The early history of lap prizes for the Indianapolis 500-mile race part two

 

The early history of lap prizes for the Indianapolis 500-mile race

Part two  

1925

On April 23 1925, former General Motors executive and Nordyke & Marmon president George W. “Monty” Williams took control of the Citizen’s Committee of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the group tasked with soliciting funds for lap prizes for the 1925 International 500-mile Sweepstakes.

Mr. Williams brought a different style and outlook than previous chairmen – he set a goal of funding every one of the 200 laps, and rather than a focus on raising money from Indianapolis businesses, he immediately opened the campaign with an appeal to out-of-town automotive related businesses. William’s approach seemed to work at least initially, as at the end of the first day, 24 firms, none of them based in Indiana, sent wires that pledged sponsorship.  

The first contributor, the Smith Wheel Corporation of Syracuse New York, which manufactured truck wheels, pledged $500, and the second donor, the Lovejoy Shock Absorber Company from Boston (which held the US patent for hydraulic shock absorbers), pledged $300. 

Commenting on the fine start, Williams told the Indianapolis News that “the first 100 are always the easiest,” but added that he had “no doubt that we’ll find enough Indianapolis boosters to get the total of 200 laps in short order.”    

Williams’ prediction about “the first 100” proved correct. On May 2, 1925 the Indianapolis News reported the fund stood at $6,500, and by May 13^th the Indianapolis Star reported 104 laps were subscribed with 118 laps by the 16^th according to the Indianapolis News.  On Sunday the 24^th the Indianapolis Star reported that the fund total stood at $14,400.

However, ‘Monty’s’ other prediction of reaching the full fund amount of $20,000 “in short order” proved wrong. When the Chamber of Commerce held the draw luncheon at the Indianapolis Athletic Club on Tuesday May 26, there were 146 laps assigned. After the luncheon, three more contributors came on board so on Memorial Day 1925 the leader of every lap received $100 through lap 149.

Cartoon and caricature artist Homer McKee emceed the 1925 ‘500’ victory banquet held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club roof garden to honor race winner Peter DePaolo.  The nephew of the 1915 ‘500’ winner Ralph DePalma, DePaolo carried away $8,800 in lap money, $2,200 of which his relief driver Norm Batten earned for driving the supercharged Duesenberg from lap 106 to lap 127.

Second place finisher Dave Lewis earned $2,600 in lap prizes, and third place finisher Phil Shafer took home $1300. Fourth place finisher Harry Hartz led two laps while Earl Cooper led three laps before he crashed out on lap 127.  Motorcycle racing champion Ralph Hepburn, whose Miller retired before the hallway point with a leaking gas tank, earned $1,300 for leading from lap 108 to lap 120.   

1926

Marmon president George W. “Monty” Williams retained his chairmanship of the Citizen’s Lap Prize Committee for 1926, and directed that telegrams be sent to out-of-town firms the first week of May. 

On May 13, the Indianapolis Star reported that twelve laps were subscribed to by ten donors, which included the Packard Motor Company, the Hupp Motor Corporation and the Stewart-Warner Speedometer Company for $100 each, while the C.G. Spring and Company of Detroit and the Kissel Motor Company each subscribed for two laps.   The article also related that very day, solicitations began in the city of Indianapolis.

The following day, May 14^th, the Indianapolis Star printed Williams’ announcement of thirteen more donated lap prizes, all from out of town firms, which brought the total of subscribed laps to twenty-five. The new donors included the American Automobile Association for two laps, the Lovejoy Manufacturing Company (a bearing manufacturer) for three laps, and the United States Gauge Company and the Strohm Ball Bearing Company for a lap apiece.

On Tuesday May 18 newspapers reported that 100 laps were subscribed – The hometown Prest-O-Lite Company took two laps, as did Lycoming, while the Dayton Steel Foundry Company and Studebaker each paid for three laps while the Continental Motor Corporation pledged $500. 

