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.   

Cyrus Patschke- the forgotten hero 

part two 

1911- the year of glory

In April 1911, Cyrus in his role as a “racing expert” appeared with a Stearns owned by his employer, Guy Vaughn, as part of a demonstration run by a Commer commercial truck. The truck, loaded with four and half tons of furniture, traveled 109 ¾ miles from New York to Philadelphia at an average speed of 15 ¾ miles per hour. 

On April 15, 1911, Cyrus surprised even his closest friends when he married a Lebanon girl, Amelia “Millie” Rickes in Philadelphia, and the pair settled in Kingston New York. The bride was described in the Lebanon Daily News as the “prettiest of the clerical force at the Bon Ton department store,” while Cyrus was identified as a “daring motor racer.”

On May 7, 1911 W D “Eddie” Edenburn wrote a lengthy article in the Indianapolis Star newspaper that previewed the upcoming inaugural 500-mile International Sweepstakes to be held on the 2-1/2-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One section of the article attempted to answer the question of who would drive the two Benz cars recently entered by promoter Ernest Moross. 

Moross promoted former bicycle and motorcycle racer Berna Eli “Barney” Oldfield’s early barnstorming appearances, beginning in 1904, and later worked as the press agent and the contest director during the 1909 and 1910 seasons at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Moross bought Oldfield’s racing equipment after Barney was suspended by the AAA for his unsanctioned October 1910 match race against boxer Jack Johnson.

Following his defeat of James Jeffries on July 4, 1910, other boxers refused to face John Arthur “Jack” Johnson, so Johnson, an automobile fan, planned to race his cars. However, there was one huge obstacle to Jack’s plan – at the time, the AAA banned negro race car drivers from competition.  Johnson sent in an application using his birth name, and the AAA initially issued Johnson a racing license. When the AAA officials realized their error, they rescinded Johnson’s license and refunded his $1.00 license fee.

Barney Oldfield was a friend and business partner of Jeffries, and he made the startling claim that Jeffries had been “doped” prior to his losing match with Jack Johnson. Oldfield challenged Johnson to a three-heat $5000 match race at the Sheepshead Bay race track to avenge his friend’s boxing loss. 

On October 25, 1910, Oldfield, already under AAA suspension for taking part in an unsanctioned race in Readville Massachusetts, drove a 60-horsepower Knox against Johnson in 70-horsepower Thomas, and easily won the first two 5-mile heats. When news of the match race broke, the AAA Contest Board suspended Oldfield for a period of two years and Oldfield sold his racing cars to his old manager Moross.

  

In his article, Edenburn suggested Patschke as a leading candidate to drive one of Moross’ cars, which included two four-cylinder Benz, one whose engine displaced 444 cubic inches and the other equipped with a 520-cubic inch engine.  “Eddie” wrote of Patschke’s racing accomplishments in glowing terms. “Eddie” made one error however, as he estimated Cyrus to be “about 25 years old” when in fact Patschke was just 21 years old.  Edenburn’s supposition was faulty, as in the 1911 ‘500,’ “Willie” Knipper drove the smaller Moross Benz while Bob Burman handled the 520-cubic inch entry.

Unbeknownst to Edenburn, Patschke had written a letter to the Marmon Motor Car Company President, Howard Marmon, to inquire about a position on the Marmon team, according to the book The Marmon Heritage written by George and Stacey Hanley.  According to the Hanley’s book, after he received Cyrus’ letter, Howard Marmon discussed hiring Patschke with Marmon engineer and retired race driver Ray Harroun.

Harroun was familiar with Cyrus’ accomplishments, particularly in long-distance racing, and agreed with Marmon that they should hire Patschke as the relief driver for the ‘500.’  The plan was to use Cyrus as a relief driver for both the Marmon entries:  the ‘Wasp’ which carried race #32 and the #31, conventional Marmon entry powered by a 495-cubic inch 4-cylinder engine to be driven by Joe Dawson with riding mechanic Bruce Keen.

