Lee Shepherd tribute car 

The Midwest Nostalgia Pro Stock Association display at the 2019 Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis featured the 1982 second-generation Reher-Morrison-Shepherd Chevrolet Camaro tribute car owned by Mark Pappas, a fitting memorial to the great fallen champion, Lee Shepherd.  

As he drove for car owners David Reher and Buddy Morrison, Lee Shepherd set the standard for Pro Stock racing drivers in the early nineteen eighties.  From 1980 to 1984, Shepherd appeared in the final elimination round at 44 of 56 NHRA national events and won 26 of them; that's over a 75% winning percentage in the final round.  

During that time, Shepherd re-set National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock national elapsed time and speed records a total of 14 times.

A soft-spoken Texan, Shepherd and the Reher & Morrison Racing Engines team won the NHRA Pro Stock championship four consecutive times from 1981-1984. 

In his too-brief career, Lee won every race on the NHRA tour at least once, with a 173-47 round record in NHRA competition. Shepherd was named the Pro Stock Driver of the Year for the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team four consecutive seasons.

Shepherd compiled a 48-6 round record in the NHRA rival International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) “mountain motor” Pro Stock competition in 1983-1984. In just three IHRA seasons, Shepherd scored nine victories in thirteen final round appearances in the team’s Camaro equipped with the team’s 615-cubic inch and 632-cubic inch engines.  

In 1983 Shepherd became the first driver to win both the NHRA and IHRA Pro Stock championships in the same year, a feat he repeated in 1984.

Lee Shepherd, a skilled cylinder head fabricator in addition to being a great driver, died tragically in a testing accident in Ardmore Oklahoma on March 11, 1985.  In 2000, a panel of experts selected Lee Shepherd as one of the NHRA’s all-time Top 50 racers.  Shepherd is a member of the NHRA Division 4 (South Central United States) Hall of Fame and Don Garlits' International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.   

Check out the Midwest Nostalgia Pro Stock  Association’s website at http://www.mwnpsa.com/

Alfa Romeo 308

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum featured this Alfa Romeo 308 in a special “From the Vault” exhibit at the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show in Indianapolis Indiana,  an unusual car with a colorful history. 

This car, one of four built in the Milan factory, is powered by a supercharged 2.99 liter (182 cubic inch) eight-cylinder inline engine was designed by Gioacchino Colombo built for the 1938 Grand Prix season.  

After the season ended the 308 was sold to French racer Raymond Sommer. Sommer, who had raced in the United States in the 1936 George Vanderbilt Cup race, used this 308 to win several hill climbs and a street race in 1939 before he sold the car to a pair of Americans in early 1940 as he enlisted as a private in the French army.

The car was brought to the United States via the Italian liner the SS Rex by its new owners, Richard T Wharton and Thomas W Dewart, who were described as “young wealthy New York sportsmen” and officers with the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), an amateur sports car racing club. Wharton’s mother was a Standard Oil heiress, while Dewart’s father was the publisher of the New York Sun newspaper.

This historic photo shows Deacon Litz in the Richard Wharton Maserati  

on the inside of the last row on the pace lap before the start of the 1939 Indy 500 

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

The previous year, Wharton had entered one of three  Maserati V8RI racers (a total of four were built) entered at Indianapolis in 1939.  Wharton’s silver car that carried number 52 was driven by veteran Pennsylvania driver Artha “Deacon” Litz in the 1939 International 500-Mile Sweepstakes.

“Deacon,” who weighed a plump 225 pounds, qualified with a four-lap average of 117.979 MPH (miles per hour) for his twelfth consecutive ‘500’ start.  Litz qualified for the 31st position and he shared the final row with Harry McQuinn and Billy DeVore. Unfortunately, only seven laps after the start of the 1939 Decoration Day classic, the Maserati, chassis number 4502, was forced into pits with mechanical troubles.

The crew worked over the Maserati V-8 engine for fifteen minutes until the car was retired with “valve trouble,” and placed last. After repairs, Wharton reportedly later drove the Maserati in ARCA events, including a race that was held in conjunction with the 1940 New York World’s Fair.  

Wharton and Dewart initially pursued Tazio Nuvolari to reunite with the Alfa-Romeo 308 for the 1940 Indianapolis 500-mile race, but in early May they hired veteran driver Clarence “Chet” Miller who had raced in ten consecutive 500-mile races at Indianapolis since 1930. Miller left the Boyle team to drive for the new team with their Italian machine.

