The history of auto racing in Haskell Texas

 

The history of auto racing in Haskell Texas

In the nineteen twenties, cotton farming was the major industry in the central Texas county of Haskell, named in honor of the Texas Revolution hero Charles Ready Haskell who died at the Alamo.       

Haskell County held fairs intermittently at various locations within the county, but that all changed in 1924. On May 22 1924, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram published news from the city of Haskell, the county seat, that on that very morning, 25 men began construction of permanent buildings and a race track with a 4000-seat grandstand on 68 acres near the city’s business district recently purchased by the Haskell County Fair Association.

The finished 5/8-mile oval dirt race track featured 6-to-1 sloped turns (9.5% banking) “to hold the swiftly moving cars safe on their course,” according to an August 1924 article in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram.

The Haskell County Fair opened its three-day run at the new location on Thursday October 2 1924, with American Automobile Association (AAA) sanctioned automobile races set for Friday.  Before the scheduled event at Haskell, the AAA racers appeared in Abilene Texas on September 26^th, Amarillo on September 27^th and Wichita Falls on September 29^th.  The Fort Worth Record-Telegram newspaper listed drivers Phil “Red” Schafer “well-known auto ace,” and Dick Calhoun from Cleveland Oklahoma as entries for the Texas swing promoted by oil transport magnate D. H. Jeffries, the AAA area representative.  

Three accidents marred the September 26^th West Texas Fair race at Abilene, one of which killed a spectator. During the day’s fourth race, a wheel came off Lee Bammel’s machine, “hopped over the fence,” as described in the Fort Worth Record-Telegram report and struck farmer T. W. “Tom” Carlisle who stood on the running board of his father-in-law’s car watching the races.  Carlisle, 28 years old and married with three children, died later at the West Texas Baptist Sanitarium in Abilene from a fractured skull. 

“Red” Shafer, the July Abilene race winner, won the first 10-mile race in his Duesenberg after early leader Dick Calhoun’s ‘Cresswell Special’ broke a connecting rod and retired for the day.  Shafer, a native of Des Moines who lived in Fort Worth, won the day’s featured event, the fifteen-mile handicap race over Harry Milburn. Shafer took the lead during the eleventh mile after he overcame the one-minute starting handicap.   

Before the races on October 3, officials treated the new Haskell track surface with a reported 360 barrels of crude oil (over 15,000 gallons) to prevent dust. The afternoon program, attended by 5,000 fans, boasted seven races and a total purse of $1,100 but a sparse field of cars  Notably absent was the highly advertised “Red” Shafer and his Duesenberg racer as he raced that day in the inaugural AAA “Raisin Day Classic“ National Championship race on the 1-mile board track in Fresno California.  

Calhoun’s troubles continued at Haskell, as his car caught fire during a practice run before time trials, but with the fire extinguished and repairs effected, the ‘Cresswell Special’ set quick time as Calhoun completed two laps in 77 seconds (58 miles per hour) and won the silver loving cup.  

J. E. Larrick of Wichita Falls won the first five-mile race for the eight fastest qualifiers, then Calhoun won the ten-mile race. During the non-qualifiers race, the right rear wheel of H.V. Link’s machine collapsed and he “came perilously near to ending in a junk heap,” according to the Fort Worth Record-Telegram report.  In the day’s featured fifteen-mile handicap race, Calhoun edged Jimmie Reeder’s Chrysler Special and German emigre Johnny Mais in his “16-valve” Dodge. For his day’s work at Haskell, Calhoun won $375.

1925

Nearly a year passed before the AAA racers returned to Haskell County. On September 25, 1925 D. H. Jeffries announced that “Red” Shafer, Ralph DePalma, Frank Lockhart and Dick Calhoun were among the twenty-five drivers entered the October 2nd races.  Shafer and Calhoun were well-known to Texas race fans, as well as DePalma, the 1915 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, while young Frank Lockhart, a relative unknown, had experienced some success behind the wheel of Harry Miller’s 183-cubic inch dirt car.

The Haskell County Fair opened its three-day run on Thursday October 1, with the races held on Friday afternoon. Among the honored guests at the races were R.Q, Lee of the West Texas Chamber of Commerce accompanied by his wife and Hardy Grissom the president of the Haskell County Fair Association.

In time trials, five drivers broke Calhoun’s year-old track record of 77 seconds, led by John Gerber (misidentified as “Goerber” and “Garber” by some sources). Gerber completed his two qualifying laps in 72 seconds with an average speed of 62 miles per hour (MPH) while Calhoun could not defend his record as his car experienced engine trouble. 

Gerber, the original ‘outlaw’ racer from Meriden Kansas, won the day’s first 10-mile race for the eight fastest qualifiers in his Chevrolet-powered “bobtail” over Shafer, then George Souders won the second race and Harry Milburn won the day’s third race, each of which were 5 miles in length. W. R Hayes won the day’s third five-mile race, then he captured the day’s featured 15-mile event and its $250 purse. J.E. Larrick finished second and George Souders (misidentified as “Souder” in some reports) originally from Lafayette Indiana but then living Abilene finished in third place and won $75.  

1926

As in 1925, the Haskell County Fair races were part of a series of Texas fair races along with races in Abilene and Amarillo.  Peter DePaolo the 1925 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner, received top billing and was joined by Elbert “Babe” Stapp, Dick Calhoun, George Souders, Fred Fame, Roy Meacham and Chester “Chet” Gardner. Frank Lockhart originally signed to appear, but after his brilliant Indianapolis 500-mile race victory, he chose to concentrate on the AAA National Championship trail, much to D. H. Jeffries’ annoyance. 

The September 22nd West Texas Fair races in Abilene were marred by the death of Freeman Minyett, a welder by trade, who suffered a fractured skull when his Frontenac-powered racer overturned.    The other racers, including Chet Gardner, the feature race winner, donated their portion of the purse to Minyett’s widowed mother.

The three-day Haskell County Fair opened on September 30^th, with the races scheduled for October 1 and 2^nd.  On the opening day of races, Fred Frame, in a Miller Special, won the first 7-1/2-mile race while Souders, who would win the 1927 Indianapolis 500-mile race, in a similar machine in third. 

Roy Meacham won the second 7-1/2-mile preliminary race, then finished second in five-mile dash behind Roy Gardner of Denver. Fred Frame won the 15-mile finale to claim $250, as Meacham in second place won $140, while Souders finished third and won $90.     

We do not have the results from the second day of races in Haskell, but during the day’s third race, Meacham of Pawhuska Oklahoma died instantly from a broken neck after his Chevrolet racer veered out of control and plunged over the embankment.  Meacham, a World War one veteran, had been a motorcycle officer in Tulsa and Pawhuska before he started racing motorcycles then graduated to racing cars in the three months before his death.  

1927

1927 saw the introduction of motorcycle racing on the Haskell 5/8-mile track on July fourth.  The fourth annual Haskell County Fair held from October 6 through 8, 1927 featured two days of automobile racing on the 7^th and 8^th. Again, results of the races are nonexistent but during the second day’s featured fifty-lap race, H.S. Fortner’s car crashed into the disabled machine of Joe Miller and overturned several times.  An ambulance rushed Fortner to the Stamford Hospital, 15 miles south of Haskell.  

Fortner who hailed from Okmulgee in east central Oklahoma reportedly passed away the following day, with the news of his death distributed widely on the Associated Press wire service. On October 12, many Texas newspapers, including the Austin American, reported that Fortner had not only not died, but was in fact “rapidly recovering.” After his recovery, Fortner relocated to the Houston area and raced briefly during the 1928 season before he started a sewing machine sales firm. 

