The Pete Kreis story
Part three 1927 & 1928
The Cooper years
Earl Cooper, the three-time American Automobile Association
(AAA) national champion in 1913, 1915, and 1917, had a remarkable driving
career both before and after World War One. Before the war, as a member of the
powerful Stutz Racing Team, Cooper notched sixteen victories mostly on dirt
tracks and early road courses before he retired in 1919.
Cooper, a close friend of Barney Oldfield since their early
years, raced just once in the 1921 and 1922 season before he returned to
full-time driving in 1923 at age 37. Earl proved to be an adept board track
racer during the Miller 122-cubic inch era with a string of top five finishes
and Cooper finished second in the AAA drivers’ standings in 1924 and fifth in
1925.
During the 1926 AAA season, Cooper drove the Miller
supercharged 91-cubic inch front wheel drive chassis number #2605 and eventually
bought the car. Over the winter of
1926-7, funded by Buick Motor Company, Earl Cooper built three cars which were
essentially Miller copies, with the full approval and assistance of Harry A.
Miller.
The new Cooper cars were each equipped by supercharged 91
cubic-inch eight-cylinder Miller copies which reversed the intake and exhaust
manifold locations and breathed through four Miller “Dual Throat Updraft’
carburetors that produced 167 horsepower and powered the front wheels.
The front drive assembly marked the major difference between
a Miller and Cooper. Instead of the Miller jewel-like front drive, designed and
engineered by Leo Gosssen, Cooper’s cars used patented Ruckstell planetary
gearsets with two-speed Ruckstell axles to achieve four forward speeds.
Ruckstell components were designed and manufactured by
retired pioneer racer Glover Ruckstell, born in San Francisco in 1891 and
raised across the Bay in Oakland. After just two years of high school,
Ruckstell dropped out of school and by age 20 became a partner in an automobile
repair garage in Maricopa California.
Ruckstell began automobile racing around Bakersfield in 1913
and by the following year became a member of the successful Mercer racing team
and recorded two top finishes at Tacoma in July 1914. In 1915, after strong
early finishes in races San Diego and Venice, the mighty Mercer team entered Glover
for the Indianapolis 500-mile race along with drivers Eddie Pullen and Joe
Nikrent.
The new Mercer cars arrived in Indianapolis late and only
Ruckstell qualified his #20 Mercer for the 1915 Indianapolis ‘500’ starting
field. The team withdrew the car after qualifications, as Mercer Chief Engineer
Eric H. Deiling cited the lack of time to prepare for the race.
Later in July 1915, Ruckstell won the 250-mile Montamarathon
Trophy Race on the two-mile board track in Tacoma Washington with his Mercer
teammate Pullen third. Glover then finished fourth behind winner Pullen the
following day in the 200-mile Golden Potlach Trophy Race on the same track.
After a fourth-place finish in the 1916 150-mile Championship
Award Sweepstakes at the original one-mile Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles,
Glover Ruckstell retired from race driving. In addition to his work with the
Ruckstell Sales & Manufacturing Company, Glover became heavily involved in the
aviation engine industry before during and after World War One.
As Cooper built his three new front-drive machines, he
appeared in advertising for Buick passenger cars as one of the “nine
internationally famous AAA speedway racing stars that demonstrated their
approval of the new Buick,” along with Peter DePaolo, Fred Comer, Bennett Hill,
Frank Lockhart, Frank Elliott, Dave Lewis, Cliff Woodbury and Bob McDonogh.
According to the advertising copy, these drivers “singled it out above all
other cars for their personal use and for their families.”
Cooper built homely-looking grilles for his entries that
mimicked the 1927 Buick passenger cars, but at the last minute, Buick withdrew
its support of Earl Cooper’s program, so the official International 500-mile at
Indianapolis entry list released on May 4 1927 contained three new front-drive cars
entered by the Cooper Engineering Company. Cooper listed the three drivers as
himself, Albert Jacob “Pete” Kreis, and Bob McDonogh, with the Miller entered
by Earl Cooper personally with the driver to be named later.
Cooper’s entries represented four of the eleven front-drive
machines entered at Indianapolis in 1927, which included the former Peter Kreis
front-drive Miller known as the ‘Detroit Special’ equipped with the two-stage
supercharged straight-eight Miller engine for driver Cliff Durant.
McDonogh had the privilege of taking the first lap in one of
the new Copper front-drive creations on Tuesday May 17, followed later that day
by Peter Kreis and newly-named Cooper teammate Bennett Hill who replaced
Cooper. Earl later named Memphis Tennessee’s Julian “Jules” Ellingboe to drive
the fourth Cooper entry, the #18 Miller front drive.
Twenty-one cars qualified for the 1927 Indianapolis 500
starting field on Thursday May 26, with the existing track record broken four
times, with defending winner Frank Lockhart with the pole position and new track
record at over 120.1 miles per hour (MPH) for his ten-mile run.