Miller who had driven the last four 500-miles races in front-wheel drive machines for Mike Boyle, told an interviewer “I have driven front drives for the past four years and become accustomed to the handling. Going into a rear-drive of conventional American racing design, while I felt I could go fast with it, I would be under a strain throughout and would be dog-tired if I got into the latter stages of the race.”  It sounded like Miller was counting on the Alfa’s four-wheel independent suspension to smooth out the bumpy brick surface and help to conserve his energy. 

      

The 38-year old Miller assured his interviewer that he was completely recovered from his injuries sustained in the 1938 Indianapolis ‘500’ three-car crash that took the life of Floyd Roberts. Miller was hailed as a hero after he crashed into the wooden infield fence to avoid Bob Swanson who was prone on the track after he had been thrown from his crashing machine. Chet sustained a broken shoulder after his car flipped - he spent eight weeks in the hospital and was out of racing for six months.

This photo shows Chet Miller weighing our featured car in 1940

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

Chet practiced the Alfa at 124 MPH, but the scheduled qualifying sessions in 1940 were plagued by rain and gusty winds and Miller did not get on track for his ten-mile run until Monday May 27.  Miller posted an average speed of 121.392 MPH, good enough for the 27^th starting position on the outside of the ninth row.

Later that evening, Chet was elected President of the Champion Spark Plug 100-mile per hour club succeeding Zeke Meyer, who gained membership with his 1936 Indianapolis ninth-place finish. Miller had earned his membership in the exclusive club because of his 1935 fifth-place finish in which he averaged 100.474 MPH for the 500 miles.

Chet Miller's 1940 IMS qualifying photo 

courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection 

The 1940 Indianapolis ‘500’ proved to be a disappointment for many drivers, as the last fifty laps of the race was run under the caution flag due to persistent rain showers which froze the field in position, Despite his hopes that the Alfa would preserve his energy, Miller had stopped on lap 148, just before the caution flag came out and been replaced by Englishman Henry Banks. 

With the Alfa Romeo in seventeenth place, all the cars were flagged off the track after Wilbur Shaw and the first three finishers took the checkered flag. The Alfa Romeo 308 #34 finished with 189 laps completed and the Wharton-Dewart Motor Racing Team won $605 compared to winning car owner Mike Boyle who collected $31,675. In addition to a new Studebaker Champion, race winner Shaw also won an electric refrigerator.  

Wharton and Dewart did not enter the Alfa-Romeo 308 for the 1941 Indianapolis 500-mile race, and it and the Maserati V8RI were later sold to Milt Marion in 1944, while both Wharton and Dewart were serving in the US Navy in World War 2. 

Marion ran the Long island-based Marion Engineering & Machine Company and had started racing as a driver on the New York dirt tracks in the mid-nineteen twenties before he tried his hand at Indianapolis in 1931. Marion tried but failed to qualify at Indianapolis as a driver on six occasions, with his last attempt in 1937.

The highlight of Marion’s driving career came on March 8, 1936 when he won a AAA “strictly stock car” race held on a 1.5-mile course on Daytona Beach. Driving a 1936 Ford V8 convertible sponsored by Permatex Form-A-Gasket, Milt won the race which was shortened by nine miles from its planned 250-mile distance when the tide came in, at an average speed of 52 MPH. Another competitor in that day’s race was a local service station owner named William France who years later founded his own stock car racing association that held races on the beach.  

  

With the defeat of Japan and Germany, automobile racing resumed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May 1946, albeit with pre-war equipment. Milt Marion entered both his Italian-built machines in March but did not name the drivers.

Once the track opened, Eastern AAA ‘big car’ ace Tommy Hinnershitz, a veteran of the 1941 ‘500,’ was tabbed to drive the Maserati, while midget racer Louis Durant (who birth name was Durant Lewis), was assigned the Alfa-Romeo 308. Durant a Kansas native who lived in Los Angeles, in addition to driving, acted as a race promoter for several pre-war races in his native state.

Durant had initially qualified for the 1941 Indianapolis ‘500,’ but was ‘bumped out’ on the final day of time trials by Al Putnam and the G & S Special became the first alternate. Durant unsuccessfully attempted to bump back into the field with an unidentified car owned by Milt Marion.

Sam Hanks crashed in pre-race practice on May 29 and his damaged car could not be repaired in time, but Chief Steward Ted Doescher stated that the rules called for the “the fastest 33 cars” and would not allow Durant’s car to be substituted.   