The following day, the Indianapolis News reported that according to Committee vie-chairman Dan V. Goodman of the Marmon Motor Car Company, 137 lap sponsorships were pledged.  The latest local sponsors included the D.A. Lubricant Company and the Indiana Bell Telephone Company, while nationally the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company sponsored one lap, and race car builder Harry A. Miller two laps.

The luncheon for the annual drawing for the lap assignments occurred on May 25 1926 with 177 of the 200 laps reportedly subscribed. Seth Klein and William McCollough conducted the drawing as Klein drew lap numbers, McCollough simultaneously drew the donor names. The article in the May 26^th edition of the Indianapolis Star revealed that 22 donors had come through on the final day.  The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and track founders James Allison and Arthur Newby each bought a lap.

An editorial in the May 26^th Indianapolis Star stated that “the committee was within seventeen of the desired goal of 200 last night,” but also noted that “62% of the prize money has come from contributors outside of Indianapolis.”  

In the May 27^th edition of the Indianapolis News (the city’s evening newspaper) Committee chairman Williams reported the fund as “completed for just the second time in the fund’s seven-year history.”

The citizens’ lap prize fund paid out just 160 laps in the 1926 International 500-mile Sweepstakes, due to the early stoppage of the race due to rain.  Rookie winner Frank Lockhart at the wheel of “Pete” Kreis’ #15 Miller earned the lion’s share of the lap money, $9,500. 

Second place finisher Harry Hartz, scored two laps behind the winner at the finish, claimed $600 as he had led laps 100 to 106. Phil “Red” Shafer who led the early laps, banked $1,600 in lap prizes, and Dave Lewis, who led from lap 16 until lap 59 when Lockhart took over the lead, won $4,300.

At the Victory Banquet held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club roof garden hosted by Ernest Smith, General Manager of the AAA (the American Automobile Association), Lockhart received the $20,000 top prize from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On top of the $29,500 in prize money, Lockhart received $6,100 in accessory prizes.

Firestone Tire & Rubber Company presented Lockhart with $4,000, the Ethyl Corporation $1,500, while Champion Spark Plug chipped in $500 and the Prest-O-Lite Company $100 “for talking over the radio.” The Perfect Circle Piston Ring Company gifted Lockhart with a new gold watch, and he also received the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy and the cast silver Prest-O-Lite “brick” trophy for leading at 400 miles, and the L. Strauss & Company trophy.  

The Speedway paid the first ten cars that finished behind Lockhart; Phil Shafer in tenth place who finished 14 laps behind the winner won $1,400. The remaining 18 cars, three of which were flagged off, divided up the $10,000 “consolation prize fund.”  Tony Gullotta in eleventh place won $614.85 while 28th place finisher Albert Guyot earned $500. The June 2 1926 edition of the Indianapolis Star, reported that the “$4,000 remaining in the lap prize fund….would be prorated and returned to donors. For each lap subscribed, $20 will be returned.” 

1927

In its May 12 1927 edition, the Indianapolis Star reported on a meeting held on Tuesday May 10^th at the Chamber of Commerce office to start the annual fundraising campaign.  “Monty” Williams of Marmon served as the Committee chairman for the third consecutive year, assisted by Marmon’s Dan Goodman for the second year in a row as vice-chairman.

The committee consisted of seven other members chief among them Henley Hottel of the Washington Bank and Trust Company, Paul Q. Richey and Morris G. Young of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Wallace O. Lee Vice-President of the Indianapolis Power & Light Company.

In William Sturm’s “Speedway Appetizers” column in the next day’s Indianapolis News, Williams stated “I think the money collected for the lap prize is something more than a sort of carrot to be hung on the tip of a pole just ahead of the steel horses to make them move faster,” and revealed that 49 laps were already subscribed, mostly by out-of-town companies.

Lovejoy Manufacturing, Hydraulic Brake, Champion Spark Plug and Eclipse Machine all purchased two laps, while Continental Motors bought three laps. Among local companies, the Perfect Circle Piston Ring Company and the Stutz Motor Car Company each paid for two laps.

