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

 

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

Part three 

1931

Solicitation for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway International 500-mile race lap prize fund in 1931 must have been daunting, given the deepening economic depression that gripped the United States. Bowman Elder, son-in-law of multi-millionaire entrepreneur William Fortune took over as committee chairman. The committee met on May 1 and announced that they expected to close the books on the fund on May 20.

The fund fell well short with a total of $11,150 collected. The distribution as described in the Indianapolis Star, included payment from lap one to 17 inclusive. Thereafter every odd numbered lap paid through lap 81, then laps 82, 84 and 85 each paid $100, while lap 83 only paid $50. The fund paid $100 for every odd numbered lap from 87 to lap 200.  

Rookie Paul Bost started from the outside of the front row in the Empire State Special and led the first two laps and banked $200. Bill Cummings took the point for four laps, then Richard “Billy” Arnold and his riding mechanic William “Spider” Matlock took the point until they crashed out and were injured on lap 162, and Arnold collected $8,550 in lap money. 

After Arnold’s crash, Indianapolis native Louis Schneider in the hometown sponsored ‘Bowes Seal Fast Special’ inherited the lead, led the rest of the way and won.  Although Schneider led 39 laps, because of the odd distribution of the fund, he only added $2,000 in lap money to his $27,500 in prize and accessory winnings.  

1932

Bowman Elder served as the lap prize fund committee chairman for the second consecutive year, but due to the economic depression, the lap prize fund again did not reach its goal despite Henry and Edsel Ford each giving $2500.  The final fund distribution was very confusing, with no lap prizes were earned until lap four then the even-numbered laps paid out until the fund total was exhausted.  It is unclear who was behind the new provision which stated that the prize money for laps run under the yellow flag had to be reallocated to “competitive laps.”    

The fund presented $10,700 to the drivers at the victory dinner held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club which Elder chaired with toastmaster Paul Richey. Six drivers shared in lap prizes. Winner Fred Frame in the Harry Hartz-owned car won $3,800, while his teammates Arnold and Matlock injured in a crash for the second consecutive year won $2,800 for leading 59 laps.

Hoosier rookie driver Bob Carey took home $1,800 in lap money while fellow Legion Ascot Speedway star Ernie Triplett earned $700 for leading 14 laps.  Ira Hall, the former prizefighter from Terre Haute Indiana who claimed to have survived 43 accidents, led six laps and received $200, while Wilbur Shaw collected $1400 after he led 27 laps, the first laps led in his august career at Indianapolis.  

1933

With the nation in a terrible economic depression with nearly 25% unemployment, there was no mention in the press about the make-up of the committee or details of the solicitation for the lap prize fund. The race itself became a very low-key event – instead of a dinner, prizes for the 21st annual International 500-mile Sweepstakes were handed out the afternoon following the race by “Pop” Myer on the sidewalk in front of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway office at 444 North Capitol Avenue. ‘500’ winner Louis Meyer collected just $18,000 and the keys to a new Ford sedan for his second 500-mile race victory

The lap prize fund totaled just $3,150, with Meyer the big lap prize winner with $850 for leading 71 laps. “Babe” Stapp who led 60 laps before his Boyle Special ran out of fuel on lap 156 earned $800, while Bill Cummings got the same amount for leading 32 laps. Even more confusing is the case of defending champion Fred Frame who received $700 for leading 37 laps. 

1934

The economic situation of the nation continued to serious affected automobile racing as the American Automobile Association (AAA) National Championship included just four races in 1934 – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the mile dirt track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, the dirt ‘Moody Mile’ in Syracuse New York and the December road course race at Mines Field in Los Angeles.

On May 23^rd, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that all the lap prize money would be paid after the halfway point of the race “as a means of preventing the drivers of fast cars from burning up their mounts in the early stages.”  This made some sense, since $100 in 1934 is equivalent to nearly $2000 today, but pushing it past the half-way mark also meant the lap prize fund need not be as well-funded.