1928

Motorcycles returned for the July 4^th races, and attracted a large field of riders and 5,000 spectators. Perrett Austin “E. A.” Kathcart from Waco established a new track record as he rode two laps on his Harley-Davidson in 77 1/5 seconds then went on to win the day’s five-mile and eight-mile events.

The AAA Contest Board granted sanction #2085 to Henry Alexander (of the Fair Board) for two days of automobile racing on October 4^th and 6^th 1928. In qualifying on the 6^th, Vic Felt, a standout driver from Colorado in his Marathon Special, lowered the track record for two laps to 68 3/5 seconds. Felt won the first event, a 7-1/2-mile (12-lap) dash over Tulsa’s John Bolling, but Bolling swept the other two races on the program, the 2-1/2 and 5-mile races in a program marred by numerous accidents but thankfully no injuries.

After 1928, horse races on the 5/8-mile track replaced automobile races during the Haskell County Fair but auto racing would return to the fairgrounds track eight years later. In the intervening years, large oil deposits were discovered in Haskell County which transformed the local economy.

1936   

The four-day Central West Texas Fair in Haskell hosted automobile racing on the first two days of the fair October 21 and 22, promoted by Eugene Tonn (the local Farm Bureau agent) and sanctioned by the Southwestern Automobile Racing Association and part of the six-race series to determine the 1936 Southwestern dirt track champion.

The Haskell race on the 21^st counted towards the title, along with races at Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Meridian Mississippi. Morris Musick, one of the five racing Musick brothers from Dallas, won the feature in a 17-car program that also featured entries from Joie Chitwood, Leonard Musick, and Augustus “Cotton” Grable, the “Blond Blizzard from Texas.”

1937 

Haskell hosted a two-day meet on July 3^rd and 4^th 1937 again promoted by Tonn, as each program featured time trials and five races - three eight-lap heat races, one five-lap handicap and the 20-lap feature. “Wild” Bill Morris of Lincoln Nebraska had great success on July 3^rd, but could not race on the 4^th as his “DO Hal” racer had reportedly “thrown a connecting rod.”

On July the fourth, 2,000 fans watched Herschel Buchanan set quick time with a 33.4 second lap. Red Hodges won the first heat race over Buchanan, but Herschel came back to win the day’s feature race over “Tex” West of Junction City Kansas.

Automobiles raced again at Haskell on October 23 1937 on the last day of the Central West Texas Fair with a scheduled field of fourteen cars. “Wild” Bill Morris led qualifying with a 38-second lap and won his heat race, then captured the feature event over Leon Fondoble and Buddy Rusch.  

1938

In 1938, the 5/8-mile dirt oval in Haskell then known either as “Fair Park Speedway” or “Haskell Speedway” hosted a two-day racing program held over the Fourth of July holiday, promoted by Oklahoma-based Joe Ziobro with the sanction provided by the Southwestern Auto Racing Association. 

On Sunday July third, Joe Termin of Dallas Texas dominated in his blue double overhead camshaft “DO Hal” powered machine, which used a conversion cylinder head built by Harold “Hal” Hosterman for the four-cylinder Ford model B engine.  Termin set quick time and new lap record of 33.3 seconds in qualifying, won his preliminary six-lap heat race and the twelve-lap feature as he finished ahead of Johnny Holland and Gene Fredrick.

William “Red” Hodges of Dallas won the second “slow” heat race despite that his car limped around the last two laps of the race on a flat tire. Lex Newbill of McKinney Texas won the day’s four-lap consolation race.  

Promoter Joe Ziobro promised the 1,200 fans a better show for Monday the fourth of July, with three new cars scheduled to arrive from Oklahoma City that included Waldo Parnett and Posey Reeves together with a possible visit by Texas Governor James Allred.

1,000 fans turned out on July fourth and saw Termin qualify second fastest.  As Termin entered the first turn on the third lap of the preliminary heat race, the right rear tire on his “DO Hal” racer failed, and the out-of-control machine went through the wooden fence and disappeared over the embankment. Termin, a 35-year old auto mechanic married less than a year, suffered fatal injuries when the car rolled over him. According to fellow racing historian Bob Lawrence, Termin’s death was the first fatality in Ziobro’s twelve years of racing promotions  

Herschel Buchanan, the 31-year old driver from Shreveport Louisiana, won the six-lap heat race which was completed under the caution flag after Termin’s crash. Oscar Coleman won the second heat race which was marred by a crash by rookie driver Arthur Rhodes in the same place as Termin’s earlier fatality, but Rhodes escaped unhurt.  “Red” Hodges captured the third heat race, then Buchanan, who years later became a two-time champion in International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) late model stock cars, won the Haskell 12-lap feature event ahead of Hodges in a time of six minutes and nine seconds.  

There were no races presented as part of the two-day 1938 West Central Texas Fair, and reportedly there were “stock car” races held in Haskell on the 5/8-mile track in August, September and October 1939 but the author has been unable to uncover any details.

There was a second Haskell Speedway which began operation in 1966 located approximately 4 miles west of the town of Haskell on farm land owned by T C Redwine and promoted by Redwine and CW McKelvain. The first two seasons the track hosted stock car races on Sunday afternoons, but for 1968 and 1969 presented races on Saturday nights.  The track apparently closed after the 1969 season.

The author has been unable to find information about the exact locations of the either the Fairgrounds 5/8-mile or the later “Haskell Speedway,” and welcomes any leads from our readers.   

The Pete Kreis story Part two - 1926 season

 

The Pete Kreis story

Part two - 1926 season

For the 1926 racing season, the AAA (American Automobile Association) Championship cars would lower the displacement limit from 122 cubic inches (two liters) to 91-1/2 cubic inches (1/12 liters) beginning in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Albert Jacob “Pete” Kreis sold his supercharged Duesenberg to Ben “the Mississippi Kid” Jones and obtained a 122-cubic inch supercharged rear-drive race car from Harry A Miller from Tommy Milton. The car that Kreis bought had its damaged fuel tank, hood, and cowling repaired from Ray Carrien's fatal crash in November 1925 at the Culver City Speedway and re-numbered #15 for the 1926 season.  

Fulford-Miami Auto Speedway in North Miami Beach Florida was the site of the 1926 American Automobile Association (AAA) season opener. Construction of the 1-1/4 mile wooden speedway partially funded by Miami Beach developer Carl Fisher, one of the four founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, began in the fall of 1925.

Fisher had a partner in the Miami track, Merle Tebbetts, a finance company president and the developer of the Fulford-by-the Sea subdivision in the area known since 1931 as North Miami Beach.  The track built on pilings featured a boardwalk promenade and a mounded infield with 50 degree banked turns.  Years later, the track’s exact location is undetermined.    

Tebbetts and Fisher hired the 1911 International 500-mile race co-winner Ray Harroun to oversee the track construction by the Prince Construction Company then manage and promote the facility after its targeted completion of January 1 1926.  

The Fulford-Miami Speedway initially advertised the inaugural race date as January 30 1926, but there were material delays during construction and the race date switched with the previous Culver City California date. When the AAA Contest Board published the 1926 schedule, the inaugural race at Miami, for the ‘Carl G. Fisher Cup’ date would be held on Washington’s Birthday February 22^nd.

Time trials were scheduled for Wednesday February 17 to be followed by a gala dance and reception at the Fulford Casino that evening to “give Miamians an opportunity to meet these men who have become famous because of their daring exploits on the pine boards across the country.”    

