edenburn’s supposition was faulty, as in the 1911 ‘500,’ “Willie” Knipper drove the smaller Moross Benz while Bob Burman handled the 520-cubic inch entry.

Unbeknownst to Edenburn, Patschke had written a letter to the Marmon Motor Car Company President, Howard Marmon, to inquire about a position on the Marmon team, according to the book The Marmon Heritage written by George and Stacey Hanley.  According to the Hanley’s book, after he received Cyrus’ letter, Howard Marmon discussed hiring Patschke with Marmon engineer and retired race driver Ray Harroun.

Harroun was familiar with Cyrus’ accomplishments, particularly in long-distance racing, and agreed with Marmon that they should hire Patschke as the relief driver for the ‘500.’  The plan was to use Cyrus as a relief driver for both the Marmon entries:  the ‘Wasp’ which carried race #32 and the #31, conventional Marmon entry powered by a 495-cubic inch 4-cylinder engine to be driven by Joe Dawson with riding mechanic Bruce Keen.

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ was entered by Indianapolis-based Marmon, a division of Nordyke & Marmon, with Ray Harroun, a Marmon engineer at the wheel. Harroun, "the King of the Speedways," was the defending 1910 AAA (American Automobile Association) National Champion behind the wheel of the ‘Wasp.’ Harroun had won seven previous races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but had retired from race driving after the 1910 season but had been coaxed out of retirement to drive the ‘Wasp’ in the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ was lighter than its contemporaries, estimated to weigh 2,800 pounds, compared to the minimum weight of 2,100 pounds, and was narrow and streamlined compared to other entries, as it carried only the driver, the only car in the race to not utilize a riding mechanic. The ‘Wasp’ was powered a six-cylinder 477-cubic inch engine, not the smallest nor the largest engine displacement in the field.

During practice runs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Harroun and Patschke discovered that the ‘Wasp’ was not the fastest car entered - that honor went to the Fiat of David Bruce-Brown which was powered by a massive 589-cubic inch 4-cylinder engine. The pair of Marmon drivers settled on a planned race pace that they felt would lead to victory.   

The Fiat started 25^th while Harroun started 28^th in the same five-car row, as the starting lineup was set by the order in which the entries were received. By lap 62 the ‘Wasp’ was in second place behind the Fiat but fell back after a pit stop. When Harroun stopped on lap 70 he was in fifth place behind David Bruce-Brown. As he handed off the ‘Wasp’ driving duties to Patschke, Harroun abandoned the earlier plan to run at a set pace and shouted instructions for Cyrus to run down the Fiat. 

Patschke had the ‘Wasp’ close to the lead when he pulled back into the pits on lap 102.  Harroun climbed back into the cockpit and soon pushed the ‘Wasp’ in the race lead for the first time as the Fiat suffered a tire failure.  From that point forward, the race lead traded back and forth between Harroun and Ralph Mulford in the Lozier, and Harroun took the lead for good on lap 182 and won by one minute and 43 seconds over Mulford. 

Cyrus shown at the wheel of the second 1911 Marmon entry. 

Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection 

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ won the first ‘500,’ while the second Marmon entry, in which Patschke relieved Dawson, finished fifth, thirteen and half minutes behind the winner. Unfortunately, the records of when and for how long Cyrus relieved Dawson are unclear.   

As one would expect, Cyrus Patschke was the toast of his hometown of Lebanon Pennsylvania, as the hometown newspaper, the Lebanon Daily News quoted the Indianapolis News story “Patschke’s eighty-mile spin was one of the best exhibitions of fast driving ever seen on the speedway and when he stopped at the pit the car had gained several laps and was well up in the bunch of winners.”  Reportedly, Patschke ran faster laps than Harroun in his effort to chase down the Fiat as directed.

On June 1, the Lebanon Semi-Weekly News revealed that “Patschke will go back to Kingston later this week and will stop off here (in Lebanon) for his wife who spent a week here with his mother. A royal welcome awaits him from a host of admiring friends.”  On Friday, June 2, a note in the Daily News stated that “Patschke left for Kingston New York where he will resume his duties,” presumably with his employer Wyckoff, Church and Partridge the New York automobile dealership.