The 1934 lap prize fund totaled $4,225, and only four drivers led during the 1934 International 500-mile Sweepstakes – Cavino “Kelly” Petillo, the pole position winner, led the first six laps which paid him nothing. The race then settled into a three-way battle between Mauri Rose, Frank Brisko in the Miller-built Four Wheel Drive Special and Bill Cummings in the Boyle Miller.

The manner of the distribution of the 1934 fund remains unknown, but Brisko, who led four laps after the halfway point, banked a reported $1,300, while runner-up Rose who led 46 laps after the 250-mile mark received a check for $1,300, while the race winner Cummings who led 50 laps late in the race, including the final 26 laps, got a check for $1,625.

1935

Automotive industry pioneer Joseph McDuffee, the President of the Prest-O-Lite Storage Battery Company, served as the chairman of the 1935 “Appreciation Lap Prize Fund” committee. A report from an Indianapolis Real Estate Board luncheon published in the May 24 1935 edition of the Indianapolis Star shows how badly the Lap Prize Fund suffered during the great Depression.

In his address to the realtors gathered at the Hotel Washington, Indianapolis Motor Speedway General Manager Ted “Pop” Myers reported that of the 40-1/2 laps funded, only 8-1/2 laps came from Indianapolis contributors. Myers suggested that “a local live committee of representatives” be formed to create city support. 

The eight local supporters include the Wheeler’s Lunch restaurant chain (their donation in the form of 1,095 meals), the L. Strauss and L. S. Ayres department store chains, Indiana Bell Telephone, the Prest-O-Lite company, the Claypool Hotel, the Allen A.  Wilkinson Lumber Company, and the Vonnegut Hardware Company founded by the great-grandfather of the author.     

In his speech to the Realtors luncheon, the 1925 500-mile race winner, Peter DePaolo, predicted that within two or three years “stock cars” (meaning semi-stock entries) would dominate the race. DePaolo’s crystal ball proved bit hazy, as the “Junk Formula” ear ended after the 1937 race.  

Donors included Bendix Aviation for three laps, while the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation and the Champion Spark Plug Company paid for two laps each. The Norge Appliance Company of Detroit posted $200 for the leader of lap ten plus the race winner received a Norge Refrigerator.  While this might seem like an odd sponsorship, in 1915 as a young man, Norge’s President Howard Blood worked with Louis Chevrolet on the ground-breaking Cornelian racing car that featured monocoque construction and 4-wheel independent suspension

The 1935 ‘500’ lap prizes were assigned randomly throughout the race. In addition to Norge’s sponsorship of the tenth lap, the American Automobile Association (AAA) sponsored lap 12, while the Ford Motor Company sponsored five laps – laps 40, 60, 105, 100 and 180.

“Pop’s” advice to the Realtors went unheeded and the 1935 Appreciation lap prize fund topped out at $4,250 with the proceeds divided among four drivers at the Indianapolis Citizen’s Committee Appreciation Dinner held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. In addition to the drivers, the dinner featured among its honored guests, aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who served as the race referee, movie stars Monroe Owsley and James Dunn, boat racer Gar Wood, and Elmer Baumgarten, secretary of the American Bowling Congress.   

Race winner Kelly Petillo in his own ‘Gilmore Speedway Special’ won $2,050 in lap prizes, while Rex Mays led 89 laps in the first half of the race before a steering knuckle broke on the ‘Gilmore Special’ on lap 123, earned $2,000 in lap prizes. “Babe” Stapp raced the Marks-Miller entry out front on lap 140 and collected $100 from the Plymouth Motor Company, while Wilbur Shaw, runner-up race finisher for the second time in three years, led lap 65 and collected the $100 posted by the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation.

1936

On May 12^th 1936 the officials of the Chamber of Commerce announced the new high-powered members of the Appreciation Lap Prize Fund committee, led by A. L. Block of the L. Strauss Company, Fred Ayres represented his family’s department store chain, along with P. R Mallory, of the eponymous battery and switch company, Roy Adams of the J. D. Adams Road Grader manufacturing company, and A. E Sinclair of the Kingan meat-packing company.  

Automotive industry members included McDuffee of Prest-O-Lite repeating as the committee chairman, joined by Jesse Vincent of Packard,  Jeffery DeWiitt of Champion Spark Plug and Louis Schwitzer. 