The short field due to the lack of Hank’s 7 UP sponsored entry was compounded when on race morning, the garage area fire claimed George Berringer’s rear-engine Gulf-Miller, as well as Marion’s unidentified car, and so the 1941 ‘500’ starting field was comprised of 31 starters.  Louis Durant did manage to compete in the 1941 500’ as he had two stints as a relief driver that covered 84 laps.

Durant, qualified the Alfa-Romeo for the 1946 International 500-mile race in the sixth starting position on the first day of time trials, though he posted the day’s slowest speed average of 118.973 MPH for his ten-mile run. 

Hinnershitz made a qualifying attempt on the final day of time trials on May 28, 1946, but the aged Maserati’s speed was not enough to bump out Al Putman’s qualified machine. Marion later sold the Maserati to the Granatelli brothers who replaced the engine with an Offenhauser.

In the first 500-mile race run at the Speedway in five years, Durant had a steady if not spectacular day as he finished in sixth position crossing the line more than 36 minutes after George Robson took the checkered flag and was the last car to complete the entire race distance. As he averaged 105 MPH for the 500 miles without relief, Durant earned membership into the Champion Spark Plug 100 MPH club.  

 

In 1947, Milt Marion entered his Alfa-Romeo and was allied with Speedway management, rather than siding with the upstart ASPAR (American Society of Professional Auto Racers) organization which was campaigning for a higher purse and threatened to boycott the race.

Marion had signed sponsorship for the Alfa-Romeo from the New York-based Permafuse Corporation, which manufactured and marketed a new system of relining brakes. Instead of the use of rivets, the installer used a strip of patented Permafuse tape to attach the new shoe to the lining. With the assembly clamped together, it was heated in the Permafuse electric oven. When completed, the manufacturer claimed that their system doubled the life of brake linings as the shoe and new lining were “virtually fused together.”

As Louis Durant had allied himself with the ASPAR group, Marion selected Indianapolis rookie Walt Brown from Massapequa New York, an Eastern AAA ‘big car’ racer who was the current track record holder at the one-mile track in Trenton New Jersey as his driver. 

Brown had appeared in several pre-war championship races and had been entered by Marion in six races held in late 1946. Walt was not at the Speedway full-time in the early part of the month of May 1947, as he was a regular on the AAA Eastern big car circuit and ran several big car races in early May, then passed his Indianapolis drivers test on May 22.

 Brown qualified the Alfa-Romeo on May 26 at a speed of 118.355, which placed it fifteenth in the field of 30 starters, and as the fastest non-ASPAR qualifier of the day received a check for $500. 

On Race Day, Walt steadily moved up through the field, largely by attrition as the machines of Ken Fowler, Russ Snowberger, Cliff Bergere and Shorty Cantlon were eliminated by mechanical failure or in the case of Cantlon a fatal crash.

Brown at age 35, wound up as the second-highest finishing rookie in seventh place as fellow rookie 39-year-old Bill Holland finished second. Walt was the last driver to complete the full 500 miles, flagged off a full 37 minutes after winner Mauri Rose took the checkered flag. 

         

Milt Marion entered the Alfa-Romeo for the 1948 Indianapolis 500-mile race but despite its record of two top ten finishes in the last two races, it did attract the interest of any drivers. Late in the month, Colorado driver Johnny Mauro struck a deal and bought the car from Milt Marion.

Mauro reportedly raced for several years in the pre-war period using the nom de guerre “Jack Morris,” although the author has been unable to find any results to confirm this story. Mauro entered a car under his own name in the 1940 22^nd annual Labor Day race up Colorado’s Pikes Peak, and finished either third, fourth or fifth, depending on which newspaper article one chooses to believe. 

In 1947 Mauro became an unwitting player in the ASPAR dispute with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In early 1947 Mauro reached an agreement with Babe Stapp to act as his crew chief for his inaugural entry at Indianapolis and he sent his entry form to Stapp’s home in Los Angeles. Stapp mailed the form onto the Indianapolis Motor Speedway office marked “in care of Ralph Hepburn,” as Hepburn was the original president of the ASPAR group.

The entry form arrived at the Speedway office at 444 North Capitol Avenue before the April 15 deadline, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Wilbur Shaw would not open the envelope, as Hepburn the addressee was not associated with the Speedway. Shaw instructed a secretary to place the envelope in the office safe. In early May, Mauro arrived in Indianapolis with his race car and was shocked to learn that he and his car, an older small displacement eight-cylinder supercharged Miller, was not entered. 

