An excerpt from The Brown Bullet 

Today, we are proud to share an excerpt from the forthcoming book written by Bill Poehler which is due out on May 5 entitled The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack's Drive to Integrate Auto Racing, that explores the life and career of  the African-American auto racing pioneer.

This excerpt from The Brown Bullet shares a story from 1937. 

"The rained‑out three‑hundred‑lap stock car race for the mile oval at Oakland Speedway was rescheduled for May 30, and Rajo had a better idea than putting his wife in his race car this time. Originally entered in a Dodge passenger car, Rajo managed to procure a Ford sedan delivery truck. The truck’s engine didn’t have the horsepower of the passenger cars entered, but it had another advantage.

Where most passenger cars of the day had a hard time surviving rutted and difficult dirt tracks like Oakland, a truck was one of the few vehicles capable of withstanding the pounding. Rajo removed the fenders and windshield of the truck—modifications allowed in the rules and common for the stock car class. 

The truck was nearly unrecognizable by the time he was done stripping it of its extraneous parts. And he painted the number 33 on the side. It was the first time in his career he used the number—the traditional number of starters in the Indianapolis 500—and it would become his trademark.

Oakland Speedway had a set of bathrooms for men and women in the infield. Though there were no signs the bathrooms were specifically for white people, it was assumed. But there were also no specific bath‑ rooms for black people. 

If Rajo or Herman Giles—who frequently traveled as Rajo’s mechanic—wanted to use the bathroom, they had to wait until the race was underway so it would be empty, and no one would see them use it. If there was a line for the bathroom, they would have to wait.

The Oakland race was minor in the racing world, but it was being billed as a national championship as Curryer was apt to do, and ten thousand fans arrived to bear witness. Joe Wilber led the other twenty‑ six drivers briefly from the pole position, but Duane Carter quickly passed him. 

On the fiftieth lap, a horse in the infield threw his rider and wandered onto the track through a gate mistakenly left open on the backstretch. The horse galloped along with cars down the backstretch for two hundred yards before being corralled and exiting uninjured.

On the fifty‑second lap, Ernie Criss—driving a Ford truck like Rajo’s—took over the lead, but Rajo passed him on the ninety‑third lap. Criss went back into the lead laps later and stayed there, though Rajo was never far behind. Criss pitted for fuel on lap 246, surrendering the lead to Rajo. 

Criss caught up to Rajo’s truck but blew a tire with twelve laps left, and Rajo’s lead extended to two laps in front of Les Dreisbach. Rajo slowed his pace greatly in the final laps and won after four hours and sixteen minutes.

“It should be called the Altamont Pass Sweepstakes. The trucks wouldn’t let the autos by,” purported IRS examiner John V. Lewis said.

The win was popular with Rajo’s fellow competitors, especially after his previous hard‑luck results at the track. And he took over the ARA lead with 730 points, ten more than Bay Area upstart Duane Carter.

Rajo’s win made headlines across the nation again, spreading throughout California and into places like Oregon, Montana, Nebraska, Hawaii, and Washington. Some in the press proclaimed it to be a victory for the working man over the idle rich. All Rajo cared about was that it put him closer to winning the ARA championship." 

Buy your copy of the The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack's Drive to Integrate Auto Racing  at your favorite bookseller. 

Chance Kinsley- Hoosier "hot rod"

Part three

In 1923, Kinsley became one of the star attractions at the Hoosier Motor Speedway. Today the track would be well within the Indianapolis city boundaries, but from 1922 to 1925, when the oval track was in operation, it sat just beyond the eastern outskirts of the city of Indianapolis near the intersection of 38th Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Parking was free for those who drove their cars to the track, but the site was also serviced by the Fort Harrison bus and interurban lines.  

When it opened on Armistice Day November 11, 1922 with a 75-mile race, the Hoosier Motor Speedway billed itself as “the greatest half-mile race course in the world.” In that 1922 Armistice Day race, Chance Kinsley set quick time in qualifying and held the lead of the race when a broken connecting rod in his Lexington-Ansted Special’s engine ended his day prematurely.  The Ormsby brothers of Fort Wayne were the day’s big winners with Ralph in his Frontenac taking first as brother Homer finished second, with Joe Guinta of Chicago in third place.  

The Hoosier Motor Speedway did not run a schedule of regular weekly racing programs rather it staged occasional special-event long distance (for the time) races. For example the 1923 Hoosier Motor Speedway advertised schedule featured just six races on May 5, June 9. July 4, August 4, Labor Day and the season finale on October 13.

Click to enlarge

 

For the track’s inaugural 75-mile race of 1923, the 23-car entry list included Kinsley, the Ormsby brothers (who were considered Frontenac factory drivers), future Indianapolis ‘500’ starter Joe Huff from Fort Wayne, Joe King of Chicago, and Bill Hunt who brought three cars to the track. Chance Kinsley was named one of the early favorites to win in the six-cylinder Ansted Special, the product of one of the many Connersville companies owned by Edward W. Ansted grandfather of long-time Indianapolis ‘500’ entrant and 1964 Indianapolis ‘500’ co-winning car owner William Ansted Junior. 

