The early history of lap prizes for the Indianapolis 500-mile race Part Three

 

The early history of lap prizes for the Indianapolis 500-mile race

Part three 

1931

Solicitation for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway International 500-mile race lap prize fund in 1931 must have been daunting, given the deepening economic depression that gripped the United States. Bowman Elder, son-in-law of multi-millionaire entrepreneur William Fortune took over as committee chairman. The committee met on May 1 and announced that they expected to close the books on the fund on May 20.

The fund fell well short with a total of $11,150 collected. The distribution as described in the Indianapolis Star, included payment from lap one to 17 inclusive. Thereafter every odd numbered lap paid through lap 81, then laps 82, 84 and 85 each paid $100, while lap 83 only paid $50. The fund paid $100 for every odd numbered lap from 87 to lap 200.  

Rookie Paul Bost started from the outside of the front row in the Empire State Special and led the first two laps and banked $200. Bill Cummings took the point for four laps, then Richard “Billy” Arnold and his riding mechanic William “Spider” Matlock took the point until they crashed out and were injured on lap 162, and Arnold collected $8,550 in lap money. 

After Arnold’s crash, Indianapolis native Louis Schneider in the hometown sponsored ‘Bowes Seal Fast Special’ inherited the lead, led the rest of the way and won.  Although Schneider led 39 laps, because of the odd distribution of the fund, he only added $2,000 in lap money to his $27,500 in prize and accessory winnings.  

1932

Bowman Elder served as the lap prize fund committee chairman for the second consecutive year, but due to the economic depression, the lap prize fund again did not reach its goal despite Henry and Edsel Ford each giving $2500.  The final fund distribution was very confusing, with no lap prizes were earned until lap four then the even-numbered laps paid out until the fund total was exhausted.  It is unclear who was behind the new provision which stated that the prize money for laps run under the yellow flag had to be reallocated to “competitive laps.”    

The fund presented $10,700 to the drivers at the victory dinner held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club which Elder chaired with toastmaster Paul Richey. Six drivers shared in lap prizes. Winner Fred Frame in the Harry Hartz-owned car won $3,800, while his teammates Arnold and Matlock injured in a crash for the second consecutive year won $2,800 for leading 59 laps.

Hoosier rookie driver Bob Carey took home $1,800 in lap money while fellow Legion Ascot Speedway star Ernie Triplett earned $700 for leading 14 laps.  Ira Hall, the former prizefighter from Terre Haute Indiana who claimed to have survived 43 accidents, led six laps and received $200, while Wilbur Shaw collected $1400 after he led 27 laps, the first laps led in his august career at Indianapolis.  

1933

With the nation in a terrible economic depression with nearly 25% unemployment, there was no mention in the press about the make-up of the committee or details of the solicitation for the lap prize fund. The race itself became a very low-key event – instead of a dinner, prizes for the 21st annual International 500-mile Sweepstakes were handed out the afternoon following the race by “Pop” Myer on the sidewalk in front of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway office at 444 North Capitol Avenue. ‘500’ winner Louis Meyer collected just $18,000 and the keys to a new Ford sedan for his second 500-mile race victory

The lap prize fund totaled just $3,150, with Meyer the big lap prize winner with $850 for leading 71 laps. “Babe” Stapp who led 60 laps before his Boyle Special ran out of fuel on lap 156 earned $800, while Bill Cummings got the same amount for leading 32 laps. Even more confusing is the case of defending champion Fred Frame who received $700 for leading 37 laps. 

1934

The economic situation of the nation continued to serious affected automobile racing as the American Automobile Association (AAA) National Championship included just four races in 1934 – the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the mile dirt track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, the dirt ‘Moody Mile’ in Syracuse New York and the December road course race at Mines Field in Los Angeles.

On May 23^rd, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that all the lap prize money would be paid after the halfway point of the race “as a means of preventing the drivers of fast cars from burning up their mounts in the early stages.”  This made some sense, since $100 in 1934 is equivalent to nearly $2000 today, but pushing it past the half-way mark also meant the lap prize fund need not be as well-funded.

The 1934 lap prize fund totaled $4,225, and only four drivers led during the 1934 International 500-mile Sweepstakes – Cavino “Kelly” Petillo, the pole position winner, led the first six laps which paid him nothing. The race then settled into a three-way battle between Mauri Rose, Frank Brisko in the Miller-built Four Wheel Drive Special and Bill Cummings in the Boyle Miller.