Mauro tracked down the paperwork, and the envelope with Stapp’s return address was retrieved from the safe, but Stapp initially refused to allow Shaw to open it. Finally, on May 15 in the presence of several reporters, Shaw opened the envelope which contained the completed entry form and Mauro’s check inside. Shaw allowed Mauro’s entry, which carried sponsorship from the local Phil Kraft Southside bakery chain. Mauro passed his required physical and practiced but was unable to complete his drivers test.  

Mauro, who worked as an accountant when not racing, returned with the supercharged Miller in 1948 but was not competitive in the car which press reports indicated had the smallest engine on the grounds, which leads the author to suspect it was a 91-cubic inch powered Miller. Mauro saw the unused Alfa Romeo 308 in the Garage Area and struck a deal with Milt Marion to buy the car and transferred the Phil Kraft sponsorship to his new ride.    

On May 25, 1948 the day following the finalization of his purchase of the Alfa Romeo 308, Mauro took the car out on track for practice and promptly spun in turn two, but he managed to collect the car without hitting anything and returned to the pit area with a bent wheel. Two days later May 27, Mauro was the slowest of the seven qualifiers with a four-lap average of 121.790 MPH, to start from the 27^th position.

Once again in 1948 in the 32^nd International 500-mile Sweepstakes, Mauro and his Alfa proved the old adage that the best finishes do not necessarily go to the swiftest, as the trusty 308 posted its third consecutive top ten finish when Mauro crossed the line in ninth place with 198 laps completed when he was flagged off the track forty minutes after winner Mauri Rose took the checkered flag. 

To complete the race, Mauro relied on the relief efforts of Louis Durant, the 1946 Alfa driver, who drove the car from lap 112 to lap 140. The day following the race, race officials announced that a recheck of the scoring tape revealed that Mauro had finished in eighth place and for his efforts, Mauro the car owner earned $4115.     

   

On Labor Day 1948, Mauro drove his Alfa Romeo 308 in the 12.42-mile AAA-sanctioned Pikes Peak Hill Climb and finished third with a time of 16 minutes and 55 seconds, one minute and six seconds slower than the winner Al Rogers who drove an Offenhauser-powered machine to victory. Mauro’s finish was celebrated in a nationwide advertisement for Mobil Oil that appeared in newspapers just days after the event.

Johnny Mauro entered the now eleven-year-old Alfa Romeo, for the 1949 Indianapolis ‘500,’ but technology had caught up as the “railbirds” opined that it would take an average qualifying speed of better than 126 MPH to make the 33-car starting field. Mauro himself never presented the car for qualifying, but Tony Bettenhausen gave it a try on May 28^th after his original entry was bumped.

Tony and his Flavell Special powered by a Sparks “little six” 183-cubic inch supercharged six-cylinder engine was bumped from the starting field. Robert Flavell from Los Angeles purchased the car in late 1946 from the original owner, Joel Thorne, after Joel got himself into one of his periodic legal jams and needed some fast cash. The Flavell/Sparks car had easily qualified for the 1947 and 1948 editions of the ‘500,’ but like the Alfa, it had reached the limit of its speed at 125.754 MPH and was bumped.

Tony could not find the speed in the Alfa Romeo 308 in a desperate attempt to bump back into the field, so the Mauro Alfa Romeo 308 missed the big show at Indianapolis in 1949.

Mauro qualified the Alfa 308 fourth overall for the annual Labor Day 1949 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, but on race day, crowd control was lax and errant spectators caught several drivers out. Mauro was within sight of the finish line when he had to swerve to avoid two women with cameras who had wandered into the racing line. Though he avoided a tragedy, Mauro crashed the Alfa Romeo into a parked car and did not finish.

On March 23, 1950 it was announced by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that it had received Johnny Mauro’s entry of the Alfa-Romeo along with two others for Jack McGrath and Cecil Green. Headed into the final weekend of time trials, the 308’s engine threw a rod and the damage was not repaired in time to make a qualifying attempt. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway would not see another Alfa-Romeo entry until 1990.    

In 1952, Mauro entered a Ferrari 375 Grand Prix car at Indianapolis with sponsorship from the locally-based Kennedy Tank company. Mauro probably used his family connections to obtain the 4.5-liter V-12 powered machine as his brother owned an exotic car dealership in Denver. Unfortunately, the white with blue trim Kennedy Tank Ferrari 375 never approached qualifying speeds.    