Ralph Hepburn in the Boyle Valve Miller won the pole position with a lap speed of 141.199 miles per hour (MPH), the only car to break the 140 MPH barrier. Leon Duray qualified second fastest at 138.9 MPH with Dave Lewis in the former Jimmy Murphy front-drive Miller third fastest and National Champion Peter DePaolo seventh. 

Only the fastest twelve cars in practice qualified on Wednesday afternoon so Pete Kreis qualified on Thursday afternoon and started the race from fourteenth in the 18-car starting field in his white #15 Miller.

Local radio station WGBU broadcast live updates on the race scheduled for 240 laps or 300 miles with a $30,000 purse. Gates opened at 8:30 AM on that Monday morning for a program that featured bands and daylight fireworks. Infield General Admission tickets sold for $3.00, while grandstands seats were $6 or $8 with box seats priced from $10 to $15. 

A crowd of 25,000 fans watched as Hepburn led the first three circuits before he had a tire problem and Dave Lewis took the point until lap 24. Duray led the next 125 laps while Kreis’ car retired on lap 90 and placed eleventh. Earl Devore in the shiny #17 ‘Nickel Plate’ Miller took the lead from Duray on lap 150, and Leon remained in close pursuit until the magneto on his car failed on lap 180.   

On lap 200, Devore pitted to add fuel, which opened the door for DePaolo in his Duesenberg to take control and Peter led the final 40 circuits. The next four finishers – Harry Hartz, Bob McDonogh, Frank Elliott and Bennett Hill – all drove supercharged 122-cubic inch Millers, as did Devore who recovered from his late pit stop to finish fifth.  DePaolo ran a conservative pace to save his Duesenberg but still set a new record of 129.29 MPH as he covered the unusual race distance of 300 miles in two hours and nineteen seconds.

The AAA racers never visited Fulford-Miami Auto Speedway’s 50-degree banked turns again due to two incidents. The first came in late August when United States authorities arrested track owner Merle Tebbetts on mail fraud charges associated with stock sales in the Fulford-by-the Sea finance company.   

Then on September 18, the “Great Miami Hurricane” struck south Florida and the winds over a caused widespread damage and the new wooden Miami Speedway was destroyed. Tebbetts never consider rebuilding the track as he battled the fraud charges in court until in 1930, when he pled guilty and received a fine of $1,000 and two-year suspended prison sentence.

In California during practice on the re-surfaced Culver City Speedway, Leon Duray posted a lap of 138 MPH then on March 18 1926 in time trials, Pete Kreis surprised observers as he qualified second fastest behind Bob McDonogh’s blindingly fast 143.3 MPH lap, which broke Earl Cooper’s previous record of 141 MPH. Many “experts” predicted that this record would stand for years, given the upcoming AAA engine size reduction to 91-1/2 cubic inches. Dave Lewis in the front-drive Miller qualified third as Bennett Hill and Duray rounded out the top five starters.

The 40,000 fans on hand for the Culver City race on March 21^st saw a torrid battle among the fastest five cars, and Pete Kreis led his first laps in AAA championship competition as he headed the field for two laps before Hill passed Pete and led the final 102 laps to win in a record time of one hour and 51 minutes at an average speed of 130.59 MPH for the 250 miles. Hill led DePaolo by 28 seconds at the finish with Hartz in third. Pete Kreis finished 11^th, five laps behind Hill.

The 122-cubic-inch race cars christened the new one-and-a-half mile long wooden Atlantic City Speedway track on May 1 1926. Alternately known as Amotal Raceway, due to its location on the site of the World War I ammunition plant, the track site was roughly equidistant from Atlantic City and Philadelphia, south of the New Jersey town of Hammonton.  Designed by Art Pillsbury and built by Jack Prince, with the construction largely financed by Charles M. Schwab, the chairman of Bethlehem Steel and a major investor in Stutz and a member of the board of directors.   

The Prince Construction Company completed construction of the track on April 17 which featured 1780-foot long straightaways and a dedicated Pennsylvania Railroad station adjacent to the main grandstand. Advance reserve grandstand tickets sold for $4.40, $5.50 and $7.70, while box seat prices ranged from $7.70 to $15.40. General admission to the infield cost $2.20 with those ducats only available on race day. 

A breathless newspaper article in the Philadelphia Inquirer days before practice opened predicted 100,000 fans and Gordon Mackay wrote that “they would not be surprised if 300,000 spectators jammed their way into the wooden amphitheater.” 

Atlantic City set the total purse at $30,000 with $12,000 to the winner with second prize $6,000, and the remaining $12,000 divided and paid down to the tenth place finisher. Interesting entries came from Ralph DePalma, the 44-year winner of the 1915 Indianapolis ‘500,’ and two imported Bugatti race cars entered by Philadelphia’s Charles M. Ward for Russian driver Baron Vladimir de Rachewsky and French driver Count Jean Richard André de Marguenat.

With 21 cars entered the track opened for practice on April 20, with qualifications set for Wednesday April 28, when cars demonstrated that they could run the minimum lap speed of 130 MPH. It rained that morning and Fred Wagner postponed time trials to Thursday April 29^th.

Later in the day however skies cleared, the track dried and AAA officials opened the track for practice with the official timing clocks set up. Bennett Hill blazed around the Atlantic City oval at 143.6 MPH which was recognized as having officially eclipsed Bob McDonogh’s Culver City record-setting lap. The Philadelphia Inquirer article reported that after his record run, Hill remarked to it observers that “with no wind and the weather conditions right, we could shoot them along at 150 MPH on this track.”    

The following day, April 29^th, the top four qualifiers – Hill, McDonogh, Pete Kreis, and Harry Hartz all reportedly ran 142.9 MPH, with McDonogh awarded the pole position followed by Hartz, Hill, and Kreis. Cliff Woodbury rounded out the top twelve cars in speed.

The Thursday non-qualifiers included Jerry Wonderlich, who decided to retire, while Dave Evans, DePalma, Frank Farmer and the pair of mysterious Bugatti cars were too slow and had to return to run again on Friday to attempt to set their place in the starting field. The Miller engine in Zeke Meyers’ car broke a wrist pin and was unlikely to be repaired in time.

Before the race on Saturday, the Stutz passenger car that carried Charles Schwab, Stutz President Fred Moskowics and four other men on an official inspection of the track broke through a “defective plank” in the track and suddenly lurched to a stop. All of the occupants of the Stutz suffered cuts and bruises, but no serious injuries. 

The field of 16 cars that included Ben Jones’ Duesenberg (formerly owned by Kreis), the Millers of Evans and Norm Batten, and Count de Rachewsky in Ward’s Bugatti answered Wagner’s flag at 2 PM Saturday for 200 laps or 300 miles. The reported 80,000 fans saw McDonogh dominate the race as he led the first 165 laps until he experienced tire troubles and had to pit.

Bob’s misfortune handed the lead to DePaolo who led for 28 laps in the Duesenberg until a problem forced DePaolo to momentarily slow.  Harry Hartz took the lead on lap 194 and led the final seven circuits to win the $12,000 purse. 

Hartz, who never made a pit stop, finished one second ahead of DePaolo in two hours and fourteen minutes to establish a new standard for 300 miles of 134.091 MPH, which eclipsed DePaolo’s earlier Miami record by over four miles per hour.  McDonogh finished third, a lap behind the leaders, 35 seconds ahead of Kreis in fourth. Ralph Hepburn came home in fifth place, eight minutes behind Kreis.  

