The life of Don Herr

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

1912

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

The National 1912 '500 winner' on display in 

the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

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

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

A photo of the 1912 National team

Don Herr third from the right 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

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

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

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

The National 1912 '500 winner' on display in 

the original Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

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

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

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

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

Author's photo of the 1912 trophy 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1913  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1913 Stutz team Don Herr at the wheel of #8

 Photo Courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After racing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The life of Don Herr

co-winner of the 1912 Indianapolis 500
part one 

Today we examine the racing career of an auto racing pioneer, Don Herr, the man who co-drove with Joe Dawson to win the second Indianapolis 500-mile race.

Donald Herbert Herr was born in the central Pennsylvania town of Salona on August 31, 1889. When he moved to Indianapolis in 1904, he worked for Carl Fisher’s automobile dealership as a mechanic, then by 1909 he worked as a mechanic for National racing team.  The team was based at the National Motor Vehicle Company factory on East 22^nd Street in Indianapolis Indiana, the manufacturing company co-founded by Arthur Newby, one of the four founders of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

In auto racing’s early days, one pathway to become a race car driver at the top level of racing was to be buy your own race car, which even in the early days required an enormous sum of money. Don Herr did not have that kind of money, so he followed what we call the “the development track” for the factory-supported teams.   

A young man first began work as a pit mechanic, then if he dared, advanced to the role of the “mechanician” (riding mechanic), which could prove to be harrowing and oftentimes deadly. 

The next step up the ladders was to drive a race car in private practice sessions, then if that went well, a man might be selected to serve as a relief driver for long-distance racing events. 

Finally, if one survived and showed good results, the young man could become a full-time race car driver for the factory team, first in smaller shorter races, with the goal of racing in the Indianapolis 500-mile race.

1909 & 1910

In 1909, Don Herr served as a riding mechanic for National and took part in the first races automobile races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which were sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA). These races were held over three days, from August 19 through the 21st, 1909 and each day featured several short races and a long-distance trophy race.

The finale for the Thursday August 19, 1909 slate of races was the 250-mile (100 lap) Prest-O-lite Trophy race for AAA Class 2 stripped chassis machines with engines sized from 301 to 450 cubic inches. The race was sponsored by the Prest-O-Lite Company, which was owned by Speedway co-founders Carl Fisher and James Allison and manufactured and sold cylinders filled with compressed acetylene gas used to power automotive headlights.

For the Prest-O-Lite Trophy race, the hometown National team entered two of their signature blue-painted machines – number 6 driven by Tom Kincaid with Don Herr as his riding mechanic and the other car, #7, driven by Charles Merz with riding mechanic Claude Kellum. Merz finished third in the 100-lap race behind winner Bob Burman as the National of Kincaid and Herr retired on the 99^th lap with a broken fuel line.  

At National, Don worked with another mechanic, Howard Samuel “Howdy” Wilcox, who hailed from Crawfordsville Indiana and was the same age as Herr.  Through the years, Wilcox and Herr became close friends as their honed their skills on the “development track.”

An article in the May 29, 1910 edition of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette stated “we are all familiar with the names of the intrepid drivers who guide the high-speed creations, but few of us know the names of the iron hearted mechanicians who sit beside the drivers and share their danger. “

Riding mechanics were not typically recognized by name in news articles, but in the case of the National “40” team, the Journal Gazette article noted that there were two emerging stars - Wilcox and Herr.  The article stated that “Aiken and Kincaid are ever so full of praise for the fearless youngsters who serve so faithfully at their seats and are coaching Herr and Wilcox for their debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”  

Wilcox was the first of the pair to make his debut as a driver at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as a few months after that article was written, he drove in the Remy Brassard Trophy Race on July 2, 1910 sponsored by the Remy Electric Company of Anderson Indiana which manufactured magnetos for automotive ignitions.  Interestingly, not all the cars in the race were equipped with Remy magnetos, for instance the National racers used C F Splitdorf magnetos. 