Pete Kreis found that the Copper handled better than his
previous Miller front-drive but the cars were not particularly fast. All four of Cooper’s cars qualified for the
1927 ‘500,’ led by McDonogh in the #14 Cooper at 113.175 MPH for the seventh
position, the inside of the third row. Bennett Hill anchored the outside of the
third row in the #4 Cooper front drive with his 112.013 MPH average for four
laps. Peter Kreis qualified the third
new Cooper machine at 109.90 MPH, fast enough for the outside of the fourth
row.
After rain postponed time trials on Friday May 27 Ellingboe
qualified the yellow and black Miller chassis on Saturday morning May 28 at
113.239 MPH. Originally slotted into 22nd position, Jules move up to
the outside of the seventh row after first day qualifier 1924 ‘500’ co-winner
L.L. Corum withdrew his Duesenberg which qualified at just 94 MPH.
Race Day 1927 at
Indianapolis proved to be a disappointment for Earl Cooper and his Cooper
Engineering team, as of his four entries, only McDonogh finished the race in
sixth place, 24 minutes behind rookie winner George Souders. Ellingboe crashed
the yellow and black Miller chassis into the north short chute wall on his 26th
laps. After it hit the wall, the car rolled over and Jules suffered a crushed
chest and internal injuries.
Ellingboe, confined to Methodist Hospital until mid-July,
retired from racing and died from pneumonia in Oregon in 1948. Cooper sold the
badly wrecked Miller front-drive machine to Phil “Red” Shafer who rebuilt it
and entered it in the 1928 ‘500’ for Elbert “Babe” Stapp and finished in fifth
place. In 1929, Shafer sold the car to the French auto manufacturer Derby and
as the “Derby-Miller” it subsequently set many closed course land speed records
driven by Gwenda Stewart.
Almost simultaneous with Ellingboe’s accident on the 1927
race’s 26th lap, Bennett Hill brought his #4 Cooper to the pits with
a broken rear spring shackle mount and retired credited with a 28th
place finish. Peter Kreis made it to lap
101 before he pitted and Harry Hartz took over. Peter later received treatment
at the Speedway infield hospital from Dr. Horace “Frank” Allen for burns on his
leg. Hartz drove the #9 Cooper entry for
22 laps until it retired with a broken front axle, placed 17th and
earned $470 in prize money.
The original nominated driver (and funder of the program) Cliff
Durant, did not drive Kreis’ former car, the ‘Detroit Special’ in 1927, as he
took ill, and rather than pick a new driver, Milton unretired and drove the car
himself. The 1921 National Champion and
1921 and 1923 “500’ champion’s previous race appearance came in February 1926
at the Fulford board track. In his first qualifying attempt for the 1927 ‘500’
on May 26th, the “Detroit Special” burnt a piston and failed to
complete the ten-mile dash.
Milton qualified on May 28th at 108.78 MPH to
start 25th, his worse starting position since his rookie year in
1919. Milton’s final ‘500’ driver
appearance proved unremarkable as the ‘Detroit Special’ began to lose power
around the 200-mile mark and Milton pitted and handed the car over to his partner
Cornelius Van Ranst.
In his third ‘500’ appearance and second as a relief driver,
Van Ranst completed 24 laps, and diagnosed the problem as a fuel system leak at
speed. Van Ranst pitted and after five minutes of hurried repairs, turned the
car over to Ralph Hepburn. The former motorcycle champion drove the “Detroit
Special” over the final 93 laps but pitted several items to repair more fuel
system leaks and finished eighth, crossing the finish line 45 minutes after
winner George Souders.
Ten days after the 1927 ‘500,’ Kreis and the #9 Cooper front
drive appeared in Tyrone, Pennsylvania on the Altoona Speedway 1-1/4 mile board
track along with his teammates Bob McDonogh and Bennett Hill. The entry list at Altoona included 45 cars -
22 championship cars and 23 semi-stock cars that were set for the preliminary
50-mile race.
McDonogh’s entry burned a piston in practice and did not
start the 160-lap 200-mile race. Leon Duray won the pole position with a lap of
136.3 MPH, while Kreis qualified ninth and Hill fourteenth. Peter completed just 22 laps before the
Miller engine in his machine burnt a piston. On the race’s 47th lap,
the machines of Frank Elliott and Ralph Hepburn tangled as they lapped Earl
Devore and all three cars were eliminated.
Hill pitted on lap 84 and McDonogh took over the #4 Cooper
front drive. On lap 105, Dave Lewis destroyed his car after he drifted high hit
the upper guardrail and the Miller somersaulted down the banking. On lap 123,
Bob coasted into the pit and retired with a burned piston. Peter DePaolo
dominated in his Miller front-drive and won the race by two full laps over
Harry Hartz.