According the Indianapolis Star, expectations were high for larger fund than previous years.  Herman Deupree, a local public relations representative and secretary for the committee, reported that the fund already contained $2,000, according to an article published in the following day’s Star newspaper.  Alas, the May 29^th Indianapolis Star carried the news that the fund topped out at $5,500.

The AAA sponsored lap five, the first paid lap.  Locally, the downtown seven-story Marott Shoe store on Massachusetts Avenue donated $100 for lap 110, while the medical supply firm, the Akron Surgical Supply House, sponsored lap 185. The automotive industry strongly supported the appreciation fund as the Ford Motor Company paid for five laps, while Chrysler, Dodge, DeSoto and Plymouth each bought a single lap sponsorship, as did Charles “Boss” Kettering.  

The fund distribution spread out over the race with $1400 paid over the first hundred miles, followed by another $1400 in the second hundred miles, while the laps during the third hundred mile segment paid $1200. The leaders of laps during the fourth hundred miles collected prizes that totaled $800, with $500 paid out over the last hundred miles. While there was no prize posted for leading the race’s final lap, this race began the tradition of the race winner being presented the Pace Car, in this case the 1936 Packard 120.

The 500-mile race’s first three-time winner, Louis Meyer, won $1,900 in lap prizes with Wilbur Shaw close behind with $1,800. “Babe” Stapp collected $1,100 in lap money before his entry retired on lap 89, while second place finisher Ted Horn banked $400 and Rex Mays whose car ran out of fuel with less than ten laps to go, earned $300 in lap prizes.     

In our next installment of the early lap prize story we will examine the final years under the Speedway ownership of Eddie Rickenbacker.

Bill Cummings 

the hero of Indianapolis – part one

William C. ‘Bill” Cummings Junior was a hero to Central Indiana racing fans as he grew up on Indianapolis’ near west side two miles from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he found glory in 1934. Cummings spent his life in the city of Indianapolis, then died and was laid to rest there.  

Bill Cummings the son of a race car driver, began his racing career on motorcycles but switched to racing big cars during 1926. The following year Cummings began to experience some success as he raced the ‘Deluxe Taxi’ Frontenac Ford ‘big car’ on the dangerous “Hoosier outlaw circuit” with such legends as Frank Sweigert, Ira Hall, Francis Quinn, Bill McCoy, and George “Bennie” Benefiel (often misspelled Bennefield) on Hoosier tracks such as Sunflower Park located between the towns of Brazil and Terre Haute and Jungle Park north of Rockville billed as “the fastest oiled track in the world.’

By 1929 Cummings was a consistent winner as he drove a factory supported Frontenac on the Hoosier circuit that included the Linton race track, Huntington Motor Speedway, and George Rogers Clark Speedway in Vincennes. Bill began to expand his travels to tracks in Dayton and Hamilton Ohio and as far away as St. Paul Minnesota. Bill captured the 20-mile race for the “National dirt track championship of the United States” at an unidentified track in Louisville Kentucky at the end of September after he was injured in a crash at Roby Speedway in the Chicago suburb of Hammond Indiana in early August.

 

 

An aerial view of Langhorne Speedway

the site of Bill Cummings first AA victory

 

In 1930, Cummings got his shot at the big time and in his first race in an AAA championship car he started from the pole position and won at the one-mile circular Langhorne Pennsylvania Speedway behind the wheel of the car that Michael Ferner identified as Karl Kizer's “Century Tire Special” 91-cubic inch Miller. Cummings’ next stop was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a member of the factory Duesenberg team managed by 1925 Indianapolis ‘500’ champion Peter DePaolo.

Cummings drove a Myron Stevens built chassis powered by a 242 cubic inch straight-8 single overhead camshaft (SOHC) engine sourced from a Model ‘A’ Duesenberg passenger car. With  36 laps of mid-race relief help from teammate Fred Winnai, the #6 Stevens/Duesenberg completed all of the 200 laps around the rough 2-1/2-mile brick surface and Cummings scored a fifth place finish.