The Remy Brassard on display in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum 

Unfortunately, the 21-year old Wilcox crashed out his National in the third turn on the first lap of the 20-lap race.  The winner of the race, Bob Burman drove a Marquette-Buick, a car which had just been reinstated by the AAA the day before and received a bronze engraved arm band (arm shield) would receive a check for $75 a week until the next Remy race.

Two days later, on the Fourth of July holiday, in the Cobe Trophy race, Wilcox outpaced his two older National teammates, Aiken and Kincaid, and finished ninth, albeit 25 laps behind the apparent victor Bob Burman’s Marquette Buick (Buick 16). 

Weeks later, in a ruling announced on July 28 1910, the AAA Contest Board ruled that the Buick factory had failed to uphold their end of a pre-race agreement regarding the advertisement of the victory by the “Marquette-Buick” and the Buick 16  racers were retroactively banned from AAA competition until December 31 1910 with the Cobe trophy awarded to Dawson’s Marmon.

At the next racing meet held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, two months later, on September 3, 1910, Howdy Wilcox won the 40-lap (100-mile) Remy Grand Trophy race.  Dawson, who drove a Marmon, started in the fourth position and led the first lap, then yielded to 46-year old W. Fred “Jap” Clemons in the Dayton-built Speedwell before Wilcox, who started third, took the lead on the fourth lap.

Wilcox held the lead until Dawson took the point again on lap 13. Dawson held the lead until lap 18 when the Marmon began to fade and eventually retired on the 25^th lap. “Handsome” Howdy Wilcox led the rest of the way for a total of 32 laps and took the win nine seconds ahead of his teammate Charles Merz. 

1911

While Wilcox had won the 1910 Remy Grand Trophy race as a driver, Don Herr remained a National mechanic until 1911. Herr was identified as the team’s lead mechanic and a reserve driver for the three-car National team for a series of races held at the one-mile Los Angles Motordrome board track originally scheduled for January 14 and 15, 1911.  The circular Motordrome was wide and high-banked and fast- with laps speeds averaging over 100 MPH.

The National team barely arrived on the Coast in time for the races on Saturday the 14^th and Merz won both the 10-mile and 25-mile stripped chassis races, and Nationals finished second and third in the 5- and 10- mile “free for all races.”  

The races scheduled for the next day January 15^th were postponed until the 22^nd presumably by weather and the National team took four first place finishes, three second place and two third place finishes in the Sunday program. Herr was not specifically named as a driver or riding mechanic in the articles about the races.   

After the Los Angeles races, the National team traveled north for the races scheduled for February 22nd on the temporary Portola Road Course located south of Oakland California. The 10.9-mile course was set up on closed public roads in hilly Alameda County between the cities Hayward and San Leandro. 

With a crowd reported at over 100,000, Merz in his National won the “heavy car” 152-mile race at an average speed of 66 MPH (miles per hour) and finished second in the 163-mile “free-for-all” race, as he finished five minutes behind winner Bert Dingley’s Pope-Hartford. Once again, reports of the Portola race do not mention Herr as either a driver or riding mechanic.           

On July 4, Herr and the National team participated in a series of nine races held at the Brighton Beach New York track and Herr scored two wins. Herr’s first win as a driver came in the fifth event of the day, a ten-mile race for non-stock cars with a maximum engine of displacement of 600 cubic inches and a minimum weight of 2100 pounds, and the writer of the New York Tribune article commented that “Herr handled the car beautifully.”

Herr also won the 23-mile Australian Pursuit Free-for-all race, in which cars were eliminated as they were passed until only one car remained. Herr started fifth and by lap 8 several of the cars ahead of him on the track, the other two Nationals and a Simplex, were eliminated and left Louis Disbrow’s Pope-Hartford in the lead. Herr slowly closed the gap, then on the 23^rd lap, the Pope-Hartford blew a rear tire, slowed and was passed by Herr who took the win. In the day’s longest event, a fifty-mile race, Herr led from the start until lap 27, when the National’s engine broke a valve and retired which left the victory to Disbrow.      