The manner of the distribution of the 1934 fund remains unknown, but Brisko, who led four laps after the halfway point, banked a reported $1,300, while runner-up Rose who led 46 laps after the 250-mile mark received a check for $1,300, while the race winner Cummings who led 50 laps late in the race, including the final 26 laps, got a check for $1,625.

1935

Automotive industry pioneer Joseph McDuffee, the President of the Prest-O-Lite Storage Battery Company, served as the chairman of the 1935 “Appreciation Lap Prize Fund” committee. A report from an Indianapolis Real Estate Board luncheon published in the May 24 1935 edition of the Indianapolis Star shows how badly the Lap Prize Fund suffered during the great Depression.

In his address to the realtors gathered at the Hotel Washington, Indianapolis Motor Speedway General Manager Ted “Pop” Myers reported that of the 40-1/2 laps funded, only 8-1/2 laps came from Indianapolis contributors. Myers suggested that “a local live committee of representatives” be formed to create city support. 

The eight local supporters include the Wheeler’s Lunch restaurant chain (their donation in the form of 1,095 meals), the L. Strauss and L. S. Ayres department store chains, Indiana Bell Telephone, the Prest-O-Lite company, the Claypool Hotel, the Allen A.  Wilkinson Lumber Company, and the Vonnegut Hardware Company founded by the great-grandfather of the author.     

In his speech to the Realtors luncheon, the 1925 500-mile race winner, Peter DePaolo, predicted that within two or three years “stock cars” (meaning semi-stock entries) would dominate the race. DePaolo’s crystal ball proved bit hazy, as the “Junk Formula” ear ended after the 1937 race.  

Donors included Bendix Aviation for three laps, while the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation and the Champion Spark Plug Company paid for two laps each. The Norge Appliance Company of Detroit posted $200 for the leader of lap ten plus the race winner received a Norge Refrigerator.  While this might seem like an odd sponsorship, in 1915 as a young man, Norge’s President Howard Blood worked with Louis Chevrolet on the ground-breaking Cornelian racing car that featured monocoque construction and 4-wheel independent suspension

The 1935 ‘500’ lap prizes were assigned randomly throughout the race. In addition to Norge’s sponsorship of the tenth lap, the American Automobile Association (AAA) sponsored lap 12, while the Ford Motor Company sponsored five laps – laps 40, 60, 105, 100 and 180.

“Pop’s” advice to the Realtors went unheeded and the 1935 Appreciation lap prize fund topped out at $4,250 with the proceeds divided among four drivers at the Indianapolis Citizen’s Committee Appreciation Dinner held at the Indianapolis Athletic Club. In addition to the drivers, the dinner featured among its honored guests, aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who served as the race referee, movie stars Monroe Owsley and James Dunn, boat racer Gar Wood, and Elmer Baumgarten, secretary of the American Bowling Congress.   

Race winner Kelly Petillo in his own ‘Gilmore Speedway Special’ won $2,050 in lap prizes, while Rex Mays led 89 laps in the first half of the race before a steering knuckle broke on the ‘Gilmore Special’ on lap 123, earned $2,000 in lap prizes. “Babe” Stapp raced the Marks-Miller entry out front on lap 140 and collected $100 from the Plymouth Motor Company, while Wilbur Shaw, runner-up race finisher for the second time in three years, led lap 65 and collected the $100 posted by the Ethyl Gasoline Corporation.

1936

On May 12^th 1936 the officials of the Chamber of Commerce announced the new high-powered members of the Appreciation Lap Prize Fund committee, led by A. L. Block of the L. Strauss Company, Fred Ayres represented his family’s department store chain, along with P. R Mallory, of the eponymous battery and switch company, Roy Adams of the J. D. Adams Road Grader manufacturing company, and A. E Sinclair of the Kingan meat-packing company.  

Automotive industry members included McDuffee of Prest-O-Lite repeating as the committee chairman, joined by Jesse Vincent of Packard,  Jeffery DeWiitt of Champion Spark Plug and Louis Schwitzer. 

According the Indianapolis Star, expectations were high for larger fund than previous years.  Herman Deupree, a local public relations representative and secretary for the committee, reported that the fund already contained $2,000, according to an article published in the following day’s Star newspaper.  Alas, the May 29^th Indianapolis Star carried the news that the fund topped out at $5,500.

