The Pete Kreis story Part four - 1929 through 1931

 

The Pete Kreis story

Part four - 1929 through 1931

In February 1929, 29-year-old Albert Jacob ‘Pete’ Kreis was named in a lawsuit by a dancer named Irma Sedivic for injuries she suffered in a brawl in the Avalon nightclub in St Louis on December 22 1928. Ms. Sedivic alleged in her suit that Kreis threw a glass goblet during a club melee that injured her eye and asked for $25,000 in actual damages and $25,000 in punitive damages. 

In response, Pete told Knoxville reporters that it was a case of mistaken identity, saying “I had nothing to do with throwing that goblet.” The author has been unable to find any information about the final outcome of the case.  

When entries closed for the 17^th running of the International 500-mile Sweepstakes on May 30 1929 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, no team nominated Pete Kreis as a driver. Kreis nonetheless made his annual trip from Knoxville Tennessee to Indianapolis in May to watch practice and visit his friends in the racing community.

All the racers knew that this would be the last time that they would race under the 91-1/2 cubic inch rules package. On January 17 1929, the American Automobile Association (AAA) Contest Board published the new rules package for the 1930 Indianapolis 500- mile race pushed through by Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Eddie Rickenbacker.

As the AAA stated, "At the request of the Speedway, engineers drew up a set of regulations designed to return a type of car less expensive, less specialized and calculated to furnish experimental departments with more constant and tangible lessons of value in every-day motor car designing and building."  

Throughout the month of May 1929, Tommy Milton and the ‘Detroit Special’ team tested the car which Milton and Van Ranst refined over the long winter. Van Ranst and Milton developed new designs for the engine block, timing gears, and valve springs to deal with the engine’s high boost pressure. Chief among the new innovations were the enlarged “pop-off valves” in the supercharger piping system which now sported a large external intercooler.  

These valves redesigned by Cornelius Van Ranst with larger surface areas were located in the supercharger piping and designed to open when the supercharger or engine backfired to relieve pressure rather than wreck the manifolds on the straight-eight Miller engine. Van Ranst also designed a new rubber coupling for the supercharger drive.    

As he waited for mechanic Harry “Cotton” Henning to reassemble the Miller front drive entered for him by Santa Ana California oil company executive M R. “Dick” Dodd, Milton’s protégé Bob McDonogh turned many laps of practice over the 2-1/2 mile brick oval in the ‘Detroit Special’ as the Milton team waited for the car owner - multi-millionaire sportsman, financier and driver - Russell “Cliff” Durant to appear.

Cliff Durant photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

On the evening of May 22^nd, just two days before time trials began, the hard-living Durant announced the end of his 14-year race car driving career at age 38 and named Pete Kreis as his replacement. “Time has taken its toll” said Durant in an Indianapolis Star interview, “I could not give the car which Milton has prepared the ride it deserves.” 

With little time to test, Pete Kreis drove the ‘Detroit Special’ to the second fastest qualifying time on the second day of time of Sunday May 26^th.  Johnny Seymour in a Cooper Engineering Company front-drive (Marmon did not renew the 1928 sponsorship) qualified with a 114 MPH average followed by Kreis in the ‘Detroit Special’ at 112.528 MPH. The pair started the 1929 Indianapolis 500-mile race side by side in the seventh row.   

The 1929 Indianapolis 500-mile race starting field included two cars with female owners. Maude Yagle of Philadelphia owned the #2 Simplex Piston Ring Special formerly owned by Frank Lockhart and driven by Ray Keech, while Marion Batten the widow of Norm Batten lost at sea in the sinking of the SS Vestris in November 1928 owned the #49 Miller driven by Wes Crawford.

Pete Kreis and the Detroit Special in the garage area in 1929 

Contemporary new reports suggest that Kreis and the ‘Detroit Special’ ran well, in the top five as they neared the 200-mile mark, but the engine seized on course on its 91^st lap. Pete returned to the pit area and relieved Cliff Bergere behind the wheel of the ‘Armacost Special ‘Miller front-drive for 54 laps. Pete turned the car back over to Cliff on lap 146 and Bergere drove the rest of the way to finish in ninth place and earn $1,500.

Pete Kreis left Indianapolis with the knowledge that if he drove at the Speedway again in 1930, the cars would be fair different than the small jewel-like Miller machines with which he became familiar. In general, the new rules package for the 1930 Indianapolis 500-mile race were in the AAA’s words  “designed to produce either (a) a car susceptible of adaption from production car chassis or (b) development cars that embody new engineering principles or adaptions as contrasted against what may be termed ‘normal’ cars.”  Rickenbacker and the AAA officials believed that passenger car manufacturers would become involved in racing in a big way.

Beginning with the 1930 ‘500,’ engine size was limited to 366 cubic inches with a maximum of two valves per cylinder no supercharging allowed and a maximum of two carburetors. Each race car weighed a minimum of 7-1/2 pounds per cubic inch of engine displacement and not less than 1750 pounds in any case. By comparison a 1929 Miller 91 typically weighed 1450 pounds. Finally, each car would carry both a driver and a riding mechanic. Today, historians derisively refer to this rules package as the “Junk Formula.”