Cummings was entered in the same factory Duesenberg for the 100-mile race held on the Michigan State Fairgrounds dirt mile in Detroit and he finished third.  The 23-year old driver then followed up that result with a fourth place finish in a rain-shortened race on the 1-1/4 mile Altoona Pennsylvania, his first appearance on a board track. 

Cummings closed out his rookie AAA season with a win on the New York state Fairgrounds “Moody Mile” in Syracuse.  With two wins to his credit as a rookie, Cummings finished third in the 1930 AAA championship behind ‘500’ winner Billy Arnold who had notched three wins during the season. With his aggressive driving style, Bill Cummings had quickly become an established racing star.  

During the winter of 1930-1931, Cummings traveled the West Coast circuit and raced on big dangerous high-speed tracks that included Bakersfield and Legion Ascot Speedway where his nickname “Wild Bill” first came into popular use. Cummings drove for the team of Paul Weirick and Art Sparks and competed against such established West Coast stars as William ‘Stubby’ Stubblefield, William ‘Shorty’ Cantlon, and Ernie Triplett and finished eighth in the 1931 AAA Pacific Coast Southwest big car championship.  

For the 1931 AAA championship season, Cummings drove East coast car owner Floyd Smith’s ‘Empire State Gas Motors Special’ a Miller-powered Cooper front drive creation. The car was one of three originally built in 1927 with Buick factory support by Earl Cooper, the three-time American Automobile Association (AAA) national champion in 1913, 1915, and 1917.  

The transmission in Cooper’s cars, created with the design assistance of Miller designer Leo Gosssen, used a Grover Ruckstell planetary gear set and two-speed axle to achieve four forward speeds. Originally powered by a Miller supercharged engine, with the introduction of the AAA ‘junk formula’ which outlawed pure racing engines and required a riding mechanic, the Cooper chassis was widened, the engine supercharger removed, and piston stroke lengthened to increase the engine’s cubic inch displacement. The car was topped off with new bodywork built by local craftsman Floyd “Pop” Dreyer.

Cummings started the 1931 Indianapolis 500-mile race from the middle of front row but retired early with a broken oil line and finished poorly. Over the course of the season, Cummings scored three second-place finishes and one third place to go along with two top ten finishes to wind up 10th in 1931 AAA points. Cummings returned to the West Coast over the winter to close out his 1931 season. Bill won the forty-lap Thanksgiving Day feature at Legion Ascot Speedway ahead of Bryan Saulpaugh and Chet Gardner, then followed that up with a second place finish behind Saulpaugh in the Legion Ascot 100-lapper on December 20.  

Cummings opened 1932 on the West Coast behind the wheel of one of three new Miller 16 valve DOHC Miller ‘big car.’ In May at Indianapolis he drove one of 1931 ‘500’ winner Louis Schneider’s widened Miller chassis rebuilt by metalworking wizard Myron Stevens. Cummings was eliminated on lap 151 when the Miller 122-cubic inch engine broke its crankshaft. This was Bill’s second ‘500’ start alongside his friend and riding mechanic Earl Unversaw a World War I veteran who was born in Perry Township south of Indianapolis.

For the next 1932 AAA championship race at Detroit, Cummings moved into the seat of Chicago labor organizer Michael J. Boyle’s ‘Boyle Valve’ Stevens chassis powered by a Miller 268 cubic inch engine. After his steering broke at Detroit, Cummings scored two third-place finishes at Roby and Syracuse, a second place at the second Detroit race and closed out the 1932 AAA championship season with another win from the pole position in the 150-mile race on the one-mile oiled dirt Oakland Speedway. Cummings finished fifth in the 1932 AAA national championship standings.

Bill Cummings would spend the rest of his racing career as a member of the Boyle Racing Team for mechanic Harry “Cotton” Henning, a former riding mechanic who prepared cars in the Boyle team headquarters, located less than three miles east of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bill won the coveted pole position for the 1933 International 500-mile Sweepstakes with an average speed of 118.53 miles per hour (MPH) for his ten-lap run.

