The life of Don Herr

co-winner of the 1912 Indianapolis 500
part two 1912 and beyond  

1912

The National team skipped the early 1912 season races at Santa Monica, California and for the second annual World’s Championship International 500-mile Sweepstakes on May 30, 1912 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, there were three National “Speedway Roadster” 124-inch wheelbase stripped stock chassis entries.  

The National 1912 '500 winner' on display in 

the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

Each of the three National entries was powered by a four-cylinder, 490 cubic inch engine with an aluminum crankcase and the cylinders cast in pairs. The engines used two nickel steel valves per cylinder and a dual ignition system with two sets of spark plugs.

Herr was initially named as the driver of one of the National ‘500’ entries, but the late signing of drivers David Bruce-Brown and Joe Dawson relegated Herr to relief status.  Reading newspapers articles today suggests that with its four-driver line-up, National may be considered the first Indianapolis “super team.” National played coy about the final driver line-up for the three-car team, and it was only days before the race that Herr was confirmed as the relief driver.

A photo of the 1912 National team

Don Herr third from the right 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

Cars were required to complete one lap faster than 75 MPH to qualify for the field, but the starting order was determined by the order that the race entries were received. Howdy Wilcox started seventh with teammate Joe Dawson alongside in the eighth starting position. The #29 National driven by David Bruce-Brown started 23^rd in the 24-car field as he set a new track speed record of over 88 MPH for his qualifying lap.

On Decoration Day 72,000 paid spectators watched as Teddy Tetzlaff in the 589-cubic inch Fiat grabbed the lead at the start of the race from his front row starting position and completed the race’s first lap at a blistering 86 MPH.  The Fiat led lap two, then during the race’s third lap Ralph DePalma in his Mercedes picked up the race lead. By lap eight, Wilcox and Dawson moved into sixth and seventh place respectively. On lap 25 Bruce-Brown and his Italian riding mechanic Tony Scudellari retired their #29 National with a broken valve in the engine. 

At the 40-lap mark, 100 miles, the running order of the race remained close, with the top three DePalma, Dawson and Tetzlaff. As the race approached lap fifty, DePalma began to pull away and by the 108th lap, when second place Dawson came in for relief, the National was two laps in arrears to the leader.

The National 1912 '500 winner' on display in 

the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

Don Herr as the relief driver, slid behind the 18-inch steering wheel and drove the National from lap 108 to lap 144 for 36 laps, or 90 miles, which allowed Dawson to rest for over an hour as the National averaged 77 MPH during that period of the race. It should be noted that while the driver was relieved, the riding mechanic Harry Martin, a young man from upstate Indiana was not.  

Dawson returned to the car on lap 145, with the National still in second place, but it was now four laps behind DePalma’s Mercedes. At 160 laps or 400 miles DePalma was clearly in total control of the race barring mechanical failure.  With ten laps to go, DePalma held a five-lap over Dawson and after six hours of racing, with the outcome seemingly determined, many spectators headed for the exits. 

As DePalma came down the front stretch to start his 195^th lap, the Mercedes trailed oil and the engine sounded rough.  The Mercedes had broken a piston and the connecting rod punched a hole in the crankcase. DePalma slowed down to 60 mph as he tried to limp the car home on three cylinders. 

However, as he completed his 198th lap, the Mercedes was traveling at just 40 MPH and DePalma’s lead over Dawson has shrunk to three laps. Then on DePalma’s 199^th lap, with the oil supply exhausted, the Mercedes engine seized, and the car coasted to a halt.

Author's photo of the 1912 trophy 

DePalma and his riding mechanic Rupert Jeffkins eventually pushed the massive Mercedes across the finish line but as the AAA rules stated that in order to be listed as a finisher, a car had to cross under the finish line under its own power, the #4 Mercedes which had led 195 laps was scored in 11^th place with 198 laps completed.

Author's photo of the 1912 National in the current Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Dawson passed the crippled Mercedes three times to unlap himself and took the checkered flag from starter Fred Wagner as the National completed the 200 laps.   Dawson and Herr’s average speed for the 500 miles was 78.72 MPH a full four MPH faster than Ray Harroun and Cyrus Patschke’s combined finish in 1911.

This would be Wagner’s last race at the Speedway as the starter, as he and Carl Fisher later argued over Fisher’s decision to allow Ralph Mulford to continue to make laps hours after Dawson had taken the flag.  Wagner stormed off and never returned to the Speedway in an official capacity.

The winning National made four pit stops for the 500-mile distance, three of which were for the replacement of the Michelin tires - 1912 being the only instance so far in Indianapolis history when a car with equipped with Michelin was victorious in the 500-mile race.  With its 5-inch bore and 6-1/4-inch stroke, the 490-cubic inch engine four-cylinder National engine remains the largest powerplant ever to win the Indianapolis 500-mile race.   