Harry Hartz recovered from burns and back in racing as a car builder and owner bought the Miller front-drive chassis #2703 built for Peter DePaolo in 1927 that had been driven by Bob McDonogh in 1929 for car owner Dick Dodd.  With the help of metalsmith Phil Sommers Hartz converted the car into the required two-man configuration. For power, Hartz built a 152-cubic inch Miller engine with his stash of leftover Miller 122-cubic inch parts.

Early in the month of May 1930 Hartz, Ralph Hepburn, and Billy Arnold all took practice laps in the car (Miller-Hartz 1) which led to speculation who would drive the car in the race. On the first day of time trials, Hartz took the car out, made a single timed lap at 110 MPH and returned to the pit area.

Later in the day, Arnold took the car out for a qualifying attempt with William “Spider” Matlock as his riding mechanic. The pair won the coveted pole position with a speed of 113. 268 MPH, the fastest car by over two miles an hour. Peter Kreis spent the month of May 1930 in Indianapolis but never landed a ride. After the race, Pete returned to his construction project in Kansas.

On Race Day 1930, second fastest qualifier Louis Meyer the 1928 500-mile race winner took the early lead, but Arnold passed him on lap three and never looked back. Arnold led a record 198 laps and won by seven minutes (estimated as four laps) over William “Shorty” Cantlon in a 183-cubic inch Miller powered machine owned by Bill “Hollywood” White.

Lou Moore and Floyd Sparks built two front-drive machines for the 1930 Indianapolis ‘500’ the Coleman Motors Company that built four-wheel drive trucks. Coleman intended for Joe Unser (uncle to Al Senior and Bobby) to drive one car and Moore the other but Unser died in an accident and was replaced by Phil “Red” Shafer. Both Coleman cars, which reportedly used parts from Coleman production vehicles, qualified for the 1930 ‘500.’ The #14 Coleman driven by Moore and mechanic Sparks wound up perched on top of the third turn wall after a six-car tangle on lap 23 while and Shafer finished in seventh after he started eighth with mechanic Terry Curley who started his riding career in 1922. 

For 1931, Coleman Motors entered a single car fitted with both the Miller 183 cubic inch engines to drive the front wheels. Driver Lou Moore found the beast uncontrollable and withdrew to join the Boyle Valve team. Late in the month, Pete Kreis agreed to give the car a shot. While it was undoubtedly powerful as with two engines it pushed the 366 cubic inch maximum engine size requirement, the Coleman had to be a handful to drive. On May 27, Pete qualified the Coleman Special at 102.860 MPH but subsequent clutch troubles led the team to withdraw the machine before the race.

Harry Hartz still dabbled as a driver and took test laps in Arnold’s machine during practice for the 1931 Indianapolis 500-mile race. Arnold did not qualify well, but on Race Day Arnold in the Miller-Hartz 1 passed seventeen cars and took the lead on lap 7. Arnold and riding mechanic Spider Matlock led the next 155 laps through intermittent rain showers that slowed the field twice. On lap 162, with a five-lap lead, Arnold spun in oil on the track in turn three and collided with Luther Johnson’s Studebaker.   

The Miller-Hartz hit the north short chute wall rolled over and both Arnold and Matlock were injured as Arnold suffered a broken pelvis and Matlock a broken collar bone. A wheel off the car flew over the wall bounced, rolled and struck young Wilbur Brink playing in the front yard of his family home on Georgetown Road. The 11-year old boy later died from his injuries.

After crews cleared the accident, Indianapolis police officer Louis Schenider took the lead in the Bowes Seal Fast-sponsored Miller-powered machine and won in the 1930 International 500-mile Sweepstakes by 43 seconds over Fred Frame in Hartz’ second entry, a 142-cubic inch Duesenberg powered machine.    

During the 1931 500-mile race, records credit Pete Kreis with 53 laps driven in relief of Ralph Hepburn in Harry Miller’s entry. On lap 144, Hepburn returned to the seat and finished the race in third place. The local Knoxville newspapers suggested that without Kreis’ assistance, Hepburn would not have finished in third place. Depending on which paper you read, Kreis drove either 250 or 300 miles. The Knoxville News-Sentinel claimed that Pete’s performance “marks him as one of the outstanding drivers in the game.”

Less than a month after the 1931 ‘500,’ Kreis announced that he had accepted the role of manager at the Morristown Speedway in Morristown Tennessee and that his first race promotion would be on July 4^th. 

Alternately known as Inskip Speedway, the ¾-mile dirt oval built in 1928 by a group of six men led by Fred Wallace. The track near the community of Inskip planned to stage its first race on Labor Day 1928, but rain ruined the opening. The track known as the Knoxville Motor Speedway set its opening for September 8 1928 but continued rains postponed the opening to Sunday September 16 1928. The selection of this date immediately caused controversy as ten local pastors protested races held on Sunday but manager Frank Easley ignored the outcry and staged the races anyway.