Mauro raced the Ferrari 375 at Pikes Peak through 1956, and in 1958 Mauro founded the United States Truck Driving School, Inc. (USTDS) to train professional truck drivers. Mauro donated the Alfa Romeo 308 to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1969, and in 2003, Mauro  was killed in a traffic accident in his hometown of Denver when he was 92 years old.

Color photographs by the author 

1909 Buick racer 

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum featured four cars from the Speedway’s history in a special “From the Vault” exhibit at the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show. 

One car in the exhibit, the 1909 Buick, is of interest since to racing historians as it participated in the earliest automobile races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in August 1909 and won the second race held at the track.  

After the purchase of the 328-acre Pressley Farm property in December 1908 by four partners – Carl Fisher, James Allison, Frank Wheeler and Arthur Newby – construction on the track started in March 1909. The racing surface of the 2-1/2-mile oval was created by the placement of layers of gravel and limestone mixed with tar and oil of varying thickness topped with crushed stone chips.

The first motorized racing event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a series of motorcycle races, held on August 14, 1909, did not go well due to failure of the track surface and the planned second day of racing was cancelled by Indiana Motorcycle Club officials.  

The first three-day automobile racing meet, sanctioned by the American Automobile Association (AAA), was scheduled for August 19 through the 21^st, 1909 with each day to feature several short races and a long-distance trophy race. Anticipation for these events ran high as many automobile manufacturers entered cars for the Indianapolis races.   

David Buick started his eponymous automobile company in 1903 with a majority partner Benjamin Briscoe, who soon sold his shares in the company to James H. Whiting, who moved the company to Flint Michigan. The following year, Whitting lost control of the company to William Durant, and in 1906 David Buick sold his shares and left the company. Durant soon built Buick into one of the top-selling car brands in America. 

Buick factory photo and specifications of the 1909 Buick 16B roadster 

Durant believed in the promotion of Buick sales through automobile racing, and Buick publicized their racing success through press releases. Durant built a successful team in 1909 led by Swiss emigre Louis Chevrolet, teamed with George DeWitt, Lewis Strang and Bob Burman. The team primarily drove Buick model 16B racers with a 112-inch wheelbase roadster chassis powered by the proven Buick four-cylinder engine.

The Buick 16B racers, stripped of their fenders, running boards and lights made extensive use of wood for the floorboards and firewall with the seats mounted directly to the floorboards and the car rides on 34-inch diameter wood spoke wheels with mechanical brakes on the two rear wheels only.  

Louis Chevrolet and the Buick 16B photographed 

at the 1909 Ira Cobe Trophy race

Photograph appears courtesy of IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection  

The Buick factory team arrived Indianapolis “in a big express rail car” with a level of optimism on the strength of the victory by Chevrolet at the previous AAA race held the Crown Point Indiana road course - the 395-mile Ira Cobe Trophy Race held two months earlier. Chevrolet led the final four 23 ¼- mile laps at Crown Point to win with an elapsed time of just over eight hours even though the Buick only ran on three cylinders for much of the event.  

On Tuesday August 17 on the way to the Speedway for practice, Cliff Litterall, a mechanic with the Stoddard-Dayton team which was headquartered in a shop near downtown, jumped (or fell) from the race car in which he was riding and was run over by a following team car. The 28-year old Litterall (alternately spelled Littrell) suffered a crushed chest and the father of two died in Methodist Hospital on Thursday morning. 

The opening slate of five races began at noon before a crowd of 12,000 spectators on Thursday August 19.  The first event was a five-mile race for stripped chassis AAA class 4 machines with engines that displaced from 161 to 230 cubic inches.

The Buick entry that competed in the first event was a Buick Model 10 powered by a four-cylinder engine that displaced 165 cubic inches with George DeWitt behind the wheel, and DeWitt finished third behind a pair of Stoddard-Dayton machines. After the first event, drivers already complained about the track surface and the extreme danger posed by the open drainage ditches adjacent to the racing surface.

The day’s second event, a ten-mile race for stripped chassis AAA class 3 cars with engines that displaced 231 to 300 cubic inches, featured three Buick 16B racers, all equipped with a 298-cubic four-cylinder engine, which fitted with a single Schebler carburetor developed 32 horsepower.  