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ was entered by Indianapolis-based Marmon, a division of Nordyke & Marmon, with Ray Harroun, a Marmon engineer at the wheel. Harroun, "the King of the Speedways," was the defending 1910 AAA (American Automobile Association) National Champion behind the wheel of the ‘Wasp.’ Harroun had won seven previous races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but had retired from race driving after the 1910 season but had been coaxed out of retirement to drive the ‘Wasp’ in the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ was lighter than its contemporaries, estimated to weigh 2,800 pounds, compared to the minimum weight of 2,100 pounds, and was narrow and streamlined compared to other entries, as it carried only the driver, the only car in the race to not utilize a riding mechanic. The ‘Wasp’ was powered a six-cylinder 477-cubic inch engine, not the smallest nor the largest engine displacement in the field.

During practice runs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Harroun and Patschke discovered that the ‘Wasp’ was not the fastest car entered - that honor went to the Fiat of David Bruce-Brown which was powered by a massive 589-cubic inch 4-cylinder engine. The pair of Marmon drivers settled on a planned race pace that they felt would lead to victory.   

The Fiat started 25^th while Harroun started 28^th in the same five-car row, as the starting lineup was set by the order in which the entries were received. By lap 62 the ‘Wasp’ was in second place behind the Fiat but fell back after a pit stop. When Harroun stopped on lap 70 he was in fifth place behind David Bruce-Brown. As he handed off the ‘Wasp’ driving duties to Patschke, Harroun abandoned the earlier plan to run at a set pace and shouted instructions for Cyrus to run down the Fiat. 

Patschke had the ‘Wasp’ close to the lead when he pulled back into the pits on lap 102.  Harroun climbed back into the cockpit and soon pushed the ‘Wasp’ in the race lead for the first time as the Fiat suffered a tire failure.  From that point forward, the race lead traded back and forth between Harroun and Ralph Mulford in the Lozier, and Harroun took the lead for good on lap 182 and won by one minute and 43 seconds over Mulford. 

Cyrus shown at the wheel of the second 1911 Marmon entry. 

Photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection 

The Marmon ‘Wasp’ won the first ‘500,’ while the second Marmon entry, in which Patschke relieved Dawson, finished fifth, thirteen and half minutes behind the winner. Unfortunately, the records of when and for how long Cyrus relieved Dawson are unclear.   

As one would expect, Cyrus Patschke was the toast of his hometown of Lebanon Pennsylvania, as the hometown newspaper, the Lebanon Daily News quoted the Indianapolis News story “Patschke’s eighty-mile spin was one of the best exhibitions of fast driving ever seen on the speedway and when he stopped at the pit the car had gained several laps and was well up in the bunch of winners.”  Reportedly, Patschke ran faster laps than Harroun in his effort to chase down the Fiat as directed.

On June 1, the Lebanon Semi-Weekly News revealed that “Patschke will go back to Kingston later this week and will stop off here (in Lebanon) for his wife who spent a week here with his mother. A royal welcome awaits him from a host of admiring friends.”  On Friday, June 2, a note in the Daily News stated that “Patschke left for Kingston New York where he will resume his duties,” presumably with his employer Wyckoff, Church and Partridge the New York automobile dealership.

Despite the contemporary legend, put forward by Charles Leerhsen in his book Blood and Smoke, that the finish of the first '500' was mired in controversy, the inaugural Indianapolis ‘500’ second place finisher Ralph Mulford stated in a June 4 1911 wire story, datelined Detroit, that he was "more than satisfied with the outcome of the race” and stated that he “gives full credit to Ray Harroun and Cyrus Patschke for their great victory."

Mulford noted to the writer of the article that his actual running time for the 500 miles in the Lozier was fourteen minutes less than the Marmon's, but that due to the weight of his Lozier (reported as 3,240 pounds) he suffered repeated tire failures and the Lozier was forced to stop eleven times to the ‘Wasp’s’ four stops.

Later in 1911

During the month of June 1911, Cyrus was mentioned several times in news articles as a potential entrant in the Brighton Beach Motordrome event scheduled for July 3 and 4 promoted by Ernest Moross. Rather than a 24-hour race, there were eight short races scheduled each day with three featured events – a 60-mile race for cars meeting Indianapolis rules (less than 600 cubic inches of engine displacement that weighed more than 2100 pounds) on each day, and three three-lap “free for all” heat races to determine the winner of the Remy Brassard on July 4^th.

Expected entries of Indianapolis rules cars entered at Brighton Beach included National, Knox, Lozier and the Jenatzy 90-horsepower Mercedes formerly owned by Belgian racer Camille Jenatzy for which Cyrus was mentioned as a potential driver.  The program advertised daily exhibition runs by Bob Burman in the 1300-cubic inch four-cylinder powered 200-horsepower ‘Blitzen Benz’ which was owned by Moross, but it’s engine was so large as to be ineligible for any of the scheduled races except the July 4^th free-for-all.

Cyrus also drove the “Prince Henry” Benz at Brighton Beach - a 1910 Benz Grand Prix car so named for its success in the famed German long-distance tour. The Benz featured a cardan (prop shaft) drive system, an aerodynamic body with a tapered rear tail, and was powered by six-cylinder engine with 445 cubic inches displacement.

In the third event on July 3rd, a five-mile (five lap) race for cars with engines not larger than 450 cubic inches, Patschke topped a pair of Nationals driven by Fay Sheets and Billy Knipper. Cyrus and the Benz also took part in the next race, a five-mile race for cars of up to 600-cubic inch displacement. That race was won by Ralph DePalma in a Simplex while Patschke did not finish in the top three of the seven cars entered. 

On July 4^th, Cyrus again drove the “Prince Henry” Benz and won the five-mile, seven cars, 450-cubic inch maximum displacement race over Sheets in the National. Next up was a ten-mile race run under Indianapolis rules which was won by DePalma’s Simplex with Cyrus third in the Benz.  In the three later free-for-all races run for the Remy Brassard trophy, Patschke drove the Jenatzy Mercedes and placed third in each of the three three-lap heats, all of which were won by Bob Burman in the ‘Blitzen Benz. ‘

The next documented race for Patschke came at the Dick Ferris Trophy “Free-for-All” race held on the 8 ½ - mile beach side Santa Monica Road Course on October 14, 1911. Cyrus drove in the race sponsored by race manager Dick Ferris as a teammate to Bob Burman and Joe Nikrent for the three-car Marmon factory team headed by crew chief Ray Harroun.

This was third year of racing on the temporary Santa Monica street course, with four races held the same day for different classes of cars.  Marmon had not entered any AAA races since the ‘500’ but had built two more “long stroke” 445-cubic inch four-cylinder powered road race cars, copies of the car that Joe Dawson drove in the first ‘500.’

Cyrus started 11^th in the 12-car field, but he led the first lap before he was passed by local driver Harvey Herrick in a 427-cubic inch four-cylinder National “40” (which indicated horsepower)  Patschke and Herrick exchanged the lead three times until Cyrus established a lead on lap 9 which he held until lap 21 of the 24-lap race, when the Marmon’s engine started mis-firing.

Herrick passed Patschke, led the final three laps and crossed the finish line at a new world’s record speed of 74.6 miles per hour. The National finished two and half minutes ahead of Patschke’s Marmon with Dawson third in other Marmon, two minutes behind Cyrus. Nikrent in the third Marmon was the last car to finish, in eighth place, one lap behind the winner.

The final two events for the 1911 AAA racing season were held at the end of the month of November at the 17.1-mile road course in Savannah Georgia. The 290-mile William Vanderbilt Cup was scheduled for November 27 and then the 410-mile American Grand Prize race was scheduled to be held three days later. Dawson, Nikrent and Patschke were the core members of the Marmon team joined by Bob Burman. It is unclear what the specifications were for the fourth Marmon entry assigned to Burman, as it is assumed by the writer that Patschke, Nikrent and Dawson drove the “long stroke’ Marmon racers 

Both Dawson and Nikrent crashed their Marmons during practice runs and did not start the Vanderbilt Cup race on November 27. Burman started second and retired after seven laps with a sheared magneto, while Patschke started 12^th and his Marmon retired after eight circuits with a broken water pump.   Ralph Mulford in the stock specification (less fenders) 51-horsepower Lozier won the Vanderbilt Cup by two minutes over Ralph DePalma in a Mercedes at an average speed of 74.07 miles per hour.  

The final race of the 1911 season, the American Grand Prize, was held on Thanksgiving Day co-sanctioned by the Automobile Club of America (ACA) and the AAA.  Burman’s Marmon was not repaired in time, so he took over the repaired #46 Marmon originally assigned to Dawson while Nikrent’s damaged car could not start the race.

Both Marmon entries went out early - Burman with another sheared magneto on lap four, and Patschke led a lap but soon fell back as a cylinder loosened from the crankcase and the car slowed. Patschke was eliminated for good when he and riding mechanic Richard Whistler went off course in the #51 Marmon during their ninth lap.     

Our final installment will look at Cyrus' later career and his life after auto racing.   

Cyrus Patschke - the forgotten hero

part one

Most open-wheel racing fans know that Ray Harroun won the first International 500 Mile Sweepstakes held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, 1911, but the important contribution of relief driver Cyrus Patschke to Harroun’s victory is often overlooked.

As you will read in this multi-part article, Cyrus Patschke’s career encompassed much more than that relief appearance as he had a short but distinguished career in the pioneering years of automobile racing in the United States. Cyrus Richard Patschke was born on July 6, 1889 in the steel mill town of Lebanon in southeastern Pennsylvania, the only son and youngest of five children of Sallie and Augustus, a second-generation rope manufacturer. Cyrus was recognized in grammar school as an outstanding student, but his formal schooling ended early, which was typical in the first part of the twentieth century.     

Beginning in 1904, while he lived with his parents in the family home at 234 South Eighth Street, Cyrus worked as the mechanic and chauffer for his brother-in-law, Eli Attwood, who owned the Lebanon Chain Works & Iron Company. Several years later Eli bought a new Acme passenger car, built by the Acme Auto Manufacturing Company in nearby Reading Pennsylvania. Cyrus’ driving abilities came to the attention of the new owner of the Acme factory, Herbert Sternbergh who had bought the company out of receivership in February 1907.

Cyrus’ racing career begins - 1908

Cyrus Patschke’s first automobile race took place on May 30, 1908 at the Giants Despair Mountain Hill Climb in Laurel Run, near Wilkes Barre Pennsylvania.  The one-mile hill climb, with a 650-foot rise in elevation, with grades up to 20%, included six turns, including the 110-degree “Devil’s Elbow” was first held in 1906 and continued through 1910.  

Early Giants Despair Hill Climb overall winners included future Indianapolis ‘500’ competitors William “Willie” Haupt in 1908 and David Bruce-Brown in 1909 as well as 1915 ‘500’ winner Ralph DePalma who won in 1910 as he drove a massive 200-horsepower Fiat.

Notable winners after the 1951 event revival included Carrol Shelby who broke the magic one-minute mark in a Ferrari in 1956, Roger Penske in 1959 in a Porsche RSK, and Oscar Kovelski who won five times in a McLarenM8B Can-Am car including three years in a row.   After another inactive period in the early nineteen eighties, the event resumed in 1986 has continued to be run annually on Memorial Day.

While Willie Haupt won the featured event in 1909 with a time of one minute and 38 3/5 seconds in a Great Chadwick six-cylinder 707-cubic inch touring car rated at 60 horsepower.  Cyrus Patschke drove an Acme Type 19 four-cylinder car with an engine rated at 24 horsepower and won his class by one minute 15 seconds.

Following his maiden race win, Patschke and the Acme Type 19 went to Jamaica Long Island for the June 5^th, 1908 speed trials held on Hillside Avenue in conjunction with the railway station opening ceremonies. The event, managed by the Long Island Automobile Club, used a 3-mile stretch of road connected by two gentle curves. 

Patschke won his class for gasoline cars priced from $1,251 to $2,000 at all three timed distances – he covered the kilometer in 38 3/5 seconds, the one-mile distance in one minute and 3-3/5 seconds and the two-mile timed section in two minutes and seven seconds.  His hometown paper understandably trumpeted the young man’s accomplishments - his first two races had resulted in two wins!

On September 11, 1908, the youthful Cyrus made his first track racing appearance as one of the team drivers of the six-cylinder Acme entered in the Brighton Beach 24-hour race. These long-distance races, which drew huge crowds, were promoted by the Motor Racing Association, which leased the former Brooklyn thoroughbred horse racing mile track after the New York State Legislature banned pari-mutuel betting on horse races.

Eleven cars started the twice-around-the-clock grind at 8 PM on Friday night the 11^th, with the Acme driven for the first 18 hours by Louis Strang, before he handed off the driving duties to Patschke for three hours. During Cyrus’ stint, the Acme suffered a broken water pump, but repairs were made, and it completed the 24-hour grind. 

“Smiling” Ralph Mulford in a 60-horsepower six-cylinder Lozier won as he covered 1,107 miles in 24 hours, 15 miles ahead of a 45-horsepower four-cylinder Lozier. Due to delays caused by the mechanical failures, the Acme finished eighth with 976 miles completed.  

Patschke’s next race on October 10, 1908 was the 200-mile road course event on the eight-mile course laid out inside Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The event promoted by the Quaker City Motor Club was part of the City’s Founder’s Week celebration. George Robertson won the historic race in a Locomobile with a time of 4 hours 2 minutes 30 seconds, while Cyrus crossed the line in second place in the Acme with a time of four hours fourteen minutes and 54 seconds. Ralph Mulford finished third in a Lozier in a race that was marked by a high degree of attrition, as only eight of the sixteen starters finished the race. After the Fairmount race, advertising copy called the Acme “the car that continues to make good.”

Two weeks later, at the fourth running of the George Vanderbilt Cup, Patschke drove a 90-horsepower Acme ‘Sextuplet’ on the new course, which used a section of the new concrete paved Long Island Motor Parkway. Unfortunately, the Acme broke a camshaft gear in its engine during the third lap, while George Robertson won his second consecutive major race in the Locomobile.   

Cyrus Patschke was initially entered as the driver of an Acme for the Thanksgiving Day 400-mile “Grand Prize of the Automobile Club of America (ACA)” race scheduled over a 25-mile course comprised of public roads Savannah, Georgia. However, just two weeks before the event Cyrus was replaced as the Acme driver by Leonard Zengle.

Reports were that Acme company officials felt that Patschke at age nineteen was “at present a bit too young for such responsibility.” Louis Wagner averaged over 65 miles per hour (MPH) to win the Grand Prize in a Fiat, while the 21-year old Zengle retired the Acme on the seventh of sixteen laps with a broken spring.

1909

The author believes that during the early months of 1909, Cyrus Patschke helped prepare the Acme entry for the Ocean-to-Ocean Automobile Endurance Contest and likely performed a support role during the event.  

The event, that covered 3878 miles was sponsored by M. Robert Guggenheim (of the famous wealthy family) and sanctioned by the ACA (Automobile Club of America) required the competitors to travel from New York City to Seattle Washington to demonstrate the durability of the automobile and focus the public’s attention on the need for a transcontinental highway.

Acme entered a six-cylinder 48-horsepower roadster fitted with Firestone tires and carried George Salzman the driver and alternate driver Fay Sheets.  Six cars left the starting line in New York City at 4:03 PM on June 1 and the first car, a Ford Model T runabout, arrived in Seattle on June 23^rd 23 days and 55 minutes after leaving New York.  The little Ford finished 17 hours ahead of the second place 40 horsepower Shawmut Runabout. 


The Acme entry finally reached Seattle on the afternoon of June 28^th as the third and final finisher.  

After more than four months of protests and counter protests, the Ford was disqualified for the use of a substitute engine enroute and the Shawmut declared the winner of the gold and silver M. Robert Guggenheim Transcontinental Trophy and the $2,000 cash prize. This reversal came too late as the Shawmut Motor Company factory near Boston had been destroyed in a fire in November 1908 and Ford had already garnered the publicity for the victory, and without financing to rebuild, Shawmut ceased to exist.  

Cyrus got his first taste of 1909 racing competition at Brighton Beach in another 24-hour race that started on July 30. The 60-horsepower Acme driven by Cyrus Patschke and his co-driver H A Van Tine, a New Yorker who had been racing since 1905, fell behind early with mechanical issues early during the 3^rd and 4^th hours, and was never a factor-  between the tenth and 17th hours, the Acme completed just twelve miles and it was retired before the 21^st hour with just 385 miles completed.

Patschke’s next long-distance race at Brighton Beach began at 10 PM on Friday night August 27, 1909 and he nearly met with disaster. Ninety minutes into the race, the rear wheel collapsed on the Stearns as it raced down the main stretch in front of the clubhouse grandstand. The Stearns tumbled out of control towards the infield and struck the front of Patschke’s Acme, which was exiting the pits.  

The Stearns rolled over several more times with both Laurent Grosse, 27, a local driver who had been racing since 1903 and his riding mechanic Leonard Cole crushed beneath the car.  Cole was pronounced dead at the scene while Grosse suffered a broken back and internal injuries. Grosse was taken to the nearby Coney Island Reception Hospital then later transferred to Kings County Hospital where he died two days later never having regained consciousness.  

  

The impact from the Stearns bent the Acme’s front axle and broke a spring perch but the damaged Acme was repaired and Patschke rejoined the race. Cyrus, with his co-driver VanTine and riding mechanic Arthur Maynard, finished the race in third place with 883 miles completed. 

Charles Basle won in a Renault with 1,050 miles completed, but Patschke won the $200 prize for completing the most miles in one hour as he covered 55 miles in the race’s first hour. During the last hour of the race, the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper reported that Patschke made a pit stop and the Acme crew changed all four tires and filled the car with fuel in a reported one minute and 22 seconds.

Several days after the race, Patschke was one of a group of drivers and riding mechanics called to testify at a coroner’s inquest. After hearing conflicting testimony regarding the track conditions (Patschke did not have any complaints), Brooklyn Coroner Henry J Brewer ruled that Laurent Grosse and Leonard Cole were “killed by their own carelessness.” 

Likely due to the negative press publicity that followed the double fatality, Cordner and Flinn, the New York sales agents of the Acme automobile run by A B Cordner and his partner Welton Flinn, decided to temporarily withdraw from racing.

Patschke and the Acme had already been entered for the September 6, 1909 Vesper Club Trophy for cars with 301- to 450-cubic inch piston displacement at the 10.6-mile Merrimack Valley Course in Lowell Massachusetts but the Acme did not arrive at the race site. 

On September 17, 1909, Patschke signed to drive for the Lozier Motor Company factory team, which at the time was based in Plattsburgh New York. Patschke co-drove with Ralph Mulford at the Brighton Beach 24-hour race run on October 15-16, 1909.  Cyrus drove the stock chassis Lozier for three hours which completed a new record total of 1,196 miles in 24 hours, and the team won $1000 along with the Sewall and Alden Trophy awarded for the most miles completed at the Brighton Beach Motordrome.  Once again, Patschke scored a $200 bonus for completing the most miles in one hour, as the Lozier covered 51-1/2 miles in the last hour of the race.  

1910

During the winter of 1909-1910 Cyrus Patschke worked for his brother-in-law’s company, the Lebanon Chain Works & Iron Company, as a traveling salesman. The New York Times reported on May 1,1910, that in preparation for the season opening long-distance race at the Brighton Beach Motordrome, the promoters added a “top dressing” to the track surface – a mixture of clay and cement and had also increased the banking in the corners. Patschke and Mulford were confirmed as teammates to drive the Stearns #1 entry.

Twelve cars started the race on May 13^th which was sanctioned by AAA for the first time under sanction number 143. The race was marred by another fatality, as early on the morning of the 14^th, the Marion, driven by Gil Anderson, crashed through the wooden fence after it hooked a rut.

The car, known as the Model 33 Bobcat, which weighed 1,870 pounds with a 255-cubic inch engine, had been built in Indianapolis from a design penned by Marion Motor Car chief engineer Harry Stutz before he left and founded his eponymous company.  During the accident, the Marion’s riding mechanic, William Bradley, a resident of Newark New Jersey was stuck in the head by a wooden fence post. Freed from beneath the wreckage by rescuers, Bradley was transported to the Coney Island Reception Hospital where he died shortly after arrival.

The Simplex, driven by the team of Al Poole and Charles Basle, took the race lead in the twelfth hour and won with 1,145 miles completed, while the Stearns, driven by Patschke and Mulford finished second with 1,120 miles completed in 24 hours. Ralph DePalma finished third in a Fiat that covered thirteen miles less than the Stearns. The winning Simplex had been on pace to break the record of 1,196 miles but speeds slowed as rain fell in the latter stages of the event. Ten cars, including the repaired Marion, finished the race  

The records for the 1910 season are spotty, but it appears Patschke drove the 60-horsepower four-cylinder Stearns in “free-for all” race at Brighton Beach in July and again in mid-August. “Free-for-all” meant that the cars could be modified from stock.  

In the August 19-20 race, Cyrus, teamed with Al Poole, but the car they drove was not a Stearns factory entry, rather it was owned by John Rutherford of New York City who reportedly had loaned Patschke the car just 24 hours before the race.  Cyrus completed the first lap of the event in 1 minute and fourteen seconds from the standing start, and then set a new track record as he completed 57 miles in the race’s first hour.

During the second hour, the 60-horsewpoer six-cylinder Matheson driven by Basle, took the lead but crashed, and while the Matheson was in for repairs, the Stearns regained the lead which it never relinquished, and Patschke and Poole set a record of 1,253 miles completed to the Matheson’s 1,175 miles. Only four of the nine cars finished the event.  

1910 proved to be a trying year for Cyrus personally, as on September 6, Cyrus was driving a Stearns demonstrator car near Sandy Hook Connecticut when he encountered two men along the road whom Cyrus claimed shouted and stood in the path of the car.  Patschke assumed they were hold-up men, and though he attempted to swerve around them he struck one of the men, Michael Hourigan. Cyrus drove onto Waterbury Connecticut where he reported the incident to the police.  

Days later, Cyrus, 21 years old, and identified in press reports as a resident of Kingston New York, was arrested and charged with the responsibility for Hourigan’s death. Coroner Clifford Wilson heard testimony from both Patschke and the third man in the incident, Thomas Shehan, who claimed the pair were on their way home from a local pub and tried to flag a ride.  

On September 10, Coroner Wilson issued his determination that Patschke was not at fault for Hourigan’s death with a broken neck. “Patschke, an expert driver, was not driving recklessly, but was using due caution and had his car under control.”    The Coroner’s ruling was accepted by the Grand Jury and the matter was closed.   

On October 23, Cyrus’ father Augustus, who had retired from the rope business, died suddenly at his home in Lebanon from “acute indigestion “at age 60.

Our next chapter will examine Cyrus' key role in winning the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.