Herr scored his first major AAA win in the Illinois Trophy race held on the Elgin Illinois road course in August 25, 1911, paired with Harry Martin as the riding mechanic behind the wheel of a stock chassis 4-cylinder 446-cubic inch National.  There were only four starters listed for this race for cars with piston displacement between 301 and 450 cubic inches. The Illinois, Aurora, and Kane County trophy races for three separate classes of cars were all run simultaneously on the same course.  

The race started as the competitors receiving the signal from AAA starter Wagner on 30-second intervals; Herr, the first car off, finished his first 8-1/2-mile lap in 7 minutes and 37 seconds which he lowered to 7:15 for the second lap. On the fourth lap, Merz took over the race lead which he held until the 15^th lap. Herr and Martin led the final eight circuits and finished with an average speed of 65.6 MPH only nine seconds ahead of their teammate Merz.   

For his victory, Herr won $400 cash and the following day W D “Eddie“  Edenburn, in an article written for the Indianapolis Star, reported that “the boy driver” (Don was days away from his 22^nd birthday) had scored an upset in a race that was dominated by the two Nationals. Edenburn’s article quoted the taciturn Herr after the race - “I have nothing to say but that I am a glad I won, that the National finished first and that I hail from Indianapolis.” 

A post-race newspaper advertisement trumpeted the fact that Nationals had accomplished a one-two finish without either car needing to make a pit stop. The ad noted that consumers could buy a similar National ‘40’ Speedway Roadster for $2500 ($65,000 today).

On September 9, 1911 Don Herr represented National at the Port Jefferson Hill Climb on Long Island New York. The 2000-foot climb over an oiled gravel surface with an average grade of 10 percent and a maximum grade of 15 per cent was capped by a banked curve near the top.  The climb was considered a “very fair test of the power of an engine,” with light cars allowed a starting run of 800 feet, while the heavier cars, like the National, got a 400-foot flying start.

The event promoted by WJ Fallon was scheduled for 16 events, with entries divided by vehicle price, engine displacement, and was open to both amateurs and professionals. Herr in the National swept the day, as he won all five professional events in which he was entered.

Herr’s first win of the day came in the fifth event for gasoline cars priced from $1201 to $3000, and the National’s time up the hill of 24.45 seconds was nearly a second faster than second place Hugh Hughes’ Mercer. The National next won the “Free for all” event which included entries from Mercer, Knox, Mercedes, Fiat and the 389-cubic inch four-cylinder Pope “Hummer” with a time of 21.31 seconds.

Herr’s time though slower than Ralph DePalma’s winning time of 20.48 seconds set the previous year in a 200 horsepower Fiat, was set on a course on which conditions were “far from ideal” according to the New York Times with the weather described as “rainy and dismal.”  For his “free for all” win, Herr won the Ardencraig Trophy, sponsored by a local inn, and a $150 cash prize.

Herr and the National also won the class for cars with engines from 301 to 450 cubic inches in a time of 23.19 seconds beating Louis Disbrow’s Pope Hartford by over a second and scored the Belle Terre Cup and $50 cash.  Herr returned to win another $50 as he captured the win in the 451 to 600 cubic inch engine class with a time of 21.37 seconds.

Herr and Martin in action in the National in Philadelphia in 1911

Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection  

Next up for Herr and Martin was the “Philadelphia race” in their #6 National “40” for cars in division 4C with displacements from 301 to 450 cubic inches held on the famed 8-mile Fairmount road course in Philadelphia. The initial race date was postponed from Saturday to Monday due to rainy conditions. Herr finished the 25-lap, 202-mile race in third place - 12 minutes behind the winner, his National teammate Louis Disbrow.   

On December 15, 1911, in an under-reported event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Wilcox and Herr presented a match race in their Nationals for a group of distinguished visitors that included six visiting state governors from the states of Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, Ohio and Nevada.   Wilcox won the five-mile contest at an average speed reported in the Indianapolis Star of 92 MPH by a few yards over Herr.