On Saturday May 28^th, the Indianapolis Star reported that at the previous afternoon’s luncheon, Williams reported that the $20,000 fund was actually oversubscribed. For the second year in a row and the third time in its history, a $100 prize would be awarded for every scheduled lap. The complete list of contributors appeared in the May 30 edition of the Indianapolis Star.

The largest 1927 lap prize donors were Carl Fisher and the Ford Motor Company both of whom contributed $500, while four local firms – The H. Lieber Company art supply store, Julius Walk & Son silversmiths, The George J Mayer Company printers and the Diamond Chain Company – each donated $50.

400 attendees saw four drivers split the $20,000 proceeds of the fund awarded during the May 31 banquet held at Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Frank Lockhart the 1926 winner, led 109 laps until a connecting rod broke in his Miller engine on lap 119. Indianapolis native Charles “Dutch” Baumann who took the took the lead during the first pit stops exchange collected $1,000, while the winner of the 1927 500-mile race George Souders collected $5,100 as he led the race’s final 51 laps.

The #14 Cooper Engineering front-drive Miller copy claimed the prize for leading 30 laps from lap 120 to lap 149.   Bob McDonogh started the car in the race, but when it led, Peter DePaolo, the 1925 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, was behind the wheel.  

The Indianapolis Real Estate Board presented a gold watch as its sportsmanship award to Norman Batten for heroically steering his burning car out of traffic during the race, but Batten, like fellow drivers Jules Ellingboe and Henry Kohlert, remained hospitalized and could not attend the banquet.

1928

Once again, Monty Williams and Dan Goodman, now the automotive editor at the Indianapolis Star spearheaded the lap prize committee. The fundraising was largely uneventful, with 143 laps subscribed reported on May 24^th although in the end the fund fell short with a total of $15,000.

The Star’s “Speedway Gossip” column on Sunday May 6^th 1928 contained a short story that a group of Purdue University students met with the 1927 500-mile race winner, former Purdue student George Souders, and afterwards pooled their money to subscribe for one $100 lap.  The Boilermakers attached a note to their check which read “Please make our lap number 200 and here’s hoping George Souders wins it.”

The prizes were awarded at the “Drivers’ Dinner” held the night after the race at Chamber of Commerce headquarters with Dick Miller President of the Chamber as the emcee and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President  Eddie Rickenbacker the featured speaker.  For the third year is a row, women were invited to attend the dinner which was capped at 300 attendees.

With lap prizes only awarded through lap 150, race winner Louis Meyer who took the lead for good on lap 182 received no lap money, Tony Gullota led 35 laps but only received $200 as he led lap 149 and 150.  Early race leader Leon Duray won $5,900, and mid-race leader Jimmy Gleason won $5,600.  Elbert ‘Babe’ Stapp, with the assistance of relief driver Russell Snowberger, won $1,700 and defending champion George Souders won $1,600, but to the disappointment of the Purdue students, George finished the race in third place.

1929

The 1929 International 500-mile Sweepstakes would be the final race under the 91-1/2 cubic inch rules, as the rules package for the 1930 race with semi-stock cars and riding mechanics had already been published. Twenty-nine of the cars in the 33-car starting field were powered by 91-1/2 cubic inch supercharged Miller engines or copies which would be obsolete for the next ‘500.’       

The 1929 Chamber of Commerce Citizen’s Prize Fund committee was co-chaired by local relator Emerson Chaille and Edgar S Gorrell, the new president of the Stutz Motor Car Company. In a surprising change from previous years, the Committee held no meetings and the two committee co-chairman never met. 

Chaille changed the fund’s direction, returning to the original concept of money being “obtained entirely within Indianapolis” with “no prizes offered by foreign individuals or firms.” Chaille also changed the name of the fund now known as the “Appreciation Lap Prize Fund,” because of “the appreciation of Indianapolis citizens for the efforts of Eddie Rickenbacker and his associates in continuing the races here.”  

An article in the April 26 1929 edition of the Indianapolis News (a similar story appeared in the same day’s Indianapolis Star) related that “plans for the campaign have not been completed, but the work will be started within a comparatively short time. An effort will be made to complete the campaign within two or three days.” The article continued that “nearly fifty men representing every character of business in the city make up the committee.”     