Despite the contemporary legend, put forward by Charles Leerhsen in his book Blood and Smoke, that the finish of the first '500' was mired in controversy, the inaugural Indianapolis ‘500’ second place finisher Ralph Mulford stated in a June 4 1911 wire story, datelined Detroit, that he was "more than satisfied with the outcome of the race” and stated that he “gives full credit to Ray Harroun and Cyrus Patschke for their great victory."

Mulford noted to the writer of the article that his actual running time for the 500 miles in the Lozier was fourteen minutes less than the Marmon's, but that due to the weight of his Lozier (reported as 3,240 pounds) he suffered repeated tire failures and the Lozier was forced to stop eleven times to the ‘Wasp’s’ four stops.

Later in 1911

During the month of June 1911, Cyrus was mentioned several times in news articles as a potential entrant in the Brighton Beach Motordrome event scheduled for July 3 and 4 promoted by Ernest Moross. Rather than a 24-hour race, there were eight short races scheduled each day with three featured events – a 60-mile race for cars meeting Indianapolis rules (less than 600 cubic inches of engine displacement that weighed more than 2100 pounds) on each day, and three three-lap “free for all” heat races to determine the winner of the Remy Brassard on July 4^th.

Expected entries of Indianapolis rules cars entered at Brighton Beach included National, Knox, Lozier and the Jenatzy 90-horsepower Mercedes formerly owned by Belgian racer Camille Jenatzy for which Cyrus was mentioned as a potential driver.  The program advertised daily exhibition runs by Bob Burman in the 1300-cubic inch four-cylinder powered 200-horsepower ‘Blitzen Benz’ which was owned by Moross, but it’s engine was so large as to be ineligible for any of the scheduled races except the July 4^th free-for-all.

Cyrus also drove the “Prince Henry” Benz at Brighton Beach - a 1910 Benz Grand Prix car so named for its success in the famed German long-distance tour. The Benz featured a cardan (prop shaft) drive system, an aerodynamic body with a tapered rear tail, and was powered by six-cylinder engine with 445 cubic inches displacement.

In the third event on July 3rd, a five-mile (five lap) race for cars with engines not larger than 450 cubic inches, Patschke topped a pair of Nationals driven by Fay Sheets and Billy Knipper. Cyrus and the Benz also took part in the next race, a five-mile race for cars of up to 600-cubic inch displacement. That race was won by Ralph DePalma in a Simplex while Patschke did not finish in the top three of the seven cars entered. 

On July 4^th, Cyrus again drove the “Prince Henry” Benz and won the five-mile, seven cars, 450-cubic inch maximum displacement race over Sheets in the National. Next up was a ten-mile race run under Indianapolis rules which was won by DePalma’s Simplex with Cyrus third in the Benz.  In the three later free-for-all races run for the Remy Brassard trophy, Patschke drove the Jenatzy Mercedes and placed third in each of the three three-lap heats, all of which were won by Bob Burman in the ‘Blitzen Benz. ‘

The next documented race for Patschke came at the Dick Ferris Trophy “Free-for-All” race held on the 8 ½ - mile beach side Santa Monica Road Course on October 14, 1911. Cyrus drove in the race sponsored by race manager Dick Ferris as a teammate to Bob Burman and Joe Nikrent for the three-car Marmon factory team headed by crew chief Ray Harroun.

This was third year of racing on the temporary Santa Monica street course, with four races held the same day for different classes of cars.  Marmon had not entered any AAA races since the ‘500’ but had built two more “long stroke” 445-cubic inch four-cylinder powered road race cars, copies of the car that Joe Dawson drove in the first ‘500.’

Cyrus started 11^th in the 12-car field, but he led the first lap before he was passed by local driver Harvey Herrick in a 427-cubic inch four-cylinder National “40” (which indicated horsepower)  Patschke and Herrick exchanged the lead three times until Cyrus established a lead on lap 9 which he held until lap 21 of the 24-lap race, when the Marmon’s engine started mis-firing.