The day following the race, the Indianapolis News wrote that “all the credit for winning the race is not due Joe Dawson. His relief driver, Don Herr, is deserving of much praise for Herr who showed his mettle when he relieved Dawson for ninety miles. Herr made a consistent drive and remained bunched with the leaders all the time he was at the wheel.”  

The News’ description of Herr closed by noting that Dawson and Herr were the same age - twenty-two years old. 

In a post-race press release from the National factory which contained an account allegedly written by Dawson gave his co-driver credit.  “I was greatly assisted by Don Herr, who relieved me for almost 90 miles while I rested in the repair pit. Instead of watching the race and keeping myself in a nervous strain, I flung my tired body of the grass and relaxed entirely.”  

In their advertising brochure entitled “The Fastest 500 Miles,” published in June 1912, National claimed to have won 84 races in the 1912 season - 9 road races, 11 speedway races, 20 beach races, 29 hill climbs and 15 “track meets.” The brochure, which made no mention of Don Herr’s involvement in the Indianapolis victory, noted that no water was added to the National’s radiator during the race, and three Bosch spark plugs were replaced.

1913  

After winning the 1912 Indianapolis 500-mile race, the National factory racing team slashed its racing program and the ‘super team” drivers moved on. “Howdy” Wilcox signed to drive the Pope-Hartford “Grey Fox” built by former driver Frank Fox.

David Bruce-Brown, the driver of the third National in the 1912 ‘500,’ died in a crash in October 1912 while practicing in his Fiat for the Vanderbilt Cup race on the Wauwatosa Road Race Course in Wisconsin.

In early January 1913, the Ideal Motor Car Company announced Gil Anderson and Charles Merz as the drivers for its two “Stutz” entries with Herr listed as “an alternate driver,” then on February 5, 1913, at the Chicago Auto Show, Stutz announced a third entry at Indianapolis for Don Herr. 

Herr first took the Stutz onto the big Speedway brick oval on May 7, 1913 and the following day’s Indianapolis Star newspaper account reported that Herr was “the main noise at the track yesterday afternoon – in fact he made all the noise. The exhaust of the car could be heard a mile from the Speedway, and he traveled some fast laps.” 

The article stated that “Don showed craftiness on the turns and on the back straight let the car out until it became a flying streak.” Author A S Blakely noted that Herr’s “drive of the winning National last year did not get the credit it deserved.”   

Joe Dawson for his part was linked to several manufacturers in news articles through the spring of 1913 but announced no firm deal.  Finally, late in the month of May, Dawson signed to drive the mysterious Deltal racer designed and built in Connecticut by a pair of German men, Erik Delling and Paul Hackethal, in a program allegedly funded by Mercer.

Delling the builder, initially planned to drive the Deltal powered by a four-cylinder 298-cubic inch engine himself. Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials accepted the car’s entry, but upon its arrival at the track, refused to allow the inexperienced Delling to drive. 

A day after it was announced that Dawson would race the Deltal, it was announced that the car was withdrawn reportedly after the starter crank broke the crank case following a “grueling workout” and suitable repairs could not be made in time which left the 1912 ‘500’ champion unable to defend his crown.    

1913 Stutz team Don Herr at the wheel of #8

 Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

In order to start the third annual Indianapolis 500-mile race, entries had to complete one lap at over 75 MPH, but the actual starting order arranged in rows of four abreast was set through a blind draw the night prior to the race. Don Herr drew the fifth starting spot, while his Stutz teammate Gil Andersen was slotted 14^th and Charles Merz started 16^th from the outside of the fourth row.

Don Herr’s day ended early, as his #8 Stutz lasted only seven laps before he and his riding mechanic Robert Vernon were sidelined with a clutch shaft failure and he was placed 26^th in the field of 27 starters.  

Gil Andersen in the #3 dueled the eventual race winner Jules Goux for many laps in the middle stages of the race, and led 18 laps, but eventually faded. The Stutz retired on lap 187 with camshaft gear failed in the car’s Wisconsin engine and relegated Andersen and riding mechanic Frank Agan to a twelfth-place finish.  While not listed in the official AAA race statistics, Joe Dawson’s race report in the May 31, 1913 Indianapolis Star stated that Herr relieved Andersen following a pit stop to replace two tires that was completed in just 57 seconds. 

The third Stutz driver by Merz with the 1912 ‘500’ wining riding mechanic Harry Martin alongside had a dramatic end to their day. After a steady performance most of the day running with the leaders, with just a few laps to go, a fuel line feeding the Wisconsin engine cracked and began to leak. Then on their next to last lap, the engine burst into flame.