Kreis joined the AAA competitors in Salem New Hampshire at
the Rockingham Park Raceway for the July 4th Independence Day
300-mile race. While DePaolo romped to another victory and averaged 124 MPH,
the Cooper Engineering team had another forgettable day. Earl Cooper dropped
out on lap 4 and Kreis on lap 22, both with broken valves in their engines, and
McDonogh retired on lap 75 with a broken exhaust manifold.
Pete Kreis, Earl Cooper and two of the Cooper Engineering
Company machines traveled to Monza Italy to take part in the 1927 Gran Premio
d'Italia (Italian Grand Prix), the last race on the Continent for which the
91-1/2 cubic inch (1-1/2 liter) engines would be legal in the Automobile World
Championship.
Kreis drew the pole position but a rod broke in the engine
and exited the crankcase on the first lap of the 50-lap race held on September
4 in a downpour. Kreis returned to the pits and took over for Earl Cooper and
battled back to finish third albeit more than half an hour behind winner Robert
Benoist’s Delage.
Kreis and the Cooper team returned to the United States and
Rockingham Park Speedway for a scheduled 200-mile race on Columbus Day
Wednesday October 12. Throughout the early part of the event, leader Frank
Lockhart, who qualified at 144 MPH, battled wheel to wheel with Harry Hartz
until lap 51 when Hartz’ car crashed and caught fire. Harry broke his right leg and received
critical burns. Officials stopped the race with 52 laps completed and Kreis in
tenth place, four laps behind the leaders.
AAA referee A.T. Hart ruled the race complete at 65 miles, with
a second race of 60 laps (75 miles) set to start after crews cleared the Hartz
crash and serviced the remaining cars. Earl Cooper chose to not start the second race
(he never raced again), and Kreis’ Cooper front drive fell out of the second
race with a broken valve on lap 15. Lockhart won the second race by a quarter
lap over Babe Stapp.
Harry Hartz remained hospitalized in a Lawrence
Massachusetts hospital for months and in February 1928 he announced his
retirement from his hospital bed. Hartz’ doctors allowed him a temporary
reprieve to attend the 1928 Indianapolis 500-mile race.
Following the 1927 season, as board track racing began to
decline, and under pressure from his family Pete Kreis cut back on racing. Pete
became a licensed pilot and devoted himself eleven months of the year to his
career with his family’s contracting firm, the John A. Kreis Construction Company.
Despite his family’s wishes, Pete he still took off the month of May to race on
the big Indianapolis 2-1/2-mile brick oval.
When the Speedway opened in early May 1928, racers were
still coming to grips with the death of Frank Lockhart the 1926 Indianapolis
‘500’ winner and 1927 ‘500’ pole-sitter who led 110 laps in 1927 before a
connecting rod broke. Lockhart, known as the “the Boy Wonder” died on April 28
1928 in Daytona Beach Florida in the crash of his Stutz Blackhawk land speed
record machine.
For the 1928 ‘500,’ car owner Earl Cooper had landed
hometown Nordyke & Marmon Company sponsorship for two of his three cars driven
by Pete Kreis in #32 (the same number carried by 1911 ‘500’ winning Marmon Wasp)
and rookie Johnny Seymour in #33. Marmon’s sponsorship highlighted the
manufacturer’s new Model 68, a smaller model powered by a 202-cubic inch
straight eight engine. Instead of the
original grille, the new grilles on the Cooper Engineering entries mimicked the
Marmon 68 grille design.
Just as the Indianapolis entry list closed for 1928 Cooper
Engineering Company entered the unsponsored third car which carried #34, with rookie
Russell Snowberger the nominated driver.
All three Cooper-owned cars qualified for the 29-car starting
field, with former motorcycle racer Seymour in eleventh at 111.671 MPH, Kreis, the
fastest second day qualifier at 112.906 MPH, started nineteenth and rookie
Russell Snowberger in 22nd starting position at 111.618 MPH. Cliff
Durant finally got to drive his Detroit Special and qualified 18th
the slowest first day qualifier at 99.99 MPH.
None of the Cooper Front Drives finished the 1928 ‘500-mile race.
Snowberger’s car headed to the sidelines on lap four with supercharger failure,
then on lap 73 Pete Kreis’ car retired with a failed rod bearing, leaving just
Seymour who retired on lap 171 also with supercharger failure.
Durant’s ‘Detroit Special’ with relief driver Bob McDonogh
(Milton’s protégé) at the wheel dropped out four laps later when its two-stage
supercharger failed. Louis Meyer led the
final 19 laps and became the third rookie driver in a row to win the
Indianapolis ‘500’ in a Miller purchased by Alden Sampson from Phil Shafer just
days before time trials.
With his retirement from the 1928 ‘500,’ Pete Kreis returned
to the family business where he worked on a Missouri Pacific railroad tunnel
project near Gray Summit Missouri and waited for 1929.
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