The opening day’s races boasted 8000 fans who saw Homer Linebaugh win the 50-lap feature in his Essex after early leader Al Romans’ Frontenac Ford overheated while he held a lap and a half lead.  Gordon Willis won the 14-lap and 25-lap races in the second event held on Sunday October 14, and it appears that the season finale set for Armistice Day November 11 1928 rained out.   

During the winter of 1928-1929 Easley proposed a slate of four races for 1929 on Decoration Day, Jul 4^th, Labor Day and Armistice Day but in early March the original ownership was replaced by a new group led by Joe B “JB” Cate.  “JB” came to Knoxville in 1923 as a traveling demonstrator of the Rickenbacker automobile then stayed in town and worked as a real estate salesman and later finance company official.

The new group which boasted $50,000 in capitalization planned eight races for 1929, with the planned construction of a 30,000-seat grandstand and the track was rebuilt with 90-foot radius turns with 8 feet of banking and 70-foot wide straightaways. 

After successful 1929 and 1930 racing seasons which drew big-name drivers to Knoxville that included Al Theisen in the Witte “Dayton Special” and Mauri Rose in the John Vance Special from Dayton the future appeared bright. But in late October 1930 Cate was charged with theft and in March 1931 the Knox County Grand Jury indicted Cate for the alleged embezzlement of $500 from the Knoxville Motor Speedway involving a stock sale.

Cate’s involvement with the Inskip Speedway ended with his indictment, and Pete Kreis temporarily took over as track manager for several months.  Cate pled not guilty and a jury acquitted him in October 1931.  The Knoxville track continued to operate under a succession of different managers through the 1935 season.

Our final installment will review Pete Kreis’ life after 1931.

Clare Lawicki – “Little 500” standout

Several weeks ago, Roger Zellner posted this photograph on Facebook of Steve Benovich’s beautiful upright sprint car at the Dayton Speedway.  Clare Lawicki who hailed from the Northern Detroit suburbs crashed and destroyed this car which had originally been owned by Bud Tingelstad in a United States Auto Club (USAC) race at Dayton in April 1970.  

 

Photo courtesy of Roger Zellner

 

Clare Lawicki first became known while racing “hot rod” roadsters at the ¼-mile dirt Motor City Speedway in Warren Township of Detroit. It’s unclear when he started racing but on May 7 1950 he was involved when tragedy struck on the fourth lap of the day’s 20-lap feature race.  Lawicki’s roadster “locked wheels” with Louis Smith Jr.’s machine and both cars flipped over the retaining wall. Because he had the presence of mind to duck under the cowling of his car at the beginning of the crash, Clare escaped with only cuts and bruises.

Unfortunately, Louis Smith fared much worse in the accident and though newspapers initially reported that the 33-year old driver had suffered a broken arm and internal injuries, doctors at Detroit’s Holy Cross Hospital found Smith had suffered a severe spinal injury and was paralyzed. Tragically, Smith passed away the next day from his injuries just five minutes before his parents arrived from their home in Waukegan Illinois.

Many of the highlights of Lawicki’s racing career came at the high-banked ¼-mile asphalt Sun Valley Speedway in Anderson Indiana, home of the annual 500-lap “Little 500” race. Lawicki first competed in the “Little 500” in 1954 when he drove the #57 Mercury V8-powered “hot rod” roadster owned by Birmingham Michigan’s Harold Thomas. Lawicki qualified with a single lap of 15.06 seconds, far off Tom Cherry’s new track record of 14.340 seconds, to start 17th in the field.

The 33-car field was paced to the start by cowboy star Roy Rogers in Dodge Royal 500 convertible.  Lawicki’s rookie finish in the race is lost to history (as only the top ten finishers were reported) in a race that was marred by two separate incidents in which axles broke on race cars and sent errant wheels went into the grandstands which injured nine fans.  1950 and 1952 winner Tom Cherry led an amazing 495 laps to win his third “Little 500” crown.

On July 11 1954 Clare took part in a National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) event held at the ½-mile dirt Grand Rapids Speedrome, and finished 11th driving a 1949 Ford. Lawicki finished 25 laps behind the winning 1954 Chrysler driven by Randleman North Carolina’s Lee Petty and won $25 in prize money. 

The following year, with the race again sanctioned by the Mutual Racing Association (MRA) for the “roaring roadsters,” Lawicki again drove Thomas’ roadster. After 30-year old singer Mel “the Velvet Fog” Torme paced the field in a 1955 Ford convertible before the start, Clare who had qualified seventh ran in third place at the 100-, 200-, and 300- lap points of the race but apparently had mechanical problems later as he was credited with a 14th place finish with 375 laps completed behind 4-time winner Tom Cherry who led an amazing 450 of the 500 laps.  