Louis Chevrolet led the 4-lap race wire-to-wire from the standing start in our featured car followed by teammates Strang and Burman. Chevrolet’s winning time of eight minutes and 56 4/5 seconds was a new world record for the ten-mile distance that eclipsed the old record set at the Empire City one-mile horse track in New York in October 1908 by a remarkable 15 seconds. Unfortunately the identity of the Buick's riding mechanic is not known. 

The third race of the day was a five-mile race for stripped chassis AAA class 2 machines with engines sized from 301 to 450 cubic inches and again, Chevrolet, Strang and Burman were entered in Buicks, these were probably equipped with 318 cubic inch engines. Burman finished second and Chevrolet third behind William Bourque in a Knox. The fourth race was a “free-for-all” 10-mile handicap race won by Harry Stillman in a local entry, the Marmon.          

The finale for Thursday was the 250-mile (100 lap) Prest-O-lite Trophy race for Class 2 machines with three 318-cubic inch displacement Buicks entered for Chevrolet, Burman and Strang. The Prest-O-Lite Company, owned by Fisher and Allison, manufactured and sold cylinders filled with compressed acetylene gas used to power headlights.

Strang retired early from the race after his Buick caught fire, while Chevrolet led the first 14 laps before he yielded to Burman and later made a pit stop. On the 58^th lap, the Knox, driven by Bourque with his riding mechanic Harry Holcomb, hit a rut, left the track, veered into the drainage ditch and flipped. The crushed car came to rest upside down against a fence and both men suffered fatal skull fractures in the accident, thus they became the first fatalities recorded at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Press reports indicated that the Buick driven by Louis Chevrolet was directly behind the Knox and that it was only through Louis’ “superior driving skills” that he avoided colliding with the crashing Knox. Chevrolet retired from the race immediately, reportedly he was blinded after his goggles were smashed and Louis withdrew. 

Late in the race it came down to a duel between Fred Ellis in the Jackson and Burman in the Buick – Ellis led from lap 82 to lap 88, then faded as Burman led the rest of the distance to claim the Prest-O-lite Trophy and the $1,000 prize.   

On Saturday August 21, the scheduled 300-mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race, the grand finale of the Indianapolis meet, was cut short due to deteriorating track conditions which had resulted in several crashes and the fatalities of Claude Kellum, a riding mechanic, and two spectators.

Kellum was originally assigned by National Motor Vehicle Company to ride with Johnny Aitken, whose #8 National dropped out on lap 40.  Later during the race, the #10 National’s original riding mechanic, Robert Lyne fainted, and Kellum replaced Lyne. On lap 70, the right front tire burst on the National driven by Charles Merz (later the Chief Steward at the Speedway) crashed through a fence and Kellum and two spectators were killed.     

Research for this article also uncovered two lawsuits that occurred in the aftermath of the 1909 Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race that may be of interest to racing historians.

When the race was stopped at 94 laps or 235 miles, due to ruts in the surface and clouds of dust, referee S B Stevens declared the race as “abandoned,” in effect the AAA stated that there was no race and thus no winner. Accordingly, the Speedway declined to award the Wheeler-Schebler trophy which was valued at $10,000 and announced that the race for the trophy would be run as the first race of the 1910 season.  

A copy of the Jackson advertisement in the Indianapolis Star 

that led to the AAA banning Jackson from racing for a time 

The Jackson Automobile Company of Jackson Michigan owner of the car driven by Leigh Lynch that was leading the race when it was stopped, sued the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 26^th to obtain the trophy, and Jackson published newspaper advertisements after the race in the Indianapolis Star newspaper that announced that its car had won the race. After a hearing, the AAA Contest Board announced on October 12, 1919 that the Jackson Automobile Company was banned from AAA competition until January 1, 1910. 

Another legal case related to the 1909 Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race was filed in April 1910, when Carrie Kellum the widow of the mechanic killed in the crash of the National sued both the National Motor Vehicle Company and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for negligence and asked for $10,000 in damages. The case was heard in Hancock (County) Circuit Court in December 1912 and the jury awarded Ms. Kellum $7,000 in damages. After an appeal by the Speedway, the award was affirmed by the Indiana Supreme Court in June 1915.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum acquired the Buick Model 16B in 1964 and it has been painstakingly restored to its appearance on August 19, 1909 when it won the second automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

All color photographs by the author 

Roscoe Turner’s 1929 Packard

While the author was in Indianapolis for the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show, he saw that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum had placed a 1929 Packard Custom Eight 6-40 Dual-Cowl Phaeton on display at the Indianapolis International Airport to promote its special “From the Vault” exhibition, While it is a beautifully finished example of a spectacular era of automobile manufacturing, what is most fascinating about the Packard is its original owner - the famed aviator Colonel Roscoe Turner.  