Herrick passed Patschke, led the final three laps and crossed the finish line at a new world’s record speed of 74.6 miles per hour. The National finished two and half minutes ahead of Patschke’s Marmon with Dawson third in other Marmon, two minutes behind Cyrus. Nikrent in the third Marmon was the last car to finish, in eighth place, one lap behind the winner.

The final two events for the 1911 AAA racing season were held at the end of the month of November at the 17.1-mile road course in Savannah Georgia. The 290-mile William Vanderbilt Cup was scheduled for November 27 and then the 410-mile American Grand Prize race was scheduled to be held three days later. Dawson, Nikrent and Patschke were the core members of the Marmon team joined by Bob Burman. It is unclear what the specifications were for the fourth Marmon entry assigned to Burman, as it is assumed by the writer that Patschke, Nikrent and Dawson drove the “long stroke’ Marmon racers 

Both Dawson and Nikrent crashed their Marmons during practice runs and did not start the Vanderbilt Cup race on November 27. Burman started second and retired after seven laps with a sheared magneto, while Patschke started 12^th and his Marmon retired after eight circuits with a broken water pump.   Ralph Mulford in the stock specification (less fenders) 51-horsepower Lozier won the Vanderbilt Cup by two minutes over Ralph DePalma in a Mercedes at an average speed of 74.07 miles per hour.  

The final race of the 1911 season, the American Grand Prize, was held on Thanksgiving Day co-sanctioned by the Automobile Club of America (ACA) and the AAA.  Burman’s Marmon was not repaired in time, so he took over the repaired #46 Marmon originally assigned to Dawson while Nikrent’s damaged car could not start the race.

Both Marmon entries went out early - Burman with another sheared magneto on lap four, and Patschke led a lap but soon fell back as a cylinder loosened from the crankcase and the car slowed. Patschke was eliminated for good when he and riding mechanic Richard Whistler went off course in the #51 Marmon during their ninth lap.     

Our final installment will look at Cyrus' later career and his life after auto racing.   

Cyrus Patschke - the forgotten hero

part one

Most open-wheel racing fans know that Ray Harroun won the first International 500 Mile Sweepstakes held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1911, but the important contribution of relief driver Cyrus Patschke to Harroun’s victory is often overlooked.

As you will read in this multi-part article, Cyrus Patschke’s career encompassed much more than that relief appearance as he had a short but distinguished career in the pioneering years of automobile racing in the United States. Cyrus Richard Patschke was born on July 6, 1889 in the steel mill town of Lebanon in southeastern Pennsylvania, the only son and youngest of five children of Sallie and Augustus, a second-generation rope manufacturer. Cyrus was recognized in grammar school as an outstanding student, but his formal schooling ended early, which was typical in the first part of the twentieth century.     

Beginning in 1904, while he lived with his parents in the family home at 234 South Eighth Street, Cyrus worked as the mechanic and chauffer for his brother-in-law, Eli Attwood, who owned the Lebanon Chain Works & Iron Company. Several years later Eli bought a new Acme passenger car, built by the Acme Auto Manufacturing Company in nearby Reading Pennsylvania. Cyrus’ driving abilities came to the attention of the new owner of the Acme factory, Herbert Sternbergh who had bought the company out of receivership in February 1907.

Cyrus’ racing career begins - 1908

Cyrus Patschke’s first automobile race took place on May 30, 1908 at the Giants Despair Mountain Hill Climb in Laurel Run, near Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania.  The one-mile hill climb, with a 650-foot rise in elevation, with grades up to 20%, included six turns, including the 110-degree “Devil’s Elbow” was first held in 1906 and continued through 1910.  

Early Giants Despair Hill Climb overall winners included future Indianapolis ‘500’ competitors William “Willie” Haupt in 1908 and David Bruce-Brown in 1909 as well as 1915 ‘500’ winner Ralph DePalma who won in 1910 as he drove a massive 200-horsepower Fiat.