Other scheduled entries for the May 5 1923 Hoosier Motor Speedway race included Arthur “Fuzzy” Davidson with a “Red Arrow”, future ‘500’ mechanic Ford Moyer, Benton “Bennie” Schoaf from Paris Illinois and a young Hoosier racer named Warren “Wilbur” Shaw.  Two renowned speed equipment manufacturers, the Rajo Motor and Manufacturing Company in Racine Wisconsin and the Robert Roof Company of Anderson Indiana, each entered one car without naming their drivers. 

On Tuesday May 2 Hoosier Motor Speedway General Manager J.V. Lines directed oil be placed on the track surface to keep down dust, but too much oil was applied which resulted in slick conditions and the cancellation of that day’s practice.  After a large roller was brought to the track in the afternoon and after the surface was rolled practice resumed on the afternoon of Wednesday May 3.

A reported five thousand spectators were on hand on Saturday as the event opened with morning time trials to “weed out any slow cars,” which apparently included Kinsley’s Ansted entry. Twelve cars took the green flag with Ford Moyer the early leader until just past the 1/3 point of the race when his car slid high into the wooden guardrail.

 

A plank came through the cowling of the car and hit Moyer in the chest which forced him to pit. Moyer was relieved by a driver named Johnson but the car was out of contention for victory. With Moyer sidelined, Claude Fix in a Frontenac-Ford grabbed the lead which he held until just past halfway when his car’s axle broke.

With Fix’s retirement the race lead fell to Homer Ormsby who drove in place of his brother who had arrived late. At the 50-mile mark Ormsby still led with Schoaf who drove an Oakland in second followed by Koehler in another Frontenac-Ford in third place. The running order remained unchanged to the finish as there were only five cars still running when starter Roscoe Dunning dropped the checkered flag. Orsmby finished the 75-mile distance in one hour and 31.54 minutes for an average speed of more than 49 miles per hour. 

Chance Kinsley did not have long to reflect on the disappointment of his failure to qualify for the season-opening 75-mile race on May 5 1923 at the Hoosier Motor Speedway on the east side of Indianapolis, as his next race was scheduled for May 30 Decoration Day at Winchester Indiana.

The half-mile track built by Frank Funk adjacent to his lakeside amusement park west of the village of Winchester had been remodeled from its original flatter configuration.  While intimidating today the new configuration must have been even more so in 1923, with an oiled dirt surface and eighteen foot high banked turns which reportedly made it “the highest banked half-mile track in the world.”

Early entrants included the Fort Wayne based Ormsby brothers in a pair of Frontenacs entered by Arthur Chevrolet, along with Ray Butcher and Wilbur Shaw named as drivers of two of the three cars entered by Imperial Motors the predecessor to Craig-Hunt and Speedway Engineering run by Wilbert “Bill” Hunt.  There were twenty cars entered in the races with a purse of $1,500.

Chance Kinsley’s career received a boost as at Winchester he was entered as the driver of a  ‘Roof Special’ powered by a Ford four-cylinder engine fitted with an overhead Roof Racing “Peugeot style” cylinder head manufactured by the Roof Auto Specialty Company of Anderson Indiana. At this time in history, Roof, the Chevrolet brothers with their Frontenac heads, the Rajo Motor and Manufacturing Company in Racine Wisconsin and Hunt with Imperial Motors were engaged in stiff competition for Ford Model T conversion racing cylinder head superiority.   

A reported crowd of 25,000 saw an epic battle in qualifying as “four world records” were broken, as Homer Ormsby, Benton “Bennie” Schoaf and Ford Moyer each posted laps of 29 seconds flat which eclipsed the previous track record of 29 and 3/5 seconds but time trials ended with Ralph Ormsby on top with a lap of 28-4/5 seconds.

There were three races held on Decoration Day 1923 and Claude Fix from Clinton Indiana in a “Powell Special” designed and owned by Charles Powell of Greensburg Indiana won the 10- and 20-mile races.  Both races were finished in record times despite the fact that Fix was still recovering from burns on his throttle foot sustained in a recent race in Lafayette Indiana. Fix led at the 25-lap mark of the featured 30-mile race but soon after his car suffered a blown tire which knocked him from contention. Chance Kinsley won the race in a time of 33 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 54 MPH over Homer Ormsby and Ford Moyer, as these were the only three cars to finish the race.

CC Kinsley was listed as entrant in the “Deluxe Special” for a series of three races or 10, 20 and 30 miles on June 17 1923 at Centlivre Park Speedway in Fort Wayne Indiana. This unique narrow half-mile track was originally built by the Centlivre family of brewery fame to train their stable of race horses. Several years after the family lost interest in trotting horses, the property was bought by the Fort Wayne Auto Racing Association and the group headed by Ray Harper and Sam Novick built a new grandstand and restored the facility for motorcycle and automobile races.