Born in Corinth Mississippi in 1895, Turner worked at various jobs until he enlisted for World War One. Roscoe first served first in the balloon corps then later as a fighter pilot.  Upon his return to the United States, the mustachioed Turner used his wartime pay to buy and airplane and became a dashing barnstormer and stunt pilot.

A consummate self-promoter, Turner was a pioneer in what we today call “personal branding.”  In public, Roscoe always wore a custom uniform the consisted of a military-style tunic, jodhpurs, and highly polished riding boots. He accessorized the outfit with an officer’s cap embroidered with a winged insignia with the monogram "RT" and the matching logo on a pin on his chest and on his large brass belt buckle.

In 1928, young film maker Howard Hughes purchased Turner’s huge Sikorsky S-29-A twin-engine biplane airliner for air-to-air filming of his epic film Hell’s Angels. Roscoe flew the airliner and worked as a stunt pilot until towards the end of filming, in March 1929, when Hughes asked Turner to undertake a dangerous “spin” stunt in the Sikorsky which Roscoe thought too dangerous.

With Turner’s refusal, Hughes fired him and enlisted another crew to fly the stunt. The Sikorsky, disguised as a World War I German Gotha bomber, crashed and one member of the crew was killed. Turner continued to work in Hollywood for several years as a stunt pilot and appeared in several films as an actor.  

In early 1929, Turner and his first wife, Carline, used the proceeds from his Hughes movie work to purchase this Packard from Douglas M. Longyear’s dealership Hollywood Motors Inc.  The car is identified as a ‘6-40’ which identifies it as the sixth series of Packard production built on a 140-inch wheelbase chassis. The car is fitted with a catalog #341 dual-cowl phaeton five-passenger body which means the car features no side windows but has a second cowl and windshield for rear seat passengers that was built by the Holbrook Company of New York.   

The Turner’s Custom Eight Packard was the mid-range of the 1929 Packard automobile line - Packard offered the Standard Eight, the Custom Eight and the Deluxe Eight, as well as the ultra-rare two-seat Speedster. The heavily optioned 6-40 is equipped with the dual side-mounts (spare tires with covers) and wire wheels, powered by the Packard L-head straight eight engine that displaces 384 cubic inches and develops 105 horsepower.

One of the major selling points for the new-for-1929 Packard was the new Packard Shock Absorbing System that features double-acting hydraulic shock absorbers on all four wheels for a smoother ride to complement the smooth slow-revving Packard straight-eight engine that features a crankshaft with nine main bearings.  

This photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Center for Digital Scholarship

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection shows Roscoe Turner's Packard 6-40

parked in the IMS infield in 1934.

Roscoe Turner continued his aviation career by forming with partners Nevada Airlines that flew a fleet of new Lockheed Vega 5B airplanes between Los Angeles, Reno and Las Vegas, with Turner as the operations manager and chief pilot. In 1929, the Governors of the states of Mississippi, Nevada and California all bestowed Turner with the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel as a member of their personal staffs and thus for the rest of his life, he was known as “Colonel Roscoe Turner.”  

Nevada Airlines was promoted by Turner as “The Fastest Airline in the United States," and he used the Vegas as his springboard to enter the emerging sport of air racing and record-setting with moderate success. Turner later persuaded oil tycoon Earl Gilmore to purchase a pair of racing airplanes- a Wedell-Williams Model 44 and a Lockheed Model 3 Air Express which used a parasol wing design fitted with wheel pants for streamlining that was primarily used in cross-country events.   

This photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Center for Digital Scholarship

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection shows left to right

Roscoe Turner, Madonna Turner, Mary Fendrich Hulman

and Anton "Tony" Hulman gathered around the stuffed lion "Gilmore"

For several years, Turner toured the country in the Air Express flying with his pet lion cub, another promotional idea, as a stylized lion’s head was the symbol of his sponsor, the Gilmore Oil Company. Eventually the lion grew too large to handle and went to a private zoo, but after the lion “Gilmore” died in 1952, Roscoe had it stuffed and kept it in his home. 