Notable winners after the 1951 event revival included Carrol Shelby who broke the magic one-minute mark in a Ferrari in 1956, Roger Penske in 1959 in a Porsche RSK, and Oscar Kovelski who won five times in a McLarenM8B Can-Am car including three years in a row.   After another inactive period in the early nineteen eighties, the event resumed in 1986 has continued to be run annually on Memorial Day.

While Willie Haupt won the featured event in 1909 with a time of one minute and 38 3/5 seconds in a Great Chadwick six-cylinder 707-cubic inch touring car rated at 60 horsepower.  Cyrus Patschke drove an Acme Type 19 four-cylinder car with an engine rated at 24 horsepower and won his class by one minute 15 seconds.

Following his maiden race win, Patschke and the Acme Type 19 went to Jamaica Long Island for the June 5^th, 1908 speed trials held on Hillside Avenue in conjunction with the railway station opening ceremonies. The event, managed by the Long Island Automobile Club, used a 3-mile stretch of road connected by two gentle curves. 

Patschke won his class for gasoline cars priced from $1,251 to $2,000 at all three timed distances – he covered the kilometer in 38 3/5 seconds, the one-mile distance in one minute and 3-3/5 seconds and the two-mile timed section in two minutes and seven seconds.  His hometown paper understandably trumpeted the young man’s accomplishments - his first two races had resulted in two wins!

On September 11, 1908, the youthful Cyrus made his first track racing appearance as one of the team drivers of the six-cylinder Acme entered in the Brighton Beach 24-hour race. These long-distance races, which drew huge crowds, were promoted by the Motor Racing Association, which leased the former Brooklyn thoroughbred horse racing mile track after the New York State Legislature banned pari-mutuel betting on horse races.

Eleven cars started the twice-around-the-clock grind at 8 PM on Friday night the 11^th, with the Acme driven for the first 18 hours by Louis Strang, before he handed off the driving duties to Patschke for three hours. During Cyrus’ stint, the Acme suffered a broken water pump, but repairs were made, and it completed the 24-hour grind. 

“Smiling” Ralph Mulford in a 60-horsepower six-cylinder Lozier won as he covered 1,107 miles in 24 hours, 15 miles ahead of a 45-horsepower four-cylinder Lozier. Due to delays caused by the mechanical failures, the Acme finished eighth with 976 miles completed.  

Patschke’s next race on October 10, 1908 was the 200-mile road course event on the eight-mile course laid out inside Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The event promoted by the Quaker City Motor Club was part of the City’s Founder’s Week celebration. George Robertson won the historic race in a Locomobile with a time of 4 hours 2 minutes 30 seconds, while Cyrus crossed the line in second place in the Acme with a time of four hours fourteen minutes and 54 seconds. Ralph Mulford finished third in a Lozier in a race that was marked by a high degree of attrition, as only eight of the sixteen starters finished the race. After the Fairmount race, advertising copy called the Acme “the car that continues to make good.”

Two weeks later, at the fourth running of the George Vanderbilt Cup, Patschke drove a 90-horsepower Acme ‘Sextuplet’ on the new course, which used a section of the new concrete paved Long Island Motor Parkway. Unfortunately, the Acme broke a camshaft gear in its engine during the third lap, while George Robertson won his second consecutive major race in the Locomobile.   

Cyrus Patschke was initially entered as the driver of an Acme for the Thanksgiving Day 400-mile “Grand Prize of the Automobile Club of America (ACA)” race scheduled over a 25-mile course comprised of public roads Savannah, Georgia. However, just two weeks before the event Cyrus was replaced as the Acme driver by Leonard Zengle.

Reports were that Acme company officials felt that Patschke at age nineteen was “at present a bit too young for such responsibility.” Louis Wagner averaged over 65 miles per hour (MPH) to win the Grand Prize in a Fiat, while the 21-year old Zengle retired the Acme on the seventh of sixteen laps with a broken spring.

1909

The author believes that during the early months of 1909, Cyrus Patschke helped prepare the Acme entry for the Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest and likely performed a support role during the event.  

The event, that covered 3878 miles was sponsored by M. Robert Guggenheim (of the famous wealthy family) and sanctioned by the ACA (Automobile Club of America) required the competitors to travel from New York City to Seattle Washington to demonstrate the durability of the automobile and focus the public’s attention on the need for a transcontinental highway.