 

A photo of the 1956 Desoto Indy 500 Pace Car

Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor

Speedway Collection

 

In 1956, the “Little 500” sanctioned by the All-American Racing Club (AARC) was postponed from Saturday night May 26 to May 29 by rain, and Lawicki who qualified 22nd in the Harold Thomas machine. The start of the “Little 500” was paced by the same gold and white 1956 Desoto “Pacesetter” Fireflite convertible coupe driven by L. Irving “Irv” Woolson the Desoto division president the same pairing that paced the start of the next day’s Indianapolis 500.  

 

Lawicki’s was the first car that retired from the 500-lap race with mechanical failure and he was credited with one completed lap. Later in 1956, Clare notched two “outlaw” sprint car feature wins at the familiar confines of Motor City Speedway in July and August in fields that also featured Al Miller, Richard ‘Red” Amick and Ronnie Duman.     

Clare Lawicki was absent from the 1957 “Little 500” (the running of which was delayed by weather until July 6), but he did race in a sprint car race held August 25 1957 at the high-banked ¼-mile paved Cincinnati Race Bowl. Five cars broke the track record, led by Leon Clum’s 12.708 second lap. Clare won the first heat race and then finished the 35-lap feature race in fifth place behind Al Miller, Pete Allen, Johnny White, and Duman.

Lawicki missed the 1958 and 1959 running of the 500-lap “Little 500” classic at Sun Valley Speedway as the cars transitioned into what we today recognize as sprint cars. Clare returned in May 1960 behind the wheel of John Bennett’s #66 sprint car and qualified at 58.350 seconds for his four-lap run to start ninth on the outside of the third row.

After the start paced by actor James Garner behind the wheel of a 1960 Chevrolet convertible outfitted with rear fender skirts, Parnelli Jones surged into the lead in the Fike Plumbing sprinter from his front row starting position and led 102 laps.

 

The 1959 winner Ronnie Duman sailed past Jones into the lead on lap 371 and never looked back and defeated Parnelli by two laps. Lawicki finished sixth, 79 laps behind Duman who drove Hoy Stevens’ GMC-powered machine which had won the “Little 500” in 1957 and 1959 and finished third in 1958.

Hoy Stevens was a Pontiac/GMC dealer from Fredericktown Ohio who owned the #37 black and white trimmed sprint car powered by a 12-port cylinder head fitted to a 306-cubic inch GMC inline six-cylinder engine. In 1959 Stevens bought the patterns and drawings for the Horning-Fisher 12-port heads form California and had four new aluminum heads cast in a foundry in nearby Columbus Ohio.     

For the 1961 “Little 500” Lawicki moved into the seat of Stevens’ three-time winning GMC-powered machine and won the pole position with a four-lap run of 55.79 seconds. Pre-race activities included the arrival of the pace car driver, cowboy star Clint Walker in the infield via helicopter as only hours earlier he had appeared in the ‘500’ festival parade in Indianapolis.

Clare led the race’s first nine laps and finished the race in second place, fifteen laps behind rookie race winner Jim McElreath and seven laps ahead of the third place car driven by the 1951 winner Marlin “Red” Renner. Later in the 1961 racing season Clare appeared at three USAC sprint car races at Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP) and New Bremen with the Stevens’ GMC sprint car but failed to qualify for the 15-car starting fields.

In 1962 Lawicki started the season with a non-qualifying effort at Salem Speedway as the GMC powered car timed in the slowest of the 22 cars entered, but he rebounded in early May with a 12th place finish at New Bremen after starting shotgun on the field. The International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) was in its first year of sanctioning the “Little 500” at Sun Valley Speedway, and IMCA brought out its roster of stars that included young Texan Johnny Rutherford, who won the pole, Gordon Wooley, Johnny White, and Pete Folse.

1962 “Little 500” pre-race activities featured as the pace car driver actor Vincent Edwards (aka Dr. Ben Casey) who received protection from local National Guard troops to prevent a reoccurrence of the mob scene that had occurred days earlier in Indianapolis.  Lawicki started the race in eleventh place and ran strongly most of the race in the top five, and held the lead from lap 438 to lap 481, when Arnie Knepper of Bellville Illinois passed him for the lead and held on to win over Clare by half a lap.

Five days later, Lawicki and the Stevens GMC qualified for the fifteenth and last starting position for the USAC feature at the ½-mile dirt New Bremen Speedway and after the 30-lap race marked by high attrition, finished in ninth place. Unfortunately Clare’s subsequent attempts to qualify for five other 1962 USAC sprint car races fell short at IRP, Reading Pennsylvania, New Bremen, and Salem Speedway.

In early 1963, Lawicki and the GMC-powered car failed to qualify for the twin 50-lap feature program at the brutal 1-mile circular Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania as he timed 28th fastest out of the 29 cars entered. AJ Foyt won the first 50-lap race ahead of Roger McCluskey, but during the second feature tragedy struck on the 41st lap. Bobby Marvin a rising star on the USAC racing scene in 1962 drifted too high in turn two hooked the outside guardrail and flipped. The car came to rest in flames and the race was stopped with leader Roger McCluskey declared the winner.