For the final tune-up before Indianapolis, Kreis drove the first Miller front drive built, originally commissioned by the late Jimmy Murphy, in the May 10^th Confederate Memorial Day race on the 1-1/4 mile wooden oval in Charlotte North Carolina. Kreis started and finished in seventh place, 17 laps behind the winner Earl Devore in the ‘Nickel Plate’ Miller as the top eight finishers all drove cars powered by 122-cubic inch Miller engines.  

Kreis' Miller '122' was sold to Illinois garage owner Henry Kohlert who entered the former Milton Miller 122 at the “Elgin Piston Pin Special” for Legion Ascot Speedway veteran Fred Lecklider at Indianapolis in 1927, and then crashed the car during the race himself while driving in relief. The following year, Kohlert entered the “Elgin Piston Pin Special” for a young rookie, future 1935 ‘500’ winner Kelly Petillo who crashed the car in practice.

Despite the reported crowd of 40,000 fans, Charlotte officials announced that this would be the final long-distance race at the track – future events were to be a series of “sprint” events of 25, 50 or 100 miles each held on the same day.

Reporting on the race, Kreis’ hometown newspaper, the Knoxville News-Sentinel, noted that Pete’s finish was “not bad considering that the 16 of the best drivers in the United States started the race.” The article noted that “Pete has been running close in all the big races,” and opined that “he’ll come out a winner one of these days.”

Early press reports at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway erroneously listed Kreis as the driver of a new Miller 91-1/2 cubic inch Miller front-drive machine, as he had taken delivery of his new white #15 91-1/2 cubic inch supercharged Miller rear-drive at the brick oval.  Pete got in few, if any, practice laps before he was hospitalized with influenza which set in motion one of the most astonishing “rookie driver” stories in Speedway history.

Young racer Frank Lockhart had experienced good success as he drove a Miller 183 to several important dirt track victories, but he had an embarrassing start to his AAA championship career with his appearance at the Culver City Speedway board track on the afternoon of February 19 1925.

Lockhart made four warm-up laps on the Culver track’s concrete apron at approximately 60 MPH, then he tried to move the car (which Jimmy Murphy drove to his death) up the banking, but lost control spun and hit the inside railing nose first.

AAA starter Fred Wagner determined that the 21-year old “Boy Wonder” lacked experience but to save him embarrassment in the press, officials allowed Lockhart to withdraw. Frank Elliott replaced Lockhart as the driver. Ironically, the race on February 22^nd had to be red-flagged with 25 laps completed after Elliott crashed with Stuart Wilkinson and William Shattuc.

Lockhart returned to terrorize the dirt tracks in a Miller 183-cubic inch powered car until he arrived at Indianapolis in 1926, tabbed as a relief driver for the Miller factory-supported entries. Mid-way through the month, Lockhart took a “test hop” in Bennett Hill’s new #16 Miller and amazed bystanders when he posted lap speeds two MPH faster than Hill.

As the critical time trials approached, Pete Kreis contracted influenza and had to be hospitalized which left the seat in his brand-new white #15 Miller open. After consultation with his friend Tommy Milton, Kreis turned the new Miller over to Frank Lockhart for the race. In time trials on Thursday May 27^th Lockhart was a sensation and broke Peter DePaolo’s one-lap record with his first lap of 114.752 MPH, then bettered that with his second lap speed of 115.488 MPH.

Unfortunately, Frank could not complete the four-lap ten-mile run as a tire failed on the third lap. After repairs, Frank made another attempt later on Thursday, but a valve broke in the Miller engine and cut that run short.

Released from Methodist Hospital on Friday, Kreis went to the Speedway the following day to watch his car qualify. Lockhart, on his third and final qualifying attempt on Saturday May 29^th, posted a safe four-lap average of 95.78 MPH, good enough to start the 1926 ‘500’ from 20^th starting position. 

The official 1926 Indianapolis Motor Speedway

qualifying photo of Frank Lockhart in Pete Kreis' Miller

Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection 

On race day, May 30, 1926 it took “the Boy Wonder” just 60 laps to work his way through the field and take over the lead from Dave Lewis. Lockhart led when the race stopped for the first time due to rain with 70 laps completed. The race, halted for an hour, resumed as AAA officials used the results on the  timing tape to restart the race with the cars released from a standing start in intervals to have the same relative positions as when the rains came.  

As the race neared the halfway point, dark clouds gathered again and Harry Hartz pushed past Lockhart into the lead but after just five laps in the lead, Hartz pitted on lap 98. Lockhart resumed the lead and built up a two-lap advantage over Hartz when the rains returned with the race stopped for good with 160 laps completed. A high attrition rate perhaps due to the newness of the 91-1/2 cubic inch cars, meant only 13 cars finished the 400 miles with the final finisher driven by Thane Houser, flagged 58 laps behind the rookie winner.

An interesting side story about the 1926 ‘500’ for racing historians is that of the Duesenberg that Kreis drove in 1925 and sold to Ben Jones.  Fred Duesenberg fitted the chassis with an experimental supercharged two-cycle engine but with no time for development and testing, the ground-breaking two-cycle engine arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway untried.

Old-timers recalled that the two-cycle Duesenberg engine had the loudest exhaust on the track, which the Indianapolis News described as a “pleasing crack”. The team had considerable trouble starting the car each day, and it was not fast. Jones, a 23-year old rookie, posted a best lap speed of around 80 MPH before Peter DePaolo took some practice laps in the Duesenberg two-cycle and edged the speed up to 94 MPH. After veteran Ralph Mulford squeezed out a 95 MPH lap, Ben Jones qualified on May 28^th with a four-lap average speed of 92.142 MPH to start from the 18^th starting position.  

During the race, Jones’ car suddenly swerved and brushed the wall on lap 54. Subsequent investigation found one axle broken and the engine locked with one cylinder full of water. The Duesenberg factory in the midst of designing and developing the Model “J” abandoned further development of the two-cycle engine

After the bittersweet 500-mile race, as he watched another driver win the prestigious ‘500’ in his new car, Kreis traveled to Baltimore, picked up his ill mother from John Hopkins Hospital and returned her home in Knoxville.

By winning the 1926 International 500-mile Sweepstakes, the 23-year old Lockhart became a famous and wealthy man, as the winner’s share of the purse with lap prizes totaled $40,000 (equivalent to over half a million dollars in 2020).  Lockhart, Miller and Kreis worked out a deal for Frank to purchase the ‘500’ winning car for Lockhart to race in the next AAA championship race on the boards, the ‘Flag Day Classic’ at Altoona Pennsylvania on June 12.

Unfortunately the engine in Lockhart’s Indianapolis-winning machine suffered catastrophic failure in Altoona practice and Frank did not race. Pete Kreis appeared at the Altoona race with no intention to drive and the Altoona Tribune reporter described that Kreis appeared “a little pale despite his six feet in stature.”

Frank Lockhart entered the July 5^th ‘Independence Day Classic’ at Rockingham Park in New Hampshire but controversy erupted when D H Jefferies the promoter of the AAA dirt track race at the West Texas Fair Speedway in Abilene Texas scheduled the same day stepped forward. Prior to the Indianapolis ‘500,’ Harry Miller entered Lockhart for the Abilene race in a new Miller 183 dirt car. “Lockhart’s first taste of fame,” the promoter claimed “made him forget the dirt track contests.”  