After the 1911 racing season was over, Herr and Wilcox shared an experience that garnered national attention and shaped their future lives. In early December it was reported that the pair hailed a taxi after a social event in Indianapolis cab and during the ride the driver considered it his opportunity to demonstrate his prowess behind the wheel.

When the driver dropped off Wilcox at his home, ‘Howdy’ told the driver to give his buddy Herr a real thrill ride. The prank backfired as the driver’s dangerous driving enraged Herr, who reportedly pounded on the separating glass to no avail, and the driver only stopped after Don kicked out the glass.

In our next installment we'll examine Herr's breakout performance in the 1912 Indianapolis 500-mile race.

  

Chance Kinsley- Hoosier hero

Part six - 1925

Chauncey “Chance” Kinsley remained on the West Coast during the early months of 1925 and raced at the re-organized Ascot Speedway. The previous promoter George Bentel and his Ascot Speedway Association who had “imported” the eastern drivers including Kinsley were out after drivers were not paid the promised $50,000 purse following the special 250-mile Thanksgiving Day event.

The 5/8-mile oiled dirt track reopened under new management on Sunday January 25 1925 with a nine-event program, six of which were auto races. When he raced at Ascot, Chance adopted the last name of “Kingsley” a nom de guerre which he had occasionally used in Indiana. In 1923, when “Kingsley” won a 30-mile feature race at Greensburg Indiana, and in late 1924 when “Kingsley” finished second to Ralph Ormsby in the “Midwest Racing Championship” at Roby Speedway in Hammond Indiana.  

Chance “Kingsley” in his Frontenac “swept the card” at Ascot on February 1 as he posted the fastest lap one lap “dash” of 33.2 seconds, won the Australian Pursuit race, and the featured 15-lap Sweepstakes race. It was later claimed that Chance won the Ascot feature two weeks later over George Beck and Cliff Bergere and again won the 15-lap feature on February 22. The author has been unable to document these two latter wins which supported the claim that Chance Kinsley won “five races in a row at Ascot.” The later claim, that Chance was crowned “the King of the Dirt Tracks,” also remains unproven.   

Several months later the Frontenac car that Chance drove to victory on February 1 at Ascot was reportedly owned by Joe Brady of Bakersfield who was “able to purchase the car after it was sold by the Sheriff” and Brady had re-registered it with the AAA (American Automobile Association) to be driven by Babe Stapp according to published reports.  

As one might infer from Chance’s use of an alias and the involvement of the Sheriff’s office, Chance Kinsley’s life had taken an unfortunate criminal turn. Before we detail  Chance’s legal difficulties. we first must provide some historical context. 1923 was during the time period of American history known as “Prohibition.”  The production, transport, and sale (but not the consumption) of alcoholic beverages in the United States had been illegal after the adoption of the Eighteen Amendment and the passage of the Volstead Act in 1920. 

On February 15 1925 Chance Kinsley who rented a room in Irvin Heuser’s house at 919 Park Avenue in Indianapolis was arrested with four other Indianapolis men for impersonating government officers as part of their efforts to extort money from Joseph Bridges.  

Bridges a farmer who lived two miles north of Greenfield had previously been arrested for violations of the prohibition laws. On February 8th, 1925 while Bridges and his wife were away from home, three men - Norman Zolezzi, Edward Griffin, and Kinsley visited and hid a keg of “white mule whiskey” (moonshine) in the Bridges home.    

When Bridges and his wife returned to their home late that afternoon they found Zolezzi and Griffith waiting for them and Zolezzi, according to Bridges identified himself as “George Winkler, Federal prohibition officer,' and pointed to the keg of moonshine, which he claimed he and his fellow officers had found in the Bridges home. Bridges told Zolezzi that he knew that he was not George Winkler, because Bridges knew Winkler on site from his prior arrest.  