The AAA sponsored lap five, the first paid lap.  Locally, the downtown seven-story Marott Shoe store on Massachusetts Avenue donated $100 for lap 110, while the medical supply firm, the Akron Surgical Supply House, sponsored lap 185. The automotive industry strongly supported the appreciation fund as the Ford Motor Company paid for five laps, while Chrysler, Dodge, DeSoto and Plymouth each bought a single lap sponsorship, as did Charles “Boss” Kettering.  

The fund distribution spread out over the race with $1400 paid over the first hundred miles, followed by another $1400 in the second hundred miles, while the laps during the third hundred mile segment paid $1200. The leaders of laps during the fourth hundred miles collected prizes that totaled $800, with $500 paid out over the last hundred miles. While there was no prize posted for leading the race’s final lap, this race began the tradition of the race winner being presented the Pace Car, in this case the 1936 Packard 120.

The 500-mile race’s first three-time winner, Louis Meyer, won $1,900 in lap prizes with Wilbur Shaw close behind with $1,800. “Babe” Stapp collected $1,100 in lap money before his entry retired on lap 89, while second place finisher Ted Horn banked $400 and Rex Mays whose car ran out of fuel with less than ten laps to go, earned $300 in lap prizes.     

In our next installment of the early lap prize story we will examine the final years under the Speedway ownership of Eddie Rickenbacker.

Chance Kinsley- Hoosier hero

Part six - 1925

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Postscript

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

The aftermath of the 1926 Herbert Jones crash

IMS file photo

 

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

 

John Duff in the repaired Elcar Special

IMS file photo

 

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

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

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

 

 

Chance Kinsley- Hoosier hero

Part Five

The earliest news report uncovered for Chance Kinsley’s 1924 racing season did not appear until late in the summer; the reason is unclear, but later newspaper reports stated that Kinsley was “at the big track in Indianapolis,” although Chance’s name does not appear in Indianapolis Motor Speedway records as a driver.

 

 

Chance was entered to drive a Miller in the August 10 1924 50-mile race at Spencer Park in the north central town of Logansport Indiana. There was only one other Miller entry listed, a car driven by Chicago’s Mike Costello, but were a number of Frontenac-Fords entered with drivers that included Wilbert “Bill” Hunt, Louis Schneider, Ted Hartley, and Earl Warrick.

 

 

The Logansport entry list also included several other ex-Indianapolis ‘500’ cars with Chevrolet connections – Frank Swaggart and Ray McNutt both of Kokomo entered a pair of Monroe racers built by the Chevrolet brothers that raced to victory in the 1920 ‘500,’ the story of which in this site’s archives. Local driver R.D. Reddinger entered a Cornelian, believed to be the same tiny semi-moncoque chassis racer that Louis Chevrolet built and drove in the 1915 ‘500.’

 

Think the Cornelian race car was not light?

This photo from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection

 in the IUPUI Univeristy Library Center for Digital Studies

shows Louis Chevrolet holding the 4-cylinder Corneilan engine

 

After Creviston had advertised heavily with newspaper advertisements the billed the entry list as “the largest ever received for local track,” and personally guaranteed the size and quality of the entered cars, on race day August 10 he had been stuck with an embarrassingly small field of ten cars which did not include Kinsley.  The “Interstate Championship” which was won by Charles “Dutch” Baumann in a Frontenac over Bill Hunt’s similar machine in a race that the next day’s Logansport Pharos-Tribune described as “a thriller.”

Chance was entered as the driver of the “HL Special” for the 100-mile race scheduled for Labor Day 1924 at the resurfaced Hoosier Motor Speedway which offered a total purse of $3000. JV Lines had left the financially beleaguered Hoosier Motor Speedway at the end of the 1923 season and the track was now managed by the Indianapolis firm Morton & Brett Products.

 

A photo from the Morton & Brett catalog

Owned by Elvin D. Morton and his partner, Jack Brett,  Morton & Brett was a major manufacturer and distributor of aftermarket Ford and Dodge speed parts and the patented “Speedway bodies” which they sold through regional distributors as well as their own “Blue Book of Speed” mail order catalog.