Despite the original rosy forecast, the front page of the May 24^th issue of the Indianapolis Star carried an advertisement entitled “Come on Indianapolis!” that revealed the appreciation lap prize fund was 27 laps short of the goal.

On May 29, 1929 The Indianapolis News published a list of the committee members and the list of contributors closely divided among Indianapolis and “out of town” contributors that fully funded the lap prizes. Clearly, Chaille’s vision to exclude “foreign individuals or firms” failed.  

At the Chamber of Commerce dinner, emcee Paul Richey asked for a moment of silence in honor of Bill Spence who perished in a crash on lap 14.  Eddie Rickenbacker told the gathering that he “had been assured that a number of manufacturers of passenger automobiles would enter cars in the 1930 race,” with the new rules package he had pushed the American Automobile Association (AAA) to adopt.  Theodore Myer, the Speedway general manager distributed the prizes.

Race winner Ray Keech earned $4,600 in lap prizes to supplement the $27,350 in prize and accessory money.   Second place finishers Louis Meyer banked $6,500 in appreciation money and tenth place Fred Frame received a check for $1100. Artha ‘Deacon” Litz led the non-finishers with $4,900 in lap prizes followed by Lou Moore with $2,200 and Leon Duray, who led the race’s opening lap for the second consecutive year, received $700. 

1930

R. C. Rottger, vice-president of the Indiana Bell telephone Company and the son of the company’s former president, served as the 1930 appreciation lap prize fund committee chairman. In an interview published in the Star on April 28, Rottger declared that “changing specifications for the race May 30 the Speedway has again demonstrated its value to the industry and to the progress of transportation.”

Rottger added that “the Speedway means more than that to Indianapolis.  It is to the Speedway management and to the brave drivers of the contest that Indianapolis wishes to shows its mark of appreciation.” Rotttger announced that the committee would meet the following day to select more members to assist in soliciting for the fund. 

The Committee members included A L Block of the department store chain, former chairman   Emerson Chaille, Frank Manly, founder of the Indianapolis Life Insurance Company, and Harper J. Ransburg of the eponymous pottery firm, with Fred Duesenberg in the newly-created role of “chairman of the automotive division.” 

The Indianapolis News reported on May 6 that Duesenberg was “preparing to contact representatives of the automotive industry throughout the country inviting them to join Indianapolis in subscribing to the appreciation fund.”  

On May 8 the Indianapolis News reported 20 subscribers, all local firms, with ten more added the following day with a total of forty by May 11^th.  On May 15^th, the Committee received a telegram form the Ford Motor Company that advised ”Edsel Ford has authorized a contribution of $500,” which brought the total  to 70 laps funded. As of Monday May 26, 169 of the 200 laps were subscribed, and at race time 170 laps were funded.

Rickenbacker’s bold statement at the 1929 banquet that “a number of manufacturers of passenger automobiles would enter cars in the 1930 race,” proved incorrect as only two cars entered by manufacturers appeared - the DuPont and the Maserati. Though both cars made the starting field with neither car a factor in the race, and certainly didn't represent the leading manufacturers of automobiles in the United States.

Distribution of the lap prizes at the Victory banquet, held in the Riley Room of the Claypool Hotel, proved straightforward. Louis Meyer led the first two laps, for which he earned $200 before Richard “Billy” Arnold took command and dominated the race. Arnold won by four laps over William “Shorty” Cantlon and Billy and car owner Harry Hartz banked over $50,000, which included $16,800 in lap prize money.

Rickenbacker, in his speech, claimed that in his opinion “the results of the race vindicated the judgement used in the changes made including the enlarging of the motors and providing for the riding mechanic.” This came despite the fact that riding mechanic Paul Marshall died on lap 29 when his brother, Cyrus, crashed their Duesenberg.

In our next installment of the early lap prize story we will examine the rest of the “Junk Formula” years under the Speedway ownership of Eddie Rickenbacker.