Zolezzi then identified himself as prohibition enforcement officer Irwin Horner. Bridges denied ownership of the keg of liquor then noted that his wife was not well and sked if there was “not some manner in which he (Zolezzi) could overlook the case.” According to Bridges, Zolezzi said he would overlook the case if Bridges would pay him a $1,000 bribe. Bridges gave Zolezzi $195 cash on the spot, and agreed to deliver the remaining $805 in one week later on February 15 1925.

During that week before the balance of the payoff was due, Bridges contacted Winkler, the real group chief of Federal prohibition enforcement officers, and once informed of the scheme the Federal officers set up a “sting.”  Instead of being paid off at the clandestine meeting as expected, Zolezzi, Griffin, and Kinsley were arrested.  Further investigation of the alleged blackmail scheme including interrogation of the suspects led to two other accomplices, Fred Thomas and Lawrence Kinder a deputy sheriff of Hancock County.

The five “rum blackmailers” were bound over for trial by the Federal grand jury which began on March 17 1925. During their two-day trial in Federal Court in Indianapolis, George L. Winkler and Bridges were the main witnesses against the men. The primary evidence against Kinder was a signed written agreement which read: "I hereby agree to protect J. M. Bridges from arrest In Hancock County, for which I am to receive $60 a week (signed Lawrence Kinder).” Two men, Marshall Winslow, the mayor of Greenfield, and handwriting expert Herbert S. Wood both testified as to the authenticity of Kinder’s signature on the note. 

On March 18 1925 after one hour's deliberation J.C.Hutchinson, the jury foreman announced that the jury had found Norman Zolezzi, Lawrence Kinder, and Chance Kinsley each guilty of impersonating Federal officers and conspiracy to violate the federal prohibition laws. Fred Thomas had entered a plea of guilty to the charges earlier in the day but the fifth man implicated, Edward Griffin, was found not guilty. 

Judge Robert C. Baltzell of the Federal District Court of Indiana discharged the Jury and announced that he would pronounce sentences on March 28.  Zolezzi. Kinsley and Kinder were freed on $2,500 bond while Thomas was released until sentencing on a $1,000 bond. Kinder and Zolezzi were later each sentenced to fifteen months in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth Kansas and a $300 fine. Thomas was given four months in jail and a $200 fine but there was no mention in news reports of Kinsley’s sentence. 

Kinder was sent to Leavenworth by special train on April 1, but “Zolezzi and Kinsley were not included in the list of defendants who were on the Leavenworth Special” according to the April 2 edition of the Indianapolis Star.  Why the pair was spared from immediate imprisonment was not explained in the article. Norman Zolezzi later did serve a sentence at Leavenworth, but Kinsley did not, for reasons which will soon become evident.    

On Sunday afternoon April 26 1925 while competing in a twenty-five-mile race at Elkhart Indiana Chance suffered “painful but not dangerous injuries” after his “Fronty-Ford” race car crashed into another machine in a turn and turned over. Initially pinned underneath Kinsley was freed from the wreckage and rushed to the Elkhart General Hospital where he was confined for several days.  

Chance reportedly was at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during May 1925 to support his 21-year old car owner Herbert Jones in his efforts to race in the 1925 ‘500.’ Jones drove a borrowed (or leased) 122-cubic inch Miller racer sponsored by the Jones-Whittaker Sales Company an Indianapolis Chevrolet dealer. According to historian Michael Ferner the car owned by Harry Heinle  of Crown Point Indiana had originally been a Miller factory entry in the 1923  ‘500’ but was badly wrecked in a Indianapolis serious practice crash in May 1924 that seriously injured its driver, the “Boy Wonder” Harlan Fengler.

 

 

 

During the second week of May, Kinsley found time to visit the north central town of Rochester Indiana and the Lake Manitou Speedway located on the Fairgrounds in advance of races scheduled for May 17 1925. After he viewed the half-mile track Kinsley predicted that at the upcoming races promoted and sanctioned by the short-lived Interstate Racing Association he would set a new record; that is after he returned to Indianapolis to change the gearing in his Frontenac race car to suit the high-banked track. May 17th dawned chilly, but the 2,000 hardy fans that showed up saw Kinsley back up his boast as he posted the fastest qualifying time of the 14 entries with a lap completed in 32 seconds flat. 