Lawicki failed to qualify the Hoy Stevens GMC machine for the 1963 “Little 500” starting field but still competed in the race. Bud Randall had qualified one two cars entered by Hoosier sprint car legend Ennis “Dizz” Wilson for the eighteenth starting spot, but Clare started the car instead and though the car retired with overheating problems on the 452nd lap, Lawicki was placed in the twelfth finishing position.

Similar circumstances again resulted in Clare running the “Little 500” in 1964. After Dick Gaines qualified the “Dizz” Wilson Chevy sprinter in 32nd starting spot, Lawicki replaced him at the last minute.  Indianapolis television show host Don Melvoin drove the 1964 ½ Ford Mustang convertible pace car to start the race, then Clare drove the #72 car up through the field to finish tenth with 442 laps completed in an event which was won by surprise winner Dick Good who drove a Indianapolis roadster style machine to victory with an eight-lap margin.

In February 1966 Lawicki debuted with the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) stock cars at the 2-1/2 mile high-banked Daytona International Speedway. He finished 10th in his 25-mile qualifying race but for the ‘ARCA Daytona 250’ itself, the #23 1966 Dodge Charger entry was driven by long-time ARCA competitor Jack Shanklin.  

After not competing in the 1965 “Little 500,” Clare Lawicki returned in 1966 behind the wheel of a familiar car, the ex-Hoy Stevens GMC-powered sprint car owned by Avery Adams of Belleville Ohio. The best time that Lawicki could coax out of the old two-time winner was 26th starting place. The fastest qualifier, Dean Mast in a caged supermodified fitted with a roof panel set a pair of new track records, four laps at 53.13 seconds and his fastest single lap timed at 13.09 seconds.

 

On May 28 front row starter Rollie Beale won as he drove the ‘Don-Ken Special,’ owned by Toledo transmission shop owner Kenny Lay, to victory  before a crowd of 14,500 spectators reportedly the largest crowd in the history of the event. Lawicki finished eighteenth in the six-cylinder GMC powered car, 65 laps behind the winner.

Lawicki’s tenth and final “Little 500”appearance came in 1967 behind the wheel of former driver Don Friend’s machine. Friend, a two-time “Little 500” starter in 1961 and 1963, had crashed Ted Helke’s yellow roadster in turn one at Winchester Speedway during an IMCA sprint car race on the third lap of the May 10 1964 feature. Friend’s driving career ended when the car “submarined” under the steel guardrail and Don suffered a skull fracture and his left arm was severed at the elbow.

Lawicki qualified Friend’s # 74 sprint car in 25th place for the 1967 race and then dropped out of the race on lap 255 with unspecified mechanical problems. The race’s pole-sitter Darl Harrisons won the race by three laps over Jerry Reichert with relief from Cy Fairchild over the last 115 laps.

In 1969, Lawicki drove the Benovich sprint car shown in the lead photograph at eight USAC paved track events, and the author strongly suspects that Clare tried to qualify for the “Little 500” but did not make the starting field. At June 1 at Dayton Speedway Lawicki failed to finish the 30-lap feature due to his involvement in an accident with Jim Smith, who retired after flipping out of the track.

Clare posted an eighth place finish at Toledo Speedway in the red and gold leaf trimmed sprinter, and then failed to finish at Heidelberg, New Bremen and Michigan’s 3/8-mile Berlin Speedway.   In September Clare finished fifth in the 50 lap feature behind Gary Bettenhausen Rollie Beale, Cy Fairchild and Larry Dickson, and the following month finished ninth at Salem Speedway after 30 laps of the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial.

The USAC sprint cars made their 1970 season debut on the high-banked half-mile Dayton Speedway on Sunday April 12. In just the season’s fourth race it was already shaping up to be a continuation of “the Larry and Gary Show,” as Larry Dickson, the 1968 USAC sprint car series champion, had won the 1970 season’s first two sprint car races in Florida, while the 1969 USAC sprint car series champion Gary Bettenhausen had won the week before at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg Ohio.

In addition to Bettenhausen and Dickson, the field of entries featured 1966 “Little 500” winner Rollie Beale, Greg Weld, 1968 “Little 500” champion Karl Busson and a local 22-year old hydroplane racer named David “Salt” Walther. In qualifying Bettenhausen set the pace for the 20-car field and slotted in sixth for the feature start, while Clare Lawicki was set the start 14th on the outside of the seventh row.

After several failed attempts to start the scheduled 40-lap race, the green flag flew and Lee Kunzman charged into the lead from his pole position starting position. As the field streamed into the first turn, Lawicki attempted an outside pass for position but instead ran nearly head-on into the two-tier Armco steel outer guardrail.  The resulting impact sheared off the front of the car; a pair of photographers shooting from an unauthorized area where struck by debris and injured.  