An interesting twist was the new Hoosier Motor Speedway management’s announcement that “the size of future purses will be determined by the Labor Day attendance,” and that “should receipts warrant, the purse for the May 29 1925 race will be $5,000.”  The track claimed that it had received “50 or more entries,” and “with the new surface as smooth as glass, record times are expected from the twenty starters.”  Some of the entries for the race listed in the Brazil Daily Times pre-race article included future Indianapolis ‘500’ competitors Cliff Woodbury, Louis Schneider, Prince de Cystria and Kinsley’s car owner L. Herbert “HL” Jones.

 

A Haag Drug suburban Indianapolis store in the 1950's

 

Born in 1903 Herbert Jones worked at the Haag Drug Company in Indianapolis at that time one of the largest drug store chains in the United States. One of Jones’ assignments was to chauffeur Miss Elnora Haag the 71year old unmarried sister of the chain’s founders. A retired school teacher, Elnora became the director of Haag Drug for a brief period after the deaths of her brothers Julius and Louis in 1923, only long enough for her two nephews to reach legal age and take over the firm.

The unlikely pair of wealthy spinster and young chauffer a struck up a friendship; then Ms. Haag provided young Mr. Jones enough money to quit his day job and go automobile racing.  Jones purchased a “former 500-mile Duesenberg” which he had modified for dirt track competition and entered it for the Labor Day race at Hoosier Motor Speedway as the “HL Special.”

The following day’s edition of the Indianapolis Star reported on the Labor Day grind at the Hoosier Motor Speedway that “for the first sixty odd laps, there was at least a thrill a lap.” From the newspaper report it seemed to have been an exciting event. In time trials Dempsey Chaney won the pole by turning a qualifying lap on the half-mile oval In 31.2 seconds while Davidson was second as he turned a lap at 31.4 seconds.

At the drop of the green flag, Wilbur Shaw, driving the ‘R K T Special’ sprang into the lead but action slowed on the third lap when George Lyons, driving a Lyons Special, turned over on the south turn. The driver was thrown out and his mount caught fire and but Lyons’ injuries were described as “slight.” Kinsley “went out on the fourth lap when his car skidded on the south turn” and was the second car to retire. After he had led all the laps up to that point, Shaw’s car was sidelined on the forty-fourth lap with clutch failure.

Indianapolis native Louis Schneider, who had been running second behind Shaw, then assumed the lead in his “Roof Special” and “was going strong” until his car blew a tire which then broke the axle. The Star reported that the wheel from Schneider’s car “hurtled straight down the stretch, climbed the embankment and smashed into the crowd, flooring one man, who was knocked unconscious but who regained his wind shortly afterward, none the worse.”

At the half-way mark of the race, with 100 laps down, Kinsley’s former teammate Arthur “Fuzzy” Davidson held the lead with Illinois’ Ben Shoaff in second. Davidson continued out front until the 141st lap when he reportedly stopped for spark plugs. William Brodbeck of South Bend  whose ‘A N Bailey Special’ had been running a lap behind Davidson in third “sprang to the front” as Davidson fell two laps in arrears as repairs were made to his Frontenac’s engine.  

Davidson returned to the fray and he quickly made up one lap of Brodbeck’s lead and by the 170th Davidson was back in the lead, where he remained until the finish. Behind the leader Benny Lawell (possibly spelled Lauwell) moved into third place behind his teammate Brodbeck until the penultimate lap when Brodbeck's car "skidded and stalled within an eighth of a mile of the finish.”

Lawell’s car roared into second place and the “1923 Michigan dirt track champion” crossed the finish line just a short distance ahead of his teammate Brodbeck who recovered to finish third.  A total of nine cars finished the 100-mile grind, with Davidson winning $1,000 of the promised $3,000 purse but the payout stopped at fifth place for which Ben Schoaff won $50. The other finishers Fred Harter, Bob Huff, Dempsey Chaney, and Fred Koehler received “consolation prizes.”

Logansport race promoter Ray Creviston a former motorcycle racer required each of the entrants to post an entry fee for his race scheduled for September 7th 1924. This was after his previous race promotion at Spencer Park a month earlier suffered from a large number of “no show” entries.  

Chance Kinsley was entered for the three-race program as the driver of the ‘Jones Special’ (believed to be the same car as the ‘HL Special’) along with Lawell, who had won a race at Logansport in June, Jack Conder, ‘Dutch’ Baumann, Frank Sweigert, Russell Field, George Heller and Ted Hartley. 