Acme entered a six-cylinder 48-horsepower roadster fitted with Firestone tires and carried George Salzman the driver and alternate driver Fay Sheets.  Six cars left the starting line in New York City at 4:03 PM on June 1 and the first car, a Ford Model T runabout, arrived in Seattle on June 23^rd 23 days and 55 minutes after leaving New York.  The little Ford finished 17 hours ahead of the second place 40 horsepower Shawmut Runabout. 


The Acme entry finally reached Seattle on the afternoon of June 28^th as the third and final finisher.  

After more than four months of protests and counter protests, the Ford was disqualified for the use of a substitute engine enroute and the Shawmut declared the winner of the gold and silver M. Robert Guggenheim Transcontinental Trophy and the $2,000 cash prize. This reversal came too late as the Shawmut Motor Company factory near Boston had been destroyed in a fire in November 1908 and Ford had already garnered the publicity for the victory, and without financing to rebuild, Shawmut ceased to exist.  

Cyrus got his first taste of 1909 racing competition at Brighton Beach in another 24-hour race that started on July 30. The 60-horsepower Acme driven by Cyrus Patschke and his co-driver H A Van Tine, a New Yorker who had been racing since 1905, fell behind early with mechanical issues early during the 3^rd and 4^th hours, and was never a factor-  between the tenth and 17th hours, the Acme completed just twelve miles and it was retired before the 21^st hour with just 385 miles completed.

Patschke’s next long-distance race at Brighton Beach began at 10 PM on Friday night August 27, 1909 and he nearly met with disaster. Ninety minutes into the race, the rear wheel collapsed on the Stearns as it raced down the main stretch in front of the clubhouse grandstand. The Stearns tumbled out of control towards the infield and struck the front of Patschke’s Acme, which was exiting the pits.  

The Stearns rolled over several more times with both Laurent Grosse, 27, a local driver who had been racing since 1903 and his riding mechanic Leonard Cole crushed beneath the car.  Cole was pronounced dead at the scene while Grosse suffered a broken back and internal injuries. Grosse was taken to the nearby Coney Island Reception Hospital then later transferred to Kings County Hospital where he died two days later never having regained consciousness.  

  

The impact from the Stearns bent the Acme’s front axle and broke a spring perch but the damaged Acme was repaired and Patschke rejoined the race. Cyrus, with his co-driver VanTine and riding mechanic Arthur Maynard, finished the race in third place with 883 miles completed. 

Charles Basle won in a Renault with 1,050 miles completed, but Patschke won the $200 prize for completing the most miles in one hour as he covered 55 miles in the race’s first hour. During the last hour of the race, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper reported that Patschke made a pit stop and the Acme crew changed all four tires and filled the car with fuel in a reported one minute and 22 seconds.

Several days after the race, Patschke was one of a group of drivers and riding mechanics called to testify at a coroner’s inquest. After hearing conflicting testimony regarding the track conditions (Patschke did not have any complaints), Brooklyn Coroner Henry J Brewer ruled that Laurent Grosse and Leonard Cole were “killed by their own carelessness.” 

Likely due to the negative press publicity that followed the double fatality, Cordner and Flinn, the New York sales agents of the Acme automobile run by A B Cordner and his partner Welton Flinn, decided to temporarily withdraw from racing.

Patschke and the Acme had already been entered for the September 6, 1909 Vesper Club Trophy for cars with 301- to 450-cubic inch piston displacement at the 10.6-mile Merrimack Valley Course in Lowell Massachusetts but the Acme did not arrive at the race site. 

On September 17, 1909, Patschke signed to drive for the Lozier Motor Company factory team, which at the time was based in Plattsburgh New York. Patschke co-drove with Ralph Mulford at the Brighton Beach 24-hour race run on October 15-16, 1909.  Cyrus drove the stock chassis Lozier for three hours which completed a new record total of 1,196 miles in 24 hours, and the team won $1000 along with the Sewall and Alden Trophy awarded for the most miles completed at the Brighton Beach Motordrome.  Once again, Patschke scored a $200 bonus for completing the most miles in one hour, as the Lozier covered 51-1/2 miles in the last hour of the race.  