Lockhart claimed that he sent a 30-day notice letter of cancellation to the Abilene promoter, and after considerable back and forth, on June 27^th the AAA Contest Board threatened to suspend Lockhart from AAA events if he failed to meet his Abilene obligation. Besides Lockhart the other “foremost racing stars” entered at Abilene included George Souders, Fred Lecklider, and Texans Elbert ‘Babe’ Stapp and Harry Milburn. Lockhart complied and a huge crowd of 10,000 fans saw Lockhart in the new Miller easily win both the Abilene races he entered, the 20- and 30-mile dashes.   

Kreis sat out much of the summer of 1926 as Harry Miller completed Kreis’ new 91-1/2 cubic inch front-drive machine, and thus Kreis missed the AAA races at Rockingham, Atlantic City and Charlotte. During this time, Pete regained his strength and took a more active role in his family’s engineering and construction company.

Kreis’ new cream and red car, the fifth front-drive Miller built, designated by the Miller factory as ‘2615-Y’ debuted in September at the Altoona Pennsylvania board track. Pete started 15^th in the 18-car starting field while Lockhart started fifth and moved into the lead at the 50-mile mark of the 250-mile grind and beat Kreis to the finish line by a minute and 21 seconds for his fourth win of the season, while Pete scored his best-ever AAA finish.  

After middle of the pack finishes in the pair of short 25-mile preliminary “sprint” races on October 12 at the 1-1/4 mile Rockingham Speedway in New Hampshire, Kreis and his front-drive Miller #15 finished two laps behind winner Harry Hartz in the 160-lap (200 mile) feature, as he edged Leon Duray in a similar machine by 3/100 of a second at the finish line. 

Hartz dominated the first 100 miles, then inherited the lead after the leader Frank Lockhart’s Miller engine broke a connecting rod on lap 142.  With his win, Hartz clinched the 1926 AAA driver’s championship.

The 1926 AAA season closed on November 11 at Charlotte which used the preliminary and feature racing format. Kreis finished a distant fourth place in his 25-mile “heat race,” then in the “semi” Kreis’ day ended early with a broken supercharger after he started tenth in the 12-car field.  

At the end of the 1926 season, after he drove it in just three races, Kreis sold his front-drive Miller to Tommy Milton, who dissembled the machine and with the assistance of his friend and engineering partner, Cornelius Van Ranst, rebuilt it as the ‘Detroit Special’ for the 1927 Indianapolis 500-mile race in a program funded by General Motor heir and race driver Russell “Cliff” Durant.  Van Ranst, an engine engineering genius had designed winning race cars for the Frontenac and Duesenberg. The ‘Detroit Special’ built over the winter in a basement laboratory of the 1-million square foot General Motors Building in Detroit which gave the car its name.  

The ‘Detroit Special’ featured the world’s first two-stage supercharger invented by Dr. Sanford Moss of General Electric. Gases from the first stage of the front-mounted supercharger made a long loop, then after the second stage entered a long pipe that crossed over the hood to cool the charge air before it entered the intake manifold. The Detroit power plant with 6-to-1 compression and a massive 42 foot pounds of supercharged boost boasted over 300 horsepower.

The car’s other innovation, courtesy of Van Ranst, was the two-speed inline planetary transmission which transmitted power more smoothly than the Miller front-drives, and Van Ranst’s design allowed easy changes of the ring and pinion gears for gearing adjustments.  Automaker E L Cord was so impressed by Van Ranst and Milton’s work on the ‘Detroit Special’ transmission that he hired them as consultants on the Cord passenger car front-drive system.   

Similar to the later ‘NOVI’ race cars, the ‘Detroit Special’ achieved blinding straightaway speed, but despite 60% of the weight on the front axle experienced high tire wear, and as we shall see, the ‘Detroit Special’ was star-crossed like the ‘NOVI.’    

In a 1926 season shortened by illness and the delays waiting for the delivery of his new Miller front drive car, Pete Kreis still managed to finish ninth in the AAA championship with four top five finishes in ten race appearances.  As we shall see in future installments after 1926, Pete Kreis concentrated on the family business and began to curtail his number of racing appearances.   

 

 

   

 

 

 

   

 

     

 

        

 

 

A dark day at Yakima

 

On Decoration Day Monday May 31 1926 Californian Frank Lockhart who started the month as a relief driver shocked the racing world as he became the fourth rookie to win the Indianapolis 500-mile race. In his first championship start Lockhart blazed his way to the front of the field from his 20th starting position, led 95 laps to score victory in the rain-shortened 160-lap (400 miles) race with a two-lap advantage over second place Harry Hartz at the drop of the checkered flag. That same day, more than 1700 miles to the west of Indianapolis, a little-known race was held in Yakima Washington which cost three people their lives.

A race car passes the Yakima grandstand around 1918

photo courtesy of State Fair Park

The site of the race that fateful day in Yakima was the one-mile track originally built for horse racing on the Central Washington State Fairgrounds in 1894 five years after Washington achieved statehood.  The track featured a 2000-seat grandstand, a three-story tall judges’ stand and 100 horse stalls. Automobile racing first came to the Yakima track around 1918, and automobile races had been part of the annual Fair since 1925.

Ira Hayes had participated in this event

The day before the races began, there was a fatality.  46-year-old race car driver Ira W Hayes of Auburn Washington was found dead under his wrecked race car, the Hayes Special, alongside the Inland Empire Highway now known as Highway 12 near Easton, about midway between his home and Yakima.  It was unclear what caused Hayes who had experienced a fair amount of success in 1923 and 1924 Western Auto Racing Association races at the ½-mile Southwest Washington Fairgrounds track in Chehalis to lose control of his racer and crash.

During the racing program tragedy struck again as Oregon driver Ira Cook’s “Stutz Special” careened out of control as he rounded one of the turns. Why Cook was even in Yakima that day is a mystery, as just four days earlier he had been advertised as one of the featured drivers in the scheduled Reno Nevada Memorial Day races for cars with engines that displaced less than 183 cubic inches.  Little is known of Cook’s racing career which appeared to be mostly confined to Oregon, where he had raced a “HVR Special” in races held on Labor Day 1925 at the Oregon State Fairgrounds.   

Cook’s out-of-control Stutz tore through the wooden track barrier and struck a crowd which had been seated on a nearby fence. The group included at least three members of the Johnson family with young Harlin Ewing Johnson Junior, just 8 years old struck and killed instantly while his seven-year old sister and his 50-year old father were injured.  Other victims in the group included 18-year old Walter Paude identified as a high school student with slight injuries and 22-year old Walter Howard who was described as badly hurt with “upper body lacerations and legs cut.”

Driver Ira Cook was also taken to the hospital suffering from what was believed to be a broken back, while Johnson Senior suffered a broken shoulder, a scalp wound and  according to press reports was “probably fatally injured.“ The published prognosis proved correct, as just before midnight on May 31, Harlin Johnson Senior died from his injuries. On June 3, with the grieving widow and mother Bessie Johnson graveside, father and son were laid to rest side-by-side in Yakima’s Tahoma Cemetery.

Erie J. Barnes, the Washington state Director of Agriculture was in the grandstands that day and later declared that “no more auto races will be held at the state fairgrounds as long as I remain in office.” Barnes, who before his appointment in 1925 had served as the President of the Yakima Braves minor league baseball club, was replaced in 1932.  

Barnes’ boss, Governor Roland H. Hartley got into a budgetary war with the legislature and without an approved state budget no State Fair was held in 1930 or 1931.  When a new governor Clarence Martin was elected in the 1931 FDR landslide, the State Fair at Yakima returned in 1932 but after four years of financial losses it was discontinued. In 1939 the for-profit Central Washington Fair Association was formed and the group began holding fairs at Yakima again a tradition which continues through today.