In the day’s first event a three-car three-mile “match race” for Kinsley, second qualifier Howard Wilcox (II) who had timed in at 32.1 seconds and Wilbur Shaw, with the third fastest single-lap time of 32.3 seconds. Wilcox won trialed by Shaw and Kinsley as the three Frontenacs finished the short race in just over three a half minutes. 

In the second event at Rochester a 10-mile race for the five fastest cars, Wilcox was again victorious, this time over Charles “Dutch” Baumann with Kinsley in third place, as Shaw spun out as he tried for the lead and failed to finish. Wilcox then swept the show with his victory in the 25-mile (50 laps) finale with Kinsley in second place as once again Shaw spun himself out of contention as he tried to pass Wilcox.     

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the Jones-Whittaker Miller one of only handful of non-supercharged cars, qualified 16th in the 22-car starting field (possibly driven by team manager Wilbert ‘Bill” Hunt per a note in the Indianapolis News ) for the first ‘500’ that featured the use of low-pressure Firestone ‘balloon tires.” Prior to the race Herbert Jones nominated two of Kinsley’s dirt racing contemporaries Ford Moyer and Hunt as his relief drivers.

However, during the course of the race, Jones was relieved twice by Alfred Moss, the father of future Formula 1 racer, who had driven as a teammate to Hunt with the Barber-Warnock “Fronty-Ford” team for the 1924 ‘500.’ There is some confusion as to whether Moss had turned the ‘Jones-Whittaker’ Miller back to Jones prior to the accident in the south short chute on lap 69 which eliminated the car from the race.   

On June 7 1925 Chance was entered as the driver of Herbert Jones’ Frontenac for a 30-mile race promoted by Jack Leach at Roby Speedway. Roby was a one-mile dirt speedway that was the last of three tracks originally built for thoroughbred racing in the Hammond Indiana area. During time trials, as Kinsley raced down the front straightaway a front axle spindle broke. The front wheel fell off and the car flipped end-over-end three times before it came to rest in the first turn.

Chance was removed from the wreckage and rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival with a broken back, crushed skull, and multiple internal injuries.  The day’s slate of races in Hammond continued after the wreckage of Kinsley’s Frontenac was removed.  After two “light car” races, Harry Nichols of Chicago drove Walter Martin’s new Frontenac racer to victory in the featured 30-mile race ahead of Cliff Woodbury, George Beck, and Erwin ‘Cannonball’ Baker.  

Chance just three months shy of his 27th birthday and survived by his parents, brother and three sisters was later laid to rest in the Park Cemetery in his hometown of Greenfield, Indiana. Visitors to his grave are likely unaware of the seemingly unlimited potential of Chance Kinsley which ended with his racing career tragically cut short. 

Postscript

Two people closely associated with Chance Kinsley would also perish at race tracks within the next year.

The first was Arthur ‘Fuzzy’ Davidson, Chance’s competitor and one-time Frontenac factory racing teammate.  “Fuzzy” had become notorious in racing circles following a tragic crash at the Elkhart Driving Park on Memorial Day 1925. According to witnesses, during the running of the 50-mile feature, Davidson’s car and the car driven Floyd Shawhan “locked wheels with Floyd Matthews’ machine. The collision forced Matthews’ machine through the outer wire fencing and into a spectator area. An 11-year old male spectator died at the scene and a dozen spectators were hospitalized two of which passed away the next day. Floyd Shawhan reportedly won the Elkhart race with Davidson finishing third.   

Davidson and Shawhan were later accused of intentionally causing the accident due to rumored bad feelings between themselves and Matthews, and both men were arrested on charges of assault and battery. Each racer posted $1000 bond and were released and after a Grand Jury investigation returned no charges the matter was dropped. Shawhan was involved in a fatal accident a week later at the one-mile Fort Miami Ohio which resulted in the death of another spectator.   
On the evening of July 22 1925 the 28-year-old Davidson was found comatose near a shack at the Hoosier Motor Speedway where he had been drinking with other drivers, who like Davidson camped on the grounds. His seven companions loaded him into a taxicab headed for a hospital but Davidson died enroute.   