Cummings and Unversaw led the first 32 laps of the 1933 ‘500,’ but the car retired on lap 136 with a terminal radiator leak and Bill finished 25th in the 42-car field. Despite winning two of the 1933 AAA season’s three races from the pole, Cummings finished seventh in the AAA standings as a result of a his nineteenth place 1932 Indianapolis ‘500’ finish. Cummings earned 120 points for each of his 100-lap wins not nearly enough to overcome Louis Meyers’ 600 points for winning at Indianapolis.

 

Cummings and Unvershaw posed for their official qualifying photograph

Courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital studies

 

For the 1934 Indianapolis ‘500,’ cars were limited to just three gallons of fuel to complete the ten-lap qualifying run, and only 45 gallons for the entire 500 miles. Cummings and Unversaw qualified the white #7 Boyle Products Special, a widened 1927 front-drive Miller chassis powered by 221 cubic inch four-cylinder Miller Marine engine in tenth position in the 33-car field. 

Cummings worked his way through the field and took the lead on lap 72, and then battled Mauri Rose for the win the rest of the way after early leader Frank Brisko’s FWD Special faded.  Cummings led 57 laps to Rose’s 68 laps, but Cumming led the one that counted as before a crowd of 135,000 fans he led Rose across the finish line by 27 seconds the closest finish in the Speedway’s 23-year history.

Cummings completed the race one minute and 54 seconds faster than Louis Meyer’s winning time from the previous year’s ‘500,’ to set a new speed record for the 500 miles of 104.863 miles per hour which earned him membership in the Champion Spark Plug 100-MPH club. The four-cylinder Miller marine engine was the first four-cylinder engine to win the ‘500’ since Gaston Chevrolet’s Frontenac in 1920.    

Cummings’ win was not without controversy as Rose’s car owner retired driver Leon Duray filed a post-race protest with the stewards. Duray claimed that Cummings had built up an unfair advantage of ¾ of a lap during one of the caution periods to remove a wrecked car from the track. The race stewards led the chief steward W.D. “Eddie” Edenburn reviewed Duray’s protest but denied it. In those days yellow flags were displayed around the track, and the stewards admitted that there had been a delay in the display of the caution flag at all the locations around the track.

Leon Duray immediately filed an appeal with the AAA Contest Board and it was not until July that Cummings was officially ruled the Indianapolis ‘500’ winner.

Despite Duray’s pending appeal Cummings was publicly acclaimed as the 1934 Indianapolis ‘500’ champion although he had not collected a large portion of his winnings for the victory as the combined prize money of $44,075 for first and second places was withheld by Speedway officials until the final ruling. To prevent a reoccurrence of the controversy, for 1935 Indianapolis Motor Speedway became the first track install signaling light, six sets of green and yellow lights installed around the 2-1/2 mile oval.

 

 

Cummings posed on his Harley Davidson motorcycle in 1934

Courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital studies

 

Three days after his ‘500’ victory on June 3, Bill appeared in Dayton Ohio at a ‘big car’ race held at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds after he rode in from Indianapolis on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Cummings had previously committed to race in Dayton that day but Bill told reporters that his doctor had forbid him to enter. According to historian Rick Patterson Cummings made a few ceremonial laps on his motorcycle around the ½-mile oval to the cheers of the crowd of 3000 fans.   

Cummings returned to Dayton again in mid-August 1934 to attend the first annual All-American Soap Box Derby as the event was sponsored by Chevrolet for which he was a spokesman.  Bill also attended the Soap Box Derby, along with the legendary retired driver and car owner Harry Hartz in 1935, 1936, and 1937 after the Derby moved to its permanent home in Akron Ohio.  

Cummings’ results for the rest of the 1934 AAA racing season were not spectacular with a pair of top ten finishes despite starting from the pole position at Syracuse and Springfield Illinois. The Boyle Miller engine broke a crankshaft in practice and Cummings missed the season finale at Mines Field (now the site of Los Angeles International Airport)  but the 600 points earned at the ‘500’ were enough for Bill Cummings to be crowned the 1934 AAA National Champion and the right to carry the number ‘1’ through the 1935 season.

Our next installment will cover “Wild Bill” Cummings later career and untimely death.