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 When the AAA officials realized their error, they rescinded Johnson’s license and refunded his $1.00 license fee.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.