Having come this far, Merz and Martin were unwilling to abandon their 6-1/2 hours of effort (remember a racer had to finish the full distance to receive any prize money), so Merz leaned away from the flames and Martin bravely crawled forward and used his jacket to try to beat back the flames. The #2 Stutz crossed the finish line in flames and the pair’s bravery was rewarded with a third-place finish and a check for $5000 ($130,000 today). 

Sadly, less than a month later, Harry Martin the heroic mechanic was killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during a private Stutz test. Martin a 24-year old native of Fulton Indiana was killed instantly according to the Indianapolis Star and his riding mechanic Frank Agan was severely injured. 

Accounts of the day June 26, 1913 indicated that Martin who was driving completed four laps around the oval and that team owner Harry Stutz signaled for Martin to slow down. Martin initially slowed down but sped up again towards the end of the fifth lap when the tragedy occurred. Witnesses stated that the right front tire blew out, swerved into the wall then began overturned multiple times for approximately 100 yards.

Team members that included Merz and Stutz removed the pair from the wreckage and they were rushed to the City Hospital, where Martin was pronounced dead upon arrival while Agan, 31, was admitted with head and chest injuries and was initially not expected to survive his injuries.  Agan recovered and lived until 1961 when he died at the ripe age of 80.

After racing

Don Herr, at the time of Martin’s fatality, had already stepped away from competitive race driving and planned for a life away from racing, largely based on his hair-raising experience with Howdy Wilcox in 1912.  In May 1913, the Horseless Age reported that Wilcox and Herr with a partner BW Rout started the Indianapolis Auto Sales Co., an auto livery business based at 522 North Delaware in Indianapolis.

Earl Cooper took over the driving duties of the #8 Stutz for the balance of the 1913 AAA racing season and won five consecutive races - the Potlach Trophy and Montamarathon Trophy Races in July at Tacoma Washington, the Santa Monica Road Race in August, and two races held the same day, September 9 1913 in Corona California and was considered the 1913 AAA season driving champion.

In 1916 the Indianapolis News reported that Wilcox and Herr had taken on the Indiana distribution of White and Case cars built by the J L Case Company of Racine Wisconsin. In 1919, Wilcox won the Liberty 500-mile Sweepstakes and he invested his winnings wisely as he and Herr became the owners of the Yellow Cab Taxi Company in Indianapolis.

Herr was exempt from the military draft for World War One, as he was married with a dependent child. During 1920, Donald Herr made an unsuccessful bid for the office of Indiana State Representative from Indianapolis’ fourth ward, for which he reportedly spent $15 in campaigning.

After Howdy Wilcox’ Labor Day 1923 fatal accident at the blindingly fast Altoona Pennsylvania1-1/4-mile board track after a tire failure on his Duesenberg, Herr and Wilcox’ mother sold the Yellow Cab Company to the Blue Cab Company, and Herr formed the Don Herr Cab Company, Garage and Auto Laundry at 111 Kentucky Avenue in downtown Indianapolis.

Herr’s shop in addition to performing general automotive repairs later became a sales agent for the short-lived Wills Sainte Claire automobile and a licensed applicator of the Duco auto refinishing system patented and distributed by the E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company. Although his earlier political career had fizzled, in the early 1930’s Herr was elected President of the Indiana State Automobile Association and later rose to become the president of the National Automotive Maintenance Association. 

In 1937, Herr sold his garage business and went to work for the Ramsey Accessories Manufacturing Company (RAMCO piston rings) as the manager for their central states’ sales operations with an office in the Merchants Bank building in Indianapolis.

Since the mid 1920’s, Herr had owned the 1912 ‘500’ winning National and occasionally drove the car in parades accompanied by one of his two sons.  In May 1939, Don rode along as Henry McLemore, the nationally syndicated Hearst newspapers sports columnist drove the old car on a two-lap spin around the Indianapolis track.

McLemore stated that “the National handles like a mired army tank must handle. To turn her wheels is a feat of strength, to straighten them another.” McLemore stated that the National was “equipped with a motor that any housewife would brand as unfit for her washing machine” after the pair reportedly sped down the straightaway at 28 MPH. 

Herr, who had driven the car to victory at Elgin in 1911 as well as at Indianapolis in 1912 was quoted in the column: “No one could have convinced me the day we came out for the race that there would ever be a faster prettier car then this one. She was so pretty in her day that people used to stand around her by the hour just to admire her graceful lines.”

The Federal Mogul Service Division plant seen during the 1950's  

In 1945, Herr accepted a job as the manager for the newly-formed service division (sales to the replacement market) for the Federal-Mogul Corporation, sold the family home and moved with his wife Lauretta to Coldwater Michigan.   

Just weeks after his son, Robert’s wedding, Herr died at age 63 on June 21, 1953 at his vacation home on Lake James Indiana. He is interred as are many of auto racing’s greatest names in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.   

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.