On July 23, 1925 Marion County Coroner Dr. Paul Robinson announced the results of his autopsy - Davidson had died as a result of “congestion of the lungs that resulted from overindulgence in alcohol.”  With the manufacture and sale of alcohol banned, the illegal trade in “home brewed” alcohol flourished and frequently deaths such as Davidson’s occurred as a result of the victim ingesting stronger than expected blends of alcohol.  Davidson survived by his mother, brother, and sister all of whom lived in Rochester was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis on June 26 1925.

The Hoosier Motor Speedway where Chance Kinsley established the single-lap track record of 30.2 seconds did not survive much longer with the grandstands and bleachers destroyed by a suspicious fire on the night of September 15, 1925. As the track owners did not have adequate insurance coverage the grandstands never rebuilt and within two years, the site was overgrown with little evidence that the track ever existed and the site today is a small shopping center.

L. Herbert “HL” Jones, Chance’s erstwhile car owner obtained sponsorship from the Elkhart Carriage Company manufacturers of the Elcar automobile for his entry in the 1926 Indianapolis 500-mile race. His Miller race borrowed (or leased) from its new owner Al Cotey had been revised to the new AAA 91-cubic inch engines rules and fitted with a supercharger.  The ‘Elcar Special’ which promoted Elcar’s “new” line of  4-, 6-, and 8- cylinder passenger cars introduced in 1925, the most powerful of which, the “8-81,” used Continental straight-eight engines fitted with a Swan Carburetor.

Speed shop owner Wilbert “Bill” Hunt returned to act as Jones’ team manager. Jones, once again the youngest driver in the race, nominated Canadian John Duff to act as his co-driver during the race. Though a “rookie” at Indianapolis, Duff had extensive high-speed racing experience in England and Europe driving his ‘Mephistopheles’ record car and for the Bentley team at the 24-hour endurance race in LeMans France.  

 

The aftermath of the 1926 Herbert Jones crash

IMS file photo

 

On May 27 1926 while on his second qualifying lap, Herbert Jones clipped the inner wall in turn four and the “Elcar Special’ Miller rolled over multiple times. Jones was removed from the car and rushed to Methodist Hospital where he died early the next day from a fractured skull. Jones just 22 years old and survived by only his mother, Lillian Daily, was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery on June 2 1926.  

 

John Duff in the repaired Elcar Special

IMS file photo

 

The “Elcar Special” was repaired by car owner Al Cotey and his crew in time for John Duff to qualify the car at over 95 miles per hour and although the ‘Elcar Special’ was far from the slowest qualifier, Duff started dead last in the 28-car starting field. The ‘Elcar Special’ was advertised as the only car in the 500-mile race that used Caspar Motor Oil, “an indestructible blend of castor and mineral oils.” At the end of the 1926 ‘500’ which was flagged short of the full distance due to rain, Duff finished ninth credited with completing 147 laps, 13 laps fewer than winner Frank Lockhart.  

Despite the Jones tragedy, apparently the Elkhart Carriage Company saw value in the sponsorship of a race car, as they provided funding to Duff and Cotey for more races. Duff a veteran of the high-speed high-banked Brooklands course in England scored a promising third place finish at the Altoona Pennsylvania board track but crashed through the upper guardrail at the high-speed Rockingham New Hampshire board track in July and suffered career ending injuries.   

Car owner Al Cotey entered a different  supercharged 91 cubic inch Miller dubbed the  ‘Elcar Special’ for the 1927 running Indianapolis 500-mile race with himself  as the driver, eight years after his failed attempt to qualify a Duesenberg-powered Ogden for the 1919 Indianapolis race. Cotey qualified 29th as a 39-year old “rookie” but the Miller was sidelined after 87 laps with a broken universal joint.