Clare was trapped in the mangled wreckage for 15 minutes but once he was cut free and out of the remains of the Benovich sprinter, emergency personnel found that miraculously he had suffered multiple contusions on his legs and a broken wrist. When the racing resumed, Beale took the lead and led late into the race before his car’s engine failed and Dickson inherited the win. The crash apparently ended Clare Lawicki’s racing career and the Benovich car was a total loss.

Steve Benovich told observers at Dayton that day that he was out of money and that he was done with racing but he was premature in his statement.   Three years later in 1973 Benovich entered another #54 sprint car for the April 29 USAC feature at Eldora for the 1967 and 1970 “Little 500” winner and 1971 USAC rookie of the year Darl Harrison.

As reported in the following day’s Kokomo (Indiana) Tribune reported that during the feature Harrison’s car hit the outside rail coming out of the first turn on the 28th lap and flipped six times. Harrison was described as “severely shaken but otherwise unhurt” and the second Benovich sprint car was destroyed.  Sammy Sessions, the series’ defending champion grabbed the lead after the re-start in Mauri Amerling’s #1 car and held on to win the crash-filled 40-lap feature.

For his outstanding record in the “Little 500” with 3,366 laps completed, his pole position start in 1961, back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1961 and 1962, and two other top ten finishes in 1960 and 1964, Clare Lawicki was inducted into the “Little 500” Hall of Fame in 2009.  

The author is interested in learning more about driver Clare Lawicki – contact the author at kevracerhistory@aol.com

 

     

 

 

 

     

 

George Souders- the story of the 1927 ‘500’ winner

Part four

George Souders - 1927 Indianapolis 500 champion

Photograph appears courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

George Souders in Europe

Following his surprising 1927 Indianapolis ‘500’ victory George Souders made only one other AAA (American Automobile Association) 1927 championship appearance at Altoona Pennsylvania in June before he traveled to Europe to compete on the Grand Prix circuit.

In 1927, the Grand Prix circuit was much different than it is today. Organized by the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) (translated into English as the International Association of Recognized Automobile Clubs) the 1927 world championship encompassed only five events. The five races began with the Indianapolis 500-mile race followed by the French, Spanish, and European (held in Italy) and ended in October with the British Grand Prix.

Championship points were much different as they awarded to the marque, not the driver. In order to be eligible for the championship the car builder had to participate in at least two races. The manufacturer that scored the lowest point total was awarded the 1927 championship.  Points were awarded to the highest finishing car of each marque with one point for the win, two points for second place and three points for the third finisher. A car that simply finished a race out of the top three earned that its builder four points, while a “did not finish” result was awarded five points and a “no entry” or “no start” earned the team six points,.

The championship was open to single-seat bodied cars with a body having a minimum width of 80 centimeters (31-7/16 inches)  powered by engines not displacing more than 91 ½ cubic inches (1.5 liters).  Duesenberg took the early 1927 AIACR world championship lead by winning the Indianapolis ‘500’, followed by Miller, while the French manufacturers Delage and Bugatti each received six points for their lack of participation. George Fernic was entered in the ‘500’ in a Bugatti, although he failed to make the starting field after his car broke a connecting rod in practice. 

Neither Duesenberg or Miller cars appeared at the French and Spanish Grand Prix events in July, both won by Delage, which after three races left Delage with the points lead with 8 points, followed by Bugatti and Duesenberg tied with thirteen points, as Caberto Conelli’s Bugatti had finished second in Spain. Three American cars appeared at the European Grand Prix held at Monza in Italy – two Millers driven by Earl Cooper and Peter Kreis and Souders in a Duesenberg. Since the American cars’ bodies did not meet the minimum width requirement, the cars raced with crude boxes grafted onto the body to meet the spirit of the AIACR 31-7/16 inch body width rule.   

The September 4th race at Monza with just six entries was run in a rainstorm after a six abreast standing start. Kreis who had qualified third was out after the first lap with a split crankcase, while Souders retired after twelve laps with carburetor and magneto troubles from water intrusion.  Robert Benoist in his supercharged straight-eight double overhead camshaft Delage 155B won his third straight race while Cooper finished in third place with relief from Kreis. At the end of the fourth 1927 season race the championship points tally was Delage leading with nine points, followed by Miller with 17 points and Duesenberg third with 18 points.

 

Since they had no mathematical chance to capture the championship neither the Miller nor Duesenberg teams appeared at the October 1 British Grand Prix held on the high-speed rough concrete Brooklands track which used part of the high-banked oval. Delage led by Benoist swept the first three places, followed by six Bugatti racers.  

In the final season points tally, Delage captured the world championship with ten markers, followed by Miller with 23 and Duesenberg tied for third with Bugatti with 24 points due to the four points Bugatti earned in the British Grands Prix by Louis Chiron’s finish.  Robert Benoist later received the Legion of Honor medal from the French President for his accomplishment of four straight victories in French-built racing car.

After winning the world championship, Delage dropped out of racing following the 1927 season and sold the racing cars, one of which appeared in the 1929 Indianapolis 500-mile race driven by Louis Chiron.  Benoist who wound up without a Grand Prix ride for the two-race 1928 Grand Prix season later worked for the Bugatti factory and then served with the French Resistance in World War Two before he was captured and executed at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

George Souders in 1928

On February 9 1928 in Fort Worth Texas George Souders married Ruth Heeman identified as his college sweetheart who was also a practicing lawyer in Texas.  The Huntington (Indiana) Herald newspaper of April 21 1928 in an article headlined “Effect of matrimony to be noted,”  revealed that “the young driver who in his first year of big league racing won the International 500-mile race on the most difficult race course in the world has no business worries. His lawyer-wife can negotiate his contracts and other tangled skeins of commercial commotion that cause temperamental and un-businesslike sportsmen more hours of grief and worry than their speed creations.”

 

 

George Souders in his 1928 '500' entry

 Photograph appears courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

 

George’s entry in the 16th annual International 500-mile Sweepstakes, a two-year old light blue and white trimmed supercharged 91-cubic inch Miller was purchased by William S. White from Harry Hartz. Under Hartz the car was driven by Fred Comer to a fourth place finish in the 1926 ‘500’ and sixth in the 1926 AAA (American Automobile Association) season points, with a total of eight top-five finishes during the season. Eddie Hearne drove the car to a 7th place in the 1927 ‘500’ before the car was sold to White who entered the car for Souders at Indianapolis with sponsorship from the State Auto Mutual Insurance Company of Columbus Ohio.    

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself was under new leadership for 1928 after Captain Eddie Rickenbacker led a group of investors that bought the facility on November 1, 1927.  The defending champion reportedly had early steering problems with the Miller traced to the ½-inch wider new for 1928 Firestone “balloon” tires  Souders but still qualified on the first day of time trials May 26th with a four-lap average of 111.444 miles per hour (MPH). The starting field wound up short of a full field after three days of qualifying, and remained short with only 29 cars even after the track held time trials the morning of the race.  

Starting from the twelfth position on the outside of the fourth row on Decoration Day Souders led race for 16 laps from lap 63 to lap 78, and never ran lower than fourth place after first 100 miles. However, Souders was never in contention for the win due to two added pit stops because of two blown Firestone tires.

 

Years later Souders, who finished in third place 5-1/2 minutes behind rookie winner Louie Meyer, stated in an Indianapolis Star interview “I should have had my head examined for not driving the Duesy.” The previous year’s winning supercharged Duesenberg, still owned by White was driven to an eighth place finish by Souders’ teammate Fred Frame who also carried State Auto Insurance sponsorship.  

Souders and Bill White’s Miller appeared at the next 1928 AAA championship round on the one-mile dirt oval at the Michigan State Fairgrounds held June 10 in Detroit. The program featured a 100-mile race for the supercharged AAA championship car supplemented by a scheduled 50-mile support race for twelve non-supercharged cars.

Souders qualified in the eighth positon in the 14-car field on a track that had been treated with calcium chloride following three straight days of rain but on the second lap was hit in the mouth by a rock and retired after he completed just two laps. Souders lost his right lateral incisor in the incident and forever after wore a gold tooth in its place.  

On July 4 at the Rockingham Speedway 1-1/4 mile board track in Salem New Hampshire Souders in the #3 Miller failed to qualify for the 14-car starting field as did his teammate Jimmy Gleason in the old Duesenberg. Eleven days later, George appeared at the non-championship “Knights Templar 100” and this second visit to the Michigan State Fairgrounds Detroit nearly cost him his life.

The third week of July 1928 the City of Detroit hosted the 27th triennial conclave of the Knights Templar fraternal organization. In addition to the official ceremonies and the grand parade, boats were chartered for boat rides, and there were water sports, banquets, dancing, airplane trips and guided tours of ten of the city's largest factories.

The Detroit Civic Opera scheduled special performance for the Knights that included one act of "CavIeria Rusticana" and the following night a ballet entitled "Moon God."  Mid-week one thousand children recruited from the city's playfields participated in a special show held on Belle Isle; first was a pageant fore 500 girls followed by a juvenile circus with an equal number of boys.  

The automobile race on Sunday was held in honor of George W. Vallery of Denver the 27th Grand Master of the Knights, who occupied a special band stand built in front of the reserved grandstand for him and his honored guests which included Governor Fred W. Green.  A few days before the race, the Detroit Free Press reported that with the official close of entries, 22 drivers had entered the race but that “late nominations are expected to bring the qualifying field up to 30 or more cars.”

Time trials started at 10 o'clock Sunday morning and concluded at 1 o'clock with the race refereed by AAA President Thomas P. Hardy and long-time AAA Contest Board representative WD “Eddie” Edenburn set to start at 3 PM. Each driver was guaranteed a chance to take one lap alone on the mile track with the fastest 14 cars qualified to start the 100-mile race.