Roscoe with the Packard 6-40 and the three major US aviation trophies

 that he won in his career. On the left the Thompson Trophy,

the center is the Harmon Trophy and at right is the Bendix Trophy

             

Turner won the 1933 cross-country Vincent Bendix Trophy race from New York to Los Angeles with the time of 11 hours and thirty minutes in the Gilmore Wedell-Williams. In 1934, Turner won his first Charles Thompson Trophy race, known as the “Indianapolis of the Sky,” and he covered the 150 miles on the ten-mile closed course above Cleveland at an average speed of 248 miles per hour (MPH) in Wedell-Williams.

In 1935, Turner lost the cross-country Burbank-to-Cleveland Bendix Trophy race by a mere 23 ½ seconds. Turner won the Thompson Trophy race again in 1938 and 1939 as he piloted the ‘Meteor,’ a plane of his own design. Roscoe won the 1939 300-mile race with an average speed of 282 MPH and became the only racer to win the Thompson Trophy three times.

During his career, Turner also was awarded the Clifford Harmon Trophy for the United States twice in 1932 and 1938 as the outstanding aviator in the United States. Roscoe also won the Clifford Henderson Award of Merit three times in 1933, 1938 and 1939 as the United States’ fastest air racing pilot. In 1939 and 1940, Turner also starred in the CBS Network weekly radio drama Sky Blazers that was supported by a mail-order model plane and comic book series.

The Gilmore-sponsored Lockheed Air Express powered by a Pratt & Whitney Hornet 525 horsepower nine-cylinder radial engine was capable of 175 MPH, but it did not have the same racing success as the Wedell-Williams plane. Turner bought the Lockheed Air Express from Gilmore in 1932 and flew it until 1938. During his ownership of the Air Express, Roscoe commissioned a custom-made hood ornament for the Packard that was a detailed miniature of the plane complete down to a working propeller that spun in the wind.       

Turner was involved with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for many years beginning with when the facility was owned by his friend the World War I ace and four-time “500’ starter Eddie Rickebacker. Roscoe served as the starter for the 1933 Indianapolis 500-mile race, which was the last year the starter’s role was ceremonial. Turner served as the race’s honorary referee in 1940, and he greeted the 1939 and 1940 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Wilbur Shaw in Victory Lane as the Champion Spark Plug representative.   

Turner moved to Indianapolis in 1940 and formed the Roscoe Turner Aeronautical Corporation based at the Indianapolis Weir Cook Municipal Airport to teach students the skills of aircraft mechanics and provided flight training. Roscoe and his wife bought a three-story 5,500 square foot four-bedroom four-bathroom home located at 6800 West 10th Street in Indianapolis. The 1929 Packard was kept in a special enclosed section of the large detached Turner garage.

Turner attempted to enlist for service in World War 2, but was rejected due to his age, and he spent the war touring war materiel plants and giving speeches. In 1945 Turner was divorced by Carline, from whom he had been separated since 1938, and in late 1946 he married a Hoosier woman 20 years his junior. With the dawning of the jet age, air racing and the name Roscoe Turner faded from the headlines and he stopped wearing his military-style uniform.

This photo courtesy of the Ray Satterlee collection at the Ball State University

Library Digital Media Repository shows an interview in 1961

conducted prior to the start of the Indianapolis 500-mile race.

At left Earl Cooper, announcer Jim Phillippi, Roscoe Turner,

Eddie Rickebacker and Ray Harroun on the right.

Roscoe forged a strong friendship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s new owner, Anton “Tony” Hulman who was an aviation enthusiast. Turner was included in a group of “old timers” along with Ray Harroun, Earl Cooper and Rickenbacker. that piloted antique race cars around the oval before the start of the Golden Anniversary 1961 Indianapolis ‘500.

Given his friendship with Hulman, it is not a surprise that the 1929 Packard 6-40 was donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum several years after Roscoe’s death in June 1970 by his widow Madonna, while the rest of Roscoe’s trophies, airplanes (including the Wedell-Williams and the “Meteor”) and memorabilia (included the stuffed pet lion) were donated to the Smithsonian Institute.

At the time of the donation, the car was painted two-tone silver and gray and even though it had accumulated many miles, it was in excellent condition. The author recalls seeing the Turner Packard 6-40 on display in the “new” Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum around 1976, and since that time, the Packard 6-40 has been beautifully restored by the Museum staff in its two-tone brown livery.

All color photos by the author