The entry list boasted 32 cars but this time the success of Creviston’s promotion was doomed by a small crowd which led him to cancel the races. There were six cars still left on the grounds (three of which were owned by Ray Butcher from Indianapolis) and the drivers persuaded Creviston to run a “winner takes all” 20-mile race for $80. 

On the 35th lap Ray Butcher while running in third place crashed through the outer guardrail and his Laurel race car (a Ford block fitted with a Laurel Motor Company cylinder head designed by Robert Roof) veered up the embankment and struck a group of people. Butcher a 27 year old racer from Indianapolis who had won $300 just the day before for his victory in the 50-mile feature at Bloomington Indiana was killed instantly.  

Ray Sampson identified as a farmer was reportedly pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital from his injuries but the Logansport Pharos-Tribune reported two days later on September 9 that Sampson was recovering from critical injuries at St. Joseph’s hospital, and was expected to recover fully, barring complications.  Two other spectators, a father and son named Bowyer from Bunker Hill Indiana were also injured when the out-of-control Laurel racer struck their family sedan. The father, John, suffered a broken leg while his 11-year old son Earl was seriously burned. The accident led to the cancellation of the rest of the race with leader John Souder declared the winner.

On September 24, Doctor JJ Stanton the Cass County Coroner declared that Butcher died of a fractured skull in the accident which was caused by a broken steering knuckle on Butcher’s race car. Later court filings presented a different picture of the crash and the victims’ injuries than what had been reported in the local newspaper.

In January 1925, Raymond Sampson filed suit against the Cass County Fair Association for $15,000 (over $200,000 today) over the Fair’s alleged negligence as the track was “not shaped for extreme speed” and was not properly equipped to protect passersby. Sampson’s suit filed by local attorneys Gamble and Bradfield maintained that he was not a spectator at the races, as had been reportedly; rather he was walking past on a nearby street when Butcher’s race car “traveling 75 miles per hour” hurtled an eight-foot fence and struck Sampson. The impact broke his left wrist and elbow both of which were stiffened and caused a permanent disability.

In March 1925, John R Bowyer, represented by the local law firm of Lairy and Howell, filed suit against the Fair Association for $1,200. Like Sampson, Bowyer’s suit alleged negligence on the part of the Fair Association and pointed out that the racing event on the leased track had been held on Sunday in defiance of local law. Bowyer’s filing stated that he, his wife and son were not watching the race from their car as earlier reported.

Bowyer’s suit claimed their car was caught in a traffic jam on George Street when Butcher’s out of control race car left the track struck their car. The collision allegedly injured all three members of the Bowyer family which required the family to remain in Logansport at the home of friends for several hours while their injuries were treated.

The Logansport law firm of Long, Yarlott, Kistler, Kistler, and Hale were named to represent the Fair Association in both suits. Both the Sampson and Bowyer suits were dismissed by Circuit Court Judge John B Smith on October 28 1927 for “lack of prosecution” which meant that there had been no court filings within a specified period of time, so the court presumed that the parties no longer wished to pursue their cases.

Chance Kinsley’s final 1924 race appearances came very late in the year on the West Coast although he raced under the nom de guerre "Kingsley" on the West Coast, an alias he had previously used in Indiana races at times during the 1923 and 1924 seasons. Kinsley and at least two other Indiana drivers, Ralph Ormsby and “Fuzzy” Davidson were “imported” by Ascot Speedway promoter George Bentel to challenge the home-grown regulars on the oiled dirt 5/8-mile track.

Ascot’s reigning star at the time Frank Lockhart had married on Thursday October 30, and after he encountered problems during the Ascot program on Sunday November 2 the sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times made light of the situation as he wrote “Frank….stepped into the matrimonial harness and yesterday encountered a lot of tough sledding. The newlywed drove in two races and swallowed a lot of dust in both. It is to be hoped that Frank's ship of matrimony is running in smoother waters.”

“The eastern drivers” made their debut before crowd of “approximately 12,000 and gave the fans plenty for their money.” Ormsby, Kingsley, Iowa racer Al Waters, Canadian Jack Petticord and local driver “Curly” Young split the honors.

Ralph Ormsby won the ten-lap Babe Ruth Sweepstakes over Lockhart, then Lockhart experienced engine trouble and was forced out of the Italian Victory Crown, “busting a piston rod or something equally as necessary,” according to the Times article. Lockhart's retirement which handed the win to Petticord trailed by Ormsby.
 
Chance  “Kingsley” won the fifteen-lap Walter Johnson Handicap trailed by Ormsby as Lockhart finished third. The car Chance drove owned by Harry Heinle had originally been qualified by Jack Petticord.
 

Kinsley, Ormsby and “Fuzzy” Davidson were entered for the December 25 1924 “Santa Claus Sweepstakes” held at the Southern California Fairgrounds in Riverside California. Other prominent drivers among the fifteen entries were future Indianapolis ‘500’ competitors Cliff Bergere, Floyd Roberts, Fred Lecklider, Les Allen and William “Shorty” (then known as “Speed”) Cantlon. Bergere was entered as the driver of a “little Duesenberg” while Kinsley, Ormsby and Davidson all were scheduled to drive Frontenacs. 

Lecklider who would later race in the 1926, 1927 and 1930 Indianapolis 500-mile races, was the race’s featured star, as he drove one of the former Miller-built chassis “Junior Specials” powered by a 181-cubic inch double overhead camshaft straight six engine which had competed twice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 
Lecklider had obtained the pair of cars (one was dissembled) following the tragic death of the cars’ owner Kansas City oil magnate George Wade in a bizarre accident prior to the running of the 250-mile 1923 Thanksgiving Day race at the Beverley Hills Motor Speedway after Wade was struck by the car driven by Harry Hartz.

The “Santa Claus Sweepstakes” was postponed by rain until December 28 and one of the original drivers entered, George Beck withdrew due to injuries and officiated the race assisted by Riverside businessmen J F Backstrand, Axel Nelson, and Roy Helgeson. In time trials, Kinsley and his Frontenac powered machine set quick time as he toured the ½-mile dirt oval in 30.4 seconds.  

A crowd of 4,000 fans watched as the days’ first event, the five-lap “Orange Belt Invitational,” was won by local driver Ed Bermuda with Chicagoan Floyd Shawhan second.  The four fastest qualified cars, those of Les Allen, Shawhan, Cantlon and Kinsley were entered in the next event the handicap Australian pursuit race.

In "pursuit" events of this type, the slowest car started first, followed in order by progressively faster cars at set intervals until the fastest car started last. Over the course of the event, as a later-starting (faster) car passed an earlier-starting (slower) car, the slower car was eliminated. This procedure continued until only the fastest car is left and declared the winner. On December 28 the pursuit race went 13 laps around the half-mile and was won by Chance Kinsley.

Ralph Ormsby won the 10-lap “San Bernardino Handicap” over Bergere, and then came the day’s featured 15-lap race, the “Santa Claus Sweepstakes.” John Vickers led the first two laps before future 1938 Indianapolis ‘500’ race winner Floyd Roberts who lived in Van Nuys took the lead and led the last 13 laps of the race which was completed in 7 minutes and 55 seconds. Roberts was followed across the finish line by Ormsby (who drove the feature in place of Shawhan) with Kinsley in third place. Les Allen finished fourth with Cliff Bergere in fifth as Bermuda and Vickers rounded out the seven finishers.

In our next and final installment of the story of Chance Kinsley, we will review his 1925 season.  

 

 

 

Chance Kinsley - racer

Part One  

Young Chauncey “Chance” Kinsley was a Hoosier dirt track race car driver whose star was on the rise during the early part of the decade of the nineteen twenties but he never got his chance at the top rung of auto racing fame and fortune.

Chance born in Greenfield Indiana in 1896 was one of Marvin and Nannie Kinsley’s family of six children – two boys and four girls. Chance’s older brother Joseph and older sister Carrie both married and moved away from Indiana, while un-married middle sister Bessie lived in Portland Oregon.  Chance’s other two sisters, Nell born in 1890 and Frances, born in 1900, both lived in the family home at 218 South State Street in Greenfield and worked as school teachers.

Chance’s name first surfaced in connection with automobile racing at an event at the nearby Shelby County Fairgrounds ½-mile dirt track in Shelbyville on Labor Day Monday September 6 1920.  An advertisement in the Shelbyville Republican newspaper cautioned readers “Don’t fail to see these races or you will miss the most sensational, death-defying races ever witnessed by the public. The fastest and most daring speed demons in the country will drive in these races which will without doubt be the most exciting event ever staged in this community.” Admission to the races, held as part of the annual County Fair was 75 cents with a grandstand seat 25 cents more with the spectator gates scheduled to open at 10 AM and the racing set to start at 2:00 PM.

Due to the entries of “eleven speed artists” it was announced that “it will be necessary to hold elimination trials Monday morning in order to cut the field to the limited number of cars” for the three scheduled races, two 10-mile races and a 25-mile finale. Advance entries were received from hometown driver Dick Carroll, as well as from Wilbert “Bill” Hunt, Frank Thomas and Clarence Belt of Indianapolis, Toby Conners of Richmond, John Mahoney from Dunreith and Packey Quinn who hailed from Greensburg.

Louis Williams from Indianapolis was scheduled to drive the Keeton entry which was reported to have “held the record of 90 miles per hour (MPH) at Cincinnati,” a reference to the short-lived 2-mile board track Cincinnati Motor Speedway which had closed after the 1919 season.  Nearly 100 years after the fact, the provenance of Williams’ 1920 Shelbyville race entry cannot be positively confirmed but it seems probable that it was a former Indianapolis entry. The Keeton was seven years old in 1920 but local odds makers still established Williams as the 6-to-5 favorite to win the Labor Day races.  

 

 

The Keeton

In 1913, the company’s first year of passenger car production  Bob Burman raced a Keeton  finished in Brewster green with white trim in the Indianapolis ‘500.’ Burman’s Keeton was powered by a T-head Wisconsin Motor Company 4-cylinder engine that displaced 449 cubic inches and developed over 100 horsepower.  When one compares the specifications of Burman’s race car engine to that of the stock Keeton four-cylinder 255-cubic inch engine which produced 38 horsepower from the Detroit factory it appears that Burman’s car was an early example of a “silhouette race car.”  An April 1913 advertisement in the Motor World Wholesale magazine stated that Burman, “the Speed King of the World” had “selected the Keeton to drive and win the great 500-mile race at Indianapolis.”

Inventor Forrest M. Keeton established the Keeton Motor Company which built both six- and four- cylinder cars which rode on 120-inch wheelbase chassis that featured the radiator located behind the engine. Mr. Keeton’s patented design awarded patent number 969107 used a centrifugal fan attached to the flywheel to force air through the radiator.   

According to Keeton’s advertising, this “European design” (which was similar to Renault) allowed for a “graceful sloping hood” and “long low lines.”  The Keeton radiator design feature was carried over to Burman’s race car, which Mr. Keeton watched perform in the 1913 Indianapolis 500-mile race from the car’s pit stall.  

Bob Burman ran his single qualifying lap at 84 miles per hour in time trials and started the ‘500’ from 21st position but grabbed the lead of the race on lap 16 and quickly built up a substantial lead. Burman's time for 120 miles (48 laps) was one hour and thirty-one minutes, and as there was no previous standing mark for this distance, Burman's average speed of 79.12 MPH became a new race record.

Burman and his riding mechanic Tony Janette led the race until the engine backfired and the car caught fire on their 58th lap.  After the fire was extinguished and repairs made which included a carburetor replacement the Keeton had  lost over 20 minutes and ten laps but still managed to finish the race as “Wild Bob” who may have suffered burns accepted relief driving help from British driver Hughie Hughes.   

 

Author’s note:  there are a number of interesting photos of Keeton passenger cars and the Keeton racer in action in the 1913 Indianapolis ‘500’ on the Detroit Public Library website at https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/search?f%5B0%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms%3A%22Keeton%20Motor%20Company%22

 

Two weeks after the Indianapolis ‘500,’ Burman was entered in the Keeton in a race at the former Oakland Trotting Park in Emeryville California, but he drove his ‘Blitzen Benz’ instead. Over the July 4th holiday Burman and the Keeton placed second in the Potlach Trophy road race at Tacoma Washington then dropped out early in the National Trophy road race at Elgin Illinois at the end of August 1913. 

William “Willie” Knipper drove the Keeton racer now owned by Burman at Indianapolis for the 1914 International Sweepstakes after Louis Chevrolet passed on the ride. After he started twelfth over the course of the race Knipper made thirteen pit stops as the crew attempted to diagnosis the car’s lack of performance and changed the coil only to later find that the engine was performing poorly due to a stuck valve. The Keeton finished the ‘500’ in thirteenth place as car owner Burman relieved Knipper and was behind the wheel when the Keeton finally completed its 200th lap an hour and half after winner Rene Thomas had taken the checkered flag.

 

 

Jack Callaghan in the Keeton racer at Elgin Illinois

 

After racing promoter Ernest Moross bought the Wisconsin-powered Keeton,  Michigander John D. "Jack" Callaghan took the controls of the for the rest of 1914 and finished fourth in his hometown AAA (American Automobile Association) race at Kalamazoo (won by Burman in a Peugeot) and fifth at Galesburg Illinois both of which were one mile dirt ovals with small starting fields.   

Callaghan also raced the Keeton in several “outlaw” non-AAA IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) events across the country often in match races against the “Blitzen Benz” before he joined the Duesenberg team. Callaghan drove the third Duesenberg entry early in the 1915 AAA season while Frank Jennings replaced Callaghan as the driver of the Keeton in IMCA races.

Callaghan finished second in the “Tropico Road Race” held mid-week after a rain delay which was promoted by Lodge #1289 of the Benevolent and Protective Orders of Elks in Glendale, California, crashed out of the other two AAA early season West Coast races.  Jack lost two teeth after he struck a pole in the first crash at the San Diego Exposition Race, but his second crash a month later at Ascot Speedway proved fatal after Jack was impaled on a fence board and died the following day.   

The  Keeton Motor Company merged with the Car-Nation cyclecar company in early 1914, but the combined company failed in at the end of 1914. The Keeton was gone after just thirty-three months in business, and the factory building at 462 Lawton Avenue in Detroit and remaining inventory of 100 Keeton cars were sold off by the bankruptcy court during 1915.

 

 

The Craig-Hunt Special

 Another favorite for the Labor Day 1920 races at Shelbyville was Bill Hunt at 4-to-1 odds in the Craig-Hunt Special which was powered by a Ford Model T engine fitted with a sixteen-valve “Peugeot style” racing cylinder head. These heads with overhead valves and the camshaft controlled by bevel gears driven off the crankshaft were built in the shop owned by Hunt and John Craig on North Illinois Avenue in Indianapolis. Craig-Hunt Inc. later known as Speedway Engineering was also an early catalogue speed shop which sold parts needed  to build a race car such as speedster bodies, underslung frames, gear sets, engine parts and Pasco wire wheels.  

A few years later, Bill Hunt would hire a young man named Wilbur Shaw and allowed the young Shelbyville native to use his Illinois Avenue shop to build his first race car and the pair became lifelong friends. Hunt drove a Ford-Frontenac in the 1924 ‘500’ and later worked as a team manager and mechanic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway before he died in mid-December 1950, at what was believed to be 62 years old in Wickenburg Arizona after he collapsed while driving from Las Vegas to Phoenix. 

On Friday, September 3 1920 the Shelbyville Republican carried the news that the race registration committee announced that the fairgrounds track “will not be turned over to the drivers for practice spins before Monday morning.” The qualifying runs, for which the car and driver had to “do over 60 MPH” were overseen by Howard “Howdy” Wilcox the 1919 Liberty 500-mile Sweepstakes race winner, the second native Hoosier to win the great race and the first American born driver to do so since 1912 even though he drove a French Peugeot.   

The entry list for the 1920 Labor Day races in Shelbyville also included several Ford Specials, a Buick, an Oakland and a five-year Chevrolet driven by Chance Kinsley who was an employee of the Maxwell Motor Company.  While the author has been unable to find any published reports of the race, an advertisement in the Thursday September 9 edition of the Shelbyville Republican proclaimed that “Chance Kinsley of Greenfield won the most daring race Labor Day on the fairground track that was ever witnessed on a half-mile dirt track in his Chevrolet Special. He also says he never uses anything but Indian Gas.”

 

 

Indian Gasoline was the product of the Indian Refinery Company originally an Indiana company formed in Asphaltum a small village midway between Lafayette and Gary but which had years before relocated its offices to Cincinnati with its refinery in Lawrenceville Illinois. 

During the period between 1920 and 1922 Indian became a national chain via acquisitions and   transitioned its logo from the previous "running Indian" design to a logo that was a red ball surrounded by the words  “Indian” and  "Gas" in dark blue letters. In 1931 the Texas Corporation (TEXACO) purchased the Indian Refinery Company and operated Indian as a subsidiary until March 1943 when Texaco officially discontinued the Indian brand. 

In