Driver of the errant “Stutz Special” Ira Cook recovered from his injuries and was an entrant in the July Fourth 1926 AAA races with his Stutz at on the State Fairgrounds at Salem Oregon and his name appeared again in advance of the July 1927 races at Salem with a Frontenac Special.  

The one-mile fairgrounds track operated as the Yakima Meadows horse track until November 1998 when it closed and the one-mile track was abandoned, while at some time during the early nineteen fifties a mildly banked 1/2-mile dirt track was built in front of the 3500 seat grandstands.  

From Billboard magazine advertisements, it appears as though both the Yakima dirt tracks may have hosted hot rod roadster, midget, and ‘big car’ races during the decade of the 50’s under the management of J. Hugh King.  The Yakima dirt track continues to operate today and the Fairgrounds also boasts a quarter midget race track run by the Racing Rascals quarter midget club.

The author encourages any readers with additional information about the early history of auto racing at the Yakima Central Washington State Fairgrounds or Ira Cook to contact me at kevracerhistory@aol.com  

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

Part three

George Souders portrait

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

 

In 1927 George Souders born near Battle Ground Indiana was a full-time resident of Abilene Texas and worked as a “service man and expert mechanic” at Roberts & St John Motor Company the local Chrysler-Plymouth dealer located at the corner of Fifth and Pine Streets in downtown Abilene.

George was one of fourteen drivers who appeared at the one-mile Albuquerque Fairgrounds track on New Year’s Day 1927.  The five-race program which began at 2 PM featured the “Rocky Mountain States premier drivers” the Gardner brothers, Raymond and Chester, each driving a "Rajo Special." “Rajo” was a brand of racing overhead valve cylinder heads designed for Ford Model T engines.

Built and sold by Joe Jagersberger of Racine Wisconsin, he used the first two letters of his hometown and combined it with the first two letters of his first name to create “Rajo.”  Chuck Anderson “the favorite of the Southwest,” also drove a Rajo while  H. Peterson “who holds the fastest record on the Douglas Arizona track” was entered in a Duesenberg.

Roy Miller from Albuquerque was entered in a Frontenac (another brand of Ford cylinder head built and sold by the Chevrolet brothers) along with Jimmy Randolph described as the Arizona State champion and “Slim” Harper in the John Mais “Dodge Special.” Two previously unknown drivers came from Colorado both described as Pike’s Peak masters - BS Burgeman and Fred Schultz. Souders, “who furnished thrills the last two races here,” Fred Frame “of Ascot Speedway fame” and San Antonio’s Harry Milburn were all entered in Millers.   

The day’s first race was a 10-mile “free for all” while the second 10-mile and third 15-mile race were reserved for “modified stock cars” (non-Millers). The auto racing program was capped by a 25-mile “free for all,” with the final event was a 10-mile motorcycle race during which the promoters claimed “the riders travel like greased lightning.” 

In time trials, Souders set new “local track record” of 44 seconds for the one mile course then swept the two “free for all” races. Chet Gardner in his ‘Rajo Special’ finished second in the first 10-mile heat, won the second and third ten-mile heat races and finished third in the 25-mile finale behind Souders and Milburn. Souders provided a thrilling finish as according to the next day’s Albuquerque Daily Reporter his Miller engine “burned a bearing then threw a connecting rod and he coasted the last ¼ lap to victory.”

On May 6 the day the entries closed for the 15th annual International 500-mile Sweepstakes Souders was listed as the driver for William S. White’s Duesenberg.  An article in his adopted hometown Abilene Journal newspaper described Souders as “equally fearless as Frank Lockhart although probably not as steady or careful.”   There were a total of 41 entries for the ‘500’  the largest list since 1919, with eleven front wheel drive entries, this only two years after the first Miller front drive machine debuted at the Speedway.

 

Fernic FT-10 drawing

 

There was only one foreign driver entered in 1927 Indianapolis 500-mile race Romanian George Fernic who entered his own Bugatti. Fernic, an accomplished pilot dating back to World War One, also designed and built aircraft.  Although Fernic’s Bugatti broke a connecting rod on May 24 and did not qualify for the 33-car starting field, he drove 182 laps during the 1927 ‘500’ in relief for Fred Frame.

Frame started the car but yielded to Fernic as Fernic had purchased the car started by Frame after his won Bugatti was withdrawn. Fernic later was killed in a plane crash during the 1930 Chicago National Air Races as he was demonstrating his radical twin-engine canard-wing plane with tricycle landing gear the Fernic FT-10 Corsair.       

A 1981 Indianapolis Star article recounted that few experts thought George Souders could even make the starting field as one recalled him as "the darkest of dark horses."  According to the 1981 article, the older 90 ½ cubic-inch supercharged Duesenberg owned by Hollywood millionaire William S. White was beset by many mechanical problems during the month. In an interview nearly fifty years later Souders recalled that he "lost count of the number of times that that ‘Duesy’ was taken apart and put together during Speedway practice."

The chief mechanic on the White-owned Duesenberg was 31-year old Frenchman Jean Marcenac who had first appeared at Indianapolis in 1920 a crew member with the three-car Ballot team. A World War One veteran Marcenac served in both the French Navy and the Air Service before he went to work in the Paris-based Ballot automobile factory.

Jean helped to build the four Ballot race cars completed in just 101 days that participated in the 1919 Liberty 500-mile Sweepstakes, and in 1920 came with the team to the United States. In addition to his mechanic duties on the low-slung  311-cubic inch  inline eight-cylinder entries  Marcenac who weighed just 150 pounds and stood 5 feet 6 inches tall served as the riding mechanic with Jean Chassagne, and together the pair finished the 1920 ‘500’ in seventh place.

Marcenac returned to Indianapolis in 1921 to work on Ralph DePalma’s new 183 cubic inch straight eight double overhead camshaft Ballot and then stayed in the United States working with DePalma. Jean rode with DePalma in the 1922 Indianapolis ‘500’ the last year riding mechanics were required.  The pair started from the third position and finished fourth behind a Ballot entered by 1913 ‘500’ winner Jules Goux and driven by Eddie Hearne. Goux at 37 years old drove the other Ballot entry but retired on lap 25 with a broken rear axle. Marcenac worked with DePalma and his nephew Peter DePaolo through the mid-nineteen twenties and started the 1927 season as DePaolo’s mechanic.  

Since George didn't qualify for the starting field until his third attempt, he started the 1927 ‘500’ from the 22nd position on the inside of the eighth row.  Lockhart dominated as the other pre-race favorites - Harry Hartz, Bennett Hill, Peter DePaolo and Leon Duray dropped by the wayside before the first 100 miles were completed. Lockhart’s intercooled Miller engine broke a connecting rod and retired with 119 laps completed.

 

 

George Souders official 1927 Speedway photo

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

 

In 1932 car owner William White commented that Souders was “a great little driver with good form. I was tired of bringing veterans here –they know how hard it is to win. George didn’t know how really tough it is to win this race.”  Souders steadily moved up and was scored ninth after 75 miles, sixth at 50 laps and third at 275 miles. At the 300-mile mark he was second behind Pete DePaolo who was driving relief for Bob McDonogh in the supercharged Miller powered Cooper front drive machine. Souders took control at lap 150 and with the lead  with 100 miles to go George stopped for gas and three new tires and still won the race by more than twelve minutes over Earl Devore.