1910

During the winter of 1909-1910 Cyrus Patschke worked for his brother-in-law’s company, the Lebanon Chain Works & Iron Company, as a traveling salesman. The New York Times reported on May 1,1910, that in preparation for the season opening long-distance race at the Brighton Beach Motordrome, the promoters added a “top dressing” to the track surface – a mixture of clay and cement and had also increased the banking in the corners. Patschke and Mulford were confirmed as teammates to drive the Stearns #1 entry.

Twelve cars started the race on May 13^th which was sanctioned by AAA for the first time under sanction number 143. The race was marred by another fatality, as early on the morning of the 14^th, the Marion, driven by Gil Anderson, crashed through the wooden fence after it hooked a rut.

The car, known as the Model 33 Bobcat, which weighed 1,870 pounds with a 255-cubic inch engine, had been built in Indianapolis from a design penned by Marion Motor Car chief engineer Harry Stutz before he left and founded his eponymous company.  During the accident, the Marion’s riding mechanic, William Bradley, a resident of Newark New Jersey was stuck in the head by a wooden fence post. Freed from beneath the wreckage by rescuers, Bradley was transported to the Coney Island Reception Hospital where he died shortly after arrival.

The Simplex, driven by the team of Al Poole and Charles Basle, took the race lead in the twelfth hour and won with 1,145 miles completed, while the Stearns, driven by Patschke and Mulford finished second with 1,120 miles completed in 24 hours. Ralph DePalma finished third in a Fiat that covered thirteen miles less than the Stearns. The winning Simplex had been on pace to break the record of 1,196 miles but speeds slowed as rain fell in the latter stages of the event. Ten cars, including the repaired Marion, finished the race  

The records for the 1910 season are spotty, but it appears Patschke drove the 60-horsepower four-cylinder Stearns in “free-for all” race at Brighton Beach in July and again in mid-August. “Free-for-all” meant that the cars could be modified from stock.  

In the August 19-20 race, Cyrus, teamed with Al Poole, but the car they drove was not a Stearns factory entry, rather it was owned by John Rutherford of New York City who reportedly had loaned Patschke the car just 24 hours before the race.  Cyrus completed the first lap of the event in 1 minute and fourteen seconds from the standing start, and then set a new track record as he completed 57 miles in the race’s first hour.

During the second hour, the 60-horsewpoer six-cylinder Matheson driven by Basle, took the lead but crashed, and while the Matheson was in for repairs, the Stearns regained the lead which it never relinquished, and Patschke and Poole set a record of 1,253 miles completed to the Matheson’s 1,175 miles. Only four of the nine cars finished the event.  

1910 proved to be a trying year for Cyrus personally, as on September 6, Cyrus was driving a Stearns demonstrator car near Sandy Hook Connecticut when he encountered two men along the road whom Cyrus claimed shouted and stood in the path of the car.  Patschke assumed they were hold-up men, and though he attempted to swerve around them he struck one of the men, Michael Hourigan. Cyrus drove onto Waterbury Connecticut where he reported the incident to the police.  

Days later, Cyrus, 21 years old, and identified in press reports as a resident of Kingston New York, was arrested and charged with the responsibility for Hourigan’s death. Coroner Clifford Wilson heard testimony from both Patschke and the third man in the incident, Thomas Shehan, who claimed the pair were on their way home from a local pub and tried to flag a ride.  

On September 10, Coroner Wilson issued his determination that Patschke was not at fault for Hourigan’s death with a broken neck. “Patschke, an expert driver, was not driving recklessly, but was using due caution and had his car under control.”    The Coroner’s ruling was accepted by the Grand Jury and the matter was closed.   

On October 23, Cyrus’ father Augustus, who had retired from the rope business, died suddenly at his home in Lebanon from “acute indigestion “at age 60.

Our next chapter will examine Cyrus' key role in winning the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.