It unclear whether Kinsley raced that day as only five of the fourteen cars entered actually appeared. The same day that his brother Ralph won the 100-lap race in Grand Rapids Michigan Hometown racer Homer Ormsby swept all to victory in all three of the Centilvre races. The site of the race track and park near Spy Run Creek is now home to the Centilvre Apartment complex.   

By the time of the Fourth of July 100-mile race at the Hoosier Motor Speedway Kinsley was a Frontenac team driver in the employ of Arthur Chevrolet. The race was highly anticipated, with a $1000 purse for the winner, the second place finisher set to win $500, third place $200 and fourth place $100.  After the track was treated with what the Indianapolis Star reported was “twelve tons of dust-laying chemical preparation” (later revealed to be calcium chloride) an open practice session was held on Sunday June 24 for those cars that were early entries.

Besides Kinsley, early local entries were received from Fred Koehler, S. R. Rosenbaum and M. M. Cowherd. During the next week, entries were received from D.E. Jacques who hailed from the Boone County town of Thorntown and Fred Wilson of Crawfordsville which brought the total number of entries to eighteen. Claude Fix had already told track General Manager J.V. Lines that he would be racing with the Powell Special at Winchester on July 4.  

After another practice session on Sunday July 1, another coating of calcium chloride was applied to the track surface in preparation for qualifying on Tuesday July 3 to winnow the field down to the twelve fastest cars. After he ran 20 laps of practice in the freshly-built Frontenac, Chance Kinsley was the first car to qualify and he set a new track record of 31-1/5 seconds, two seconds faster than the previous track mark.

The next car out  to qualify was Chance’s teammate Arthur ‘Fuzzy” Davidson in another Frontenac-Ford whose lap was timed at 35-3/5 seconds  Charles Moorhead took to the Speedway in his Essex and posted a time of 35 seconds flat as rain began to fall and washed out the rest of time trials.

JV Lines planned to resume qualifying at 8 AM on July 4th but unfortunately the rain forced the rescheduling of the race to Saturday July 7 and many of the racers including Kinsley headed east to Winchester for the 40- and 60-mile races. In time trials at the high-banked half-mile Funk’s Speedway Paul Clancy from Chicago in a Miller Special lowered the track record to 28 seconds flat.  

In the latter stages of the 40-mile race, Clancy battled Claude Fix for the lead. On the last lap, Fix steered the Powell Special into the low groove to pass for the lead. Clancy dropped out of the middle groove to block and forced Fix’s car into the inner berm. The resulting impact tore the rear wheels off the Powell Special as Clancy claimed the win ahead of Arthur “Fuzzy Davidson.

Clancy completed the 40 miles in 40 minutes and 20 seconds, which shaved seven minutes off the old record for that distance. In the 60-mile feature event at Winchester the former one-lap track record holder Ralph Ormsby cruised to victory in sixty minutes and 46-2/5 seconds nearly ten minutes better than the old mark for the third new track record established that day.

With the Hoosier Motor Speedway postponement to July 7 the entry list grew to 35 cars which included Claude Fix in his repaired Powell Special and Auter Thompson winner of the July 4 race at the Ripley County Fairgrounds in Osgood Indiana but rain again forced a postponement to July 14.

This second delay though it led to a reduction in the race distance to 75 miles, brought an added celebrity attraction, as General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing who was in town for the annual reunion of the 42nd “Rainbow” division was scheduled to attend the race along with his guest and World War 1 comrade in arms French General Henri Gouraud. 

Chance Kinsley took the lead of the race on the opening lap and looked to have the race won until his Frontenac-Ford suffered “compression trouble” on the 125th or the 150 laps and was forced into the pits. Kinsley’s teammate Worth Schloeman a lap behind Kinsley in his own Frontenac-Ford soon unlapped himself and assumed the race lead, an exciting turn of events for the young man who had left his home state of Iowa two years earlier and just 13 months before rode with Wilbur D’Alene in a Monroe in the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  

After quick repairs, Kinsley rejoined the race in second place scored three laps behind Schloeman. Chance only made up one lap of the deficit by the time the checkered flag fell with Dempsey Chancey in another Frontenac in third place while Claude Fix rounded out the top finishers in fourth. With the shorter race distance the purse was cut in half from the original July 4 race and Schloeman won $500, Kinsley $300, Chancey $200 while Fix received $100.   

At some point during the course of the race tragedy struck after a multiple car accident occurred.  In the confusion after the accident, a guard at the track, 34-year old Joseph Battley (also reported as Betler or Betley) ran onto the track to warn the  drivers. Battley was struck by the “Imperial Special” driven by Ray Butcher and died of his injuries the following day July 15 in an area hospital.

The story of Chance Kinsley’s breakout 1923 racing season continues in our next installment.

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.