The race records are mostly lost to time, but the account in the Chicago Tribune newspaper stated that Souders came to the pits late in the race while leading. After repairs, Souders left the pit area at high speed and then crashed through the inner guardrail in turn one as his unidentified car “turned over a dozen times and was demolished.”  The Tribune reported that only two cars finished the race; Howard Taylor of Flint Michigan won with an average speed of 73 MPH and Russell ‘Bud’ Marr who lived Detroit finished in second place lap behind Taylor.

Souders thrown from his car during the crash was unconscious when he arrived at the nearby Highland Park General Hospital suffering from a compound skull fracture, broken bones in both arms and severe body contusions. Listed in critical condition doctors were unable to x-ray for internal injuries “due to the condition of the patient.” 

On July 25 1928 an Associated Press article reported in a follow-up article that “x-rays revealed no fractured skull,” and five days later reported that Souders was “still unconscious but reported slightly improved.” Souders apparently remained unconscious for many days, perhaps weeks, and was hospitalized for many months.  Unfortunately Souders’ driving career was finished as a result of the accident. A May 28 1976 Associated Press article entitled “Time not kind to Indy Old-timer,” revealed after the crash in 1928 at Detroit, George’s broken left arm never healed properly, and George said “it fills a coat sleeve is about all.”

Souders after 1928

In February 1929 George Souders formally retired as a racing driver to enter an unidentified business in Columbus Ohio. In a May 28 1929 Associated Press story datelined Columbus Ohio Souders said he was through with racing and glad of it.  “I’m not so homesick for the smell of gasoline that I’d ever drive again,” said George, “it’s a tough racket and I’m glad to get out of it.” It was reported that Souders planned to watch the 1929 Indianapolis ‘500’ from the pit area.   

George’s 1927 ‘500’ winning Duesenberg and his 1928 State Auto Insurance Miller were damaged (or destroyed) in the March 5 1929 Los Angeles Auto Show fire in which more than 300 cars were lost. The remains of the Miller may have been sold to and rebuilt by Leon Duray although historians Michael Ferner and Mark Dees disagree on this point.

December 1929 found Souders living in Fort Worth Texas and according his former hometown newspaper the Abilene Morning News, designing a new car. The article stated Souders would not drive it but “enter it in the bigger events on the national program including the Indianapolis event when it is completed.” Souders, the News said, had returned to Fort Worth after he spent several days visiting DH Jefferies, the AAA official and promoter of many races early in Souders’ career.

 

 

George Souders as a former winner was always welcome at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Here he is pictured to the left of Speedway “rookie” Pat O’Connor next to Pat’s Lindsey Hopkins entry in 1954. Photograph appears courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

Another article from December 1929 that appeared in the Butte Montana Standard gave a few more details explaining that the Souders design combined “his theoretical engineering training gained at Purdue .with the practical knowledge of a successful career on the track. Out of this combination Souders expects to affect a real powerplant which will not only be practical but conducive to the best results in speeding competition.”

Later the Standard article described a cylinder head Souders was designing, which “will be adaptable to several basic motors now on the market and would make a stock motor conform to racing standards.”  The author could find no record of George Souders entering a car for the Indianapolis 500-mile race, but an article which concerned Souders entry of a car for the 75–mile stock car race at the Roby (Indiana) Speedway on Sunday September 14 1930 noted that “his racing team has been touring the dirt tracks of the country this summer.”

The Indianapolis Star printed a United Press International report that Souders was sued for divorce in Fort Worth Texas, April 12 1933 and that Mrs. Souders, the former Ruth Heeman, sought custody of the couple’s 2-year-old daughter Marianne born in May 1930.  While his ex-wife and daughter remained in Texas George returned to Indiana and worked in a Curtiss-Wright propeller factory in Indianapolis along with driver Adelbert “Al” Putnam during World War Two. Souders later reportedly worked at the Purdue University airport and golf course but was best remembered as operating a service station in Lafayette.

 

George was photographed in May 1967 on pit lane as he chatted with three-time winner Louis Meyer (left) who won his first ‘500’ in George’s final Indianapolis appearance in 1928. Photograph appears courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies

On December 19 1974 while he was eating breakfast in a local Lafayette restaurant a fire destroyed his three-room mobile home along with all of his old racing trophies. The Indianapolis ‘500’ Old-Timers Club, a benevolent group organized in 1961 by Souders’ old racing compatriot Harry Hartz later purchased Souders a new trailer which was located in a park across Georgetown Road from the first turn of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The New York Times reported that George aged 75 years was found dead in his apartment in Lafayette on July 26 1976. Survived by his brother, sister, and daughter, George was interred in the Battle Ground Indiana cemetery not far from the farm where he was born in 1900. The man from Battle Ground who went to Texas to establish his name in dirt-track racing then won the fabled 500-mile race in his first try, before injuries tragically ended his career at just 27 years old returned home for his eternal rest.