In a 1976 interview Souder remembered that the crew tried to talk him into letting Frank Lockhart finish the race but George declined. "The track was pretty slick and I knew how to handle the car," he said. "Someone else might have had trouble with it." In Victory Lane a shy George gave the credit for winning to his mechanic Jean Marcenac. Reportedly when Speedway officials asked George who they should notify by telegram, he replied, "There's nobody but Mother - I’ll send it myself pretty soon." One reporter claimed that George told him that he planned "to return to Purdue and resume my studies.”

 

A 1960 trading card issued by the Hawes Wax Co Ltd.

showing the 1927 '500 winner 

 

Statistically, Souders’ win marked the second and last time a yellow #32 race car won the Indianapolis ‘500,’ George was fifth winning driver to use Champion spark plugs and the fifth winning driver to use Firestone tires. Souders was the fifth “rookie” driver to win the ‘500’ in the first fifteen races, but the great Indianapolis 500–mile race was run thirty-five more times before a “rookie” Graham Hill won again in 1966.  The 90 ½ cubic inch Duesenberg power plant remains the smallest displacement engine ever to win the 500-mile sweepstakes.  

George returned home to Lafayette the day after the race and soon after the city was decorated with bunting news reel films of the race were shown in the theaters and a parade was held in Souders’ honor led by the Purdue marching band. At a banquet that evening, the mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette each gave speeches honoring Souders and Purdue President Edward C. Elliott gave George a Purdue varsity letter. "I want to tell you how glad I am to be received in this way by my own," George Souders told the crowd. "It means more than winning the race."

Souders and the White Duesenberg appeared at the next race on the 1927 AAA (American Automobile Association) schedule a 200-miler on the 1-1/4 high banked Altoona board track but the supercharged engine broke a piston in practice. Despite not starting any other points races during the season, Souders finished the 1927 AAA season third in points behind Peter DePaolo and Frank Lockhart (who won ten of the remaining eleven 1927 races between them) based upon the 1000 points earned from his Indianapolis win.

Jean Marcenac after the 1927 ‘500’ win

Sometime after the 1927 ‘500’ victory, Jean Marcenac accepted Frank Lockhart’s offer the replace Ernie Olson as one of the mechanics on Lockhart’s team. During the winter of 1927-28, as a member of Lockhart’s team Marcenac helped build the radical U-16 powered “Stutz Black Hawk” Land Speed Record Car funded by Stutz president Fred Moscovics. Marcenac appears with the Black Hawk in photographs taken at Daytona Beach during February 1928, but it is unclear if Jean was present on April 25 1928 when Lockhart was fatally injured in the crash of the Black Hawk.

After one of the Lockhart Millers was sold his estate to Philadelphia real estate developer Edward C.Yagle, Marcenac went along with the car and won the 1929 Indianapolis 500-mile race with Yagle’s wife, Maude listed as the car owner. During the winter of 1929-1930 Marcenac worked with Harry Hartz and Phil Summers to build a new car to meet the new AAA “junk formula” rules. The new Hartz entry driven by Richard William “Billy” Arnold dominated the 1930 Indianapolis 500 as Arnold led 198 laps which gave Jean Marcenac his third “500’ win in four years. Arnold led the first 155 laps of the 1931 ‘500’ in the same machine and built up a six-lap lead until he crashed.  

 

Jean Marenac's official 1956 Speedway photo

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

 

Arnold returned in the repaired front-drive Hartz machine in 1932 and led the first 58 laps and then crashed out for the second year in a row. Teammate Fred Frame took the new Miller-Hartz Wetteroth entry into the lead, led the final 58 laps, and Jean won his fourth Indianapolis ‘500’ as a chief mechanic in a six year period.  Marcenac joined forces with Harry Miller during the mid-nineteen thirties for the Four Wheel Driver Company entry and then around 1940 joined the efforts of William “Bud” Winfield’s supercharged V-8 racing engine, later known as the “Novi.” Marcenac worked for eccentric “Novi” car owners Lew Welch and later Andy Granatelli until his death on Valentine’s Day 1965.

In our next installment we will review George Souders’ life as the 1927 Indianapolis champion.           

George Souders- the 1927 ‘500’ winner

Part one


The subject of this article George Souders will be honored with a plaque placed by the Indiana Racing Memorial Association (IRMA) at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette Indiana on April 21 2017

Eight drivers have won the International 500-mile Sweepstakes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in their first attempt - most recently Alexander Rossi in 2016.  First-time or “rookie” drivers won the ‘500’ three times in the first four years – 1911, 1913 and 1914, then a dozen years passed before a “rookie” driver won again in 1926.

Lockhart’s 1926 surprise

Californian Frank Lockhart began the month of May 1926 as the designated relief driver for Miller team driver Bennett Hill. Before time trials, Lockhart was tapped to replace owner/driver Peter Kreis behind the wheel of the #15 Miller after Kreis contracted the flu and was briefly hospitalized. During his first practice run in the car on May 26, the 23-year old Lockhart surprised the ‘railbirds’ when he posted a lap of 112.22 miles per hours (MPH).

On the first day of time trials for the 1926 ‘500’ held on Thursday May 27, Lockhart set a new one-lap speed standard of 115.488 MPH that broke Peter DePaolo’s year old record of 114.255 MPH. After his second lap, Lockhart’s car experienced tire trouble and he was unable to complete the last two laps of his attempt, but his new one-lap record was recognized as official.  At the close of the first day of time trials at sundown, Earl Cooper, in what proved to be his final Indianapolis ‘500’ start claimed the pole position in one of two front-wheel drive Millers entered in 1926.

At the end of the second day of time trials, Lockhart still was not among the 19 drivers who had qualified for the starting field. A wire story which appeared in the Syracuse Herald accurately predicted that Lockhart “probably will take it slowly to play it safe and be sure to get Kreis’’ car in the big melee.” On the third day of time trials on Saturday May 29 Lockhart with his third and final qualifying attempt posted a four-lap average of 95.783 MPH. Although nearly twenty miles per hour slower than his record pace, it was still the fastest run of the day and earned Frank the 20th position in the starting field.

On Decoration Day 1926 Lockhart blazed his way to the front of the field, led 95 laps and scored a dominant victory in the rain-shortened 160-lap (400 mile) race with a two-lap advantage over second place Harry Hartz at the drop of the checkered flag. Lockhart used a portion of the $35,600 purse to buy the winning car from Kreis and with it scored four more wins during the 1926 AAA (American Automobile Association) championship season. 

The 1927 ‘500’

 

Copy of one page of the Lockhart intercooler patent application

 

Over the winter of 1926-1927 Lockhart and his crew dramatically modified the Miller 91 principally with the addition of a U-shaped intercooler which cooled the pressurized air that entered the engine and produced more horsepower.  Frank’s air-water intercooler, credited by racing historians as the first used at Indianapolis, later received United States patent # 1807042A in 1931.

With his more powerful Miller, Lockhart won the pole position for the 1927 Indianapolis 500-mile race as he set two new Indianapolis Motor Speedway track records with a best lap of 120.918 MPH and a four-lap average of 120.1 MPH. On Decoration  Day 1927, Lockhart led the first 81 laps of the race and was the leader on lap 119 when a connecting rod broke in his Perfect Circle Special’s four-cylinder Miller engine and ended his bid for a second consecutive ‘500’ victory.

Lockhart’s mechanical misfortune handed the lead to 1925 ‘500’ winner Peter DePaolo who was driving in relief of Bob McDonough in Earl Cooper’s new front wheel drive entry.  “Rookie” George Souders, who drove William S. White’s older Duesenberg chassis powered by 90-cubic inch double overhead camshaft supercharged straight-eight Duesenberg engine, surged past DePaolo into the lead on lap 150.

 

A 1927 portrait of George Souders

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

 

Souders a native Hoosier led the final 51 laps, and won over Earl Devore to become the second straight 500-mile race “rookie” winner. Devore had inherited second place when the Duesenberg driven by Babe Stapp in relief of Benton “Ben” Shoaff in a factory Duesenberg entry broke the pinion gear in the rear end and retired on lap 198.

With a margin over Devore of more than twelve minutes the 26-year old Souders (pronunciation of his name rhymes with “powders”) recorded the second largest winning margin in Speedway history; his margin was exceeded only by 1913 ‘500’ winner Jules Goux who won by 13 minutes. Despite his remarkable victory, George Souders’ racing accomplishment including his improbable 1927 “500’ victory is too often overlooked which this article is intended to rectify.  

George Souders’ early life and career

George R. Souders was born on September 11 1900 on his parent’s farm in Tippecanoe Township in Tippecanoe County Indiana four miles west of the historic Hoosier town of Battle Ground. The little town was so-named due its proximity to the site of the 1811Battle of Tippecanoe where General (and Governor of the Indiana territory) William Henry Harrison and his army of 1000 men defeated a group of warriors from local Native American tribes.

As a young man, George, his brother Richard and their parents, Charles and Cora, moved to a home at 1512 North Thirteenth Street in nearby Lafayette Indiana. George graduated from Jefferson High School as the 1918 class president, and then entered his hometown Purdue University as a member of the class of 1923 for the study of mechanical engineering. Sadly, Charles Souders passed away in January 1920 and George dropped of Purdue to work in a garage on Fourteenth Street in Lafayette to help support his family.

Legend has it that George became involved with automobile racing by happenstance when he accompanied an acquaintance who was entered in races held on July 4, 1922 in Danville Illinois.  The earliest recorded result uncovered by the author of George Souders as a race car driver was in the June 29 1923 edition of the Tippecanoe County Democrat newspaper which reported on a race held at the Tippecanoe County fairgrounds ½-mile track on the previous Sunday, June 24.  

Souders finished second behind SE Keith in the day’s first ten-mile race behind the wheel of a car owned by Elmer Schuck of Lafayette. The race was marred by an early crash which sent five spectators to the hospital - one with a broken leg, one with burns from the crashed car’s radiator and three after being struck with debris from flying timbers. Shortly after the completion of the ten-mile race, heavy rain and lightning forced the cancellation of the balance of the program. After the storm had passed, the estimated 5,000 fans attempted to obtain rain checks or refunds but found that the promoters of the race had disappeared.

Later during the 1923 racing season Souders behind the wheel of the ‘Schuck Special’ competed several times at the ‘new’ ½ mile oiled dirt Hoosier Motor Speedway which was located at the intersection of 38th street and Pendleton Pike on what is today Indianapolis’ near east side. George qualified twelfth fastest in the ‘Schuck Special’ the day before the scheduled July 4th 100-lap race which was rained out. The race was rescheduled for July 7th but was rained out again. 

Souders was one of 27 drivers listed as entrants for the 100-lap race rescheduled for Saturday August 4 1923.  The entries were to winnowed down through qualifying and heat races and apparently Souders was not among the eleven drivers that started the feature race   Earl Warrick in his own blue-hued car won the 100-mile grind in a time of 56 minutes and 15 seconds.

The Indianapolis Star reported that Warrick grabbed the race lead on the eighth lap and led the rest of the way and finished more than a lap ahead of second place finisher Chance Kinsley. Kinsley, who was the Hoosier Speedway track record holder in a Frontenac-Ford racer owned by Arthur Chevrolet, will be the subject of a future article on this site.    

1924

George Souders’ racing results for 1924 are spotty and both the results the author uncovered came from the same track, the ½ mile dirt oval at the Macon County fairgrounds in Decatur Illinois. On September 23, George was the fastest qualifier in his #401 ‘Souders Special’ as he toured the oval in 33.2 seconds, then won the five-mile “fast” heat race and the 20-mile feature race

The following month on Saturday afternoon October 11, Souders who listed his hometown as Covington, a border town about 50 miles southwest of Lafayette, scored a second consecutive Macon County ‘clean sweep’ behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Special. George set the day’s quick time in qualifying as he sped around the oval in 31-9/10 seconds, and then won the first five-mile heat race and the 20-mile feature race over Charles “Dutch” Baumann.  

1925

The 1925 season found Souders racing in Texas on the successful AAA southwestern circuit overseen by Abilene petroleum transporter D. H. Jefferies.  July 4 saw George racing on the dirt track at the West Texas Fairgrounds at Abilene “considered one of the best and safest dirt tracks in the country” in a “specially built Chevrolet special” owned by car dealer Earl Warrick of Covington Indiana.   

Souders who listed Lafayette Indiana as his home earned $1,200 in winnings on July 4 after he won both his 10-mile race and the 25-mile feature race. In local newspaper advertisements in the weeks following his victory, Souders credited his racing success to his use of gasoline from the Texhoma Oil and Refining Company of Wichita Falls, Texas and the fact that his car was shod with Dayton ‘Thorobred’ tires.

George Souders in his #401 Chevrolet Special in 1925

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

 

On August 8 1925 Souders raced in the AAA-sanctioned event on the 5/8-mile dirt track in Breckinridge Texas as part of the two-day opening of the “Oil Belt Fair” track that featured auto races and an aviation show. John Lee of San Angelo Texas was the day’s fast qualifier in Hoosier John Mais’ 16-valve ‘Dodge Special’ with Souders second fastest in his ‘Chevrolet Special.’ 

George won the second five-lap heat race over Harry Milburn in a Duesenberg with John Mais third in his own ‘Hudson Special.’  Souders won the 10-mile feature race over the two Mais-owned machines with Lee second and Mais third.  There were automobile races held the following day with many of the same drivers, but Souders was not mentioned in published reports of the race won by hometown driver Bob Stillwell.

In a race held on Wednesday afternoon September 23 1925 the “California Phenom” Frank Lockhart lowered his own West Texas Fairgrounds track record by 2 1/5 seconds as he circulated twice around the 5/8-mile track in 67 1/5 seconds.  George Souders meanwhile qualified fifth with a time of 69 2/5 seconds then finished as the runner-up to Lockhart in the first 10-mile 16-lap race for the day’s eight fastest cars. Lockhart won the day’s 30-mile 48-lap finale and led second-place finisher Souders across the finish line by 37 seconds.

Friday afternoon October 5 1925 found Souders racing on the Haskell County Fair Speedway in Haskell Texas about 50 miles north of his new hometown of Abilene. George qualified third fastest behind the new track record holder John Gerber, considered to be the original ‘outlaw’ racer. Souders won the second five-mile heat race on the 5/8-mile dirt oval then placed third in the fifteen-mile feature race and won $75.

George Souders closed out his 1925 season far west of his adopted hometown of Austin Texas as he raced on Christmas Day in Douglas Arizona on the 7/8 mile Cochise County Fairgrounds track. Souders finished fifth in the 50-mile race behind the winner, local driver Jimmy Randolph.

Part two of our series will trace George Souders’ path to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Thanks to fellow historian Bob Lawrence for providing information on several races during Souders’ 1925 season. Readers are encouraged to check out Bob’s work at http://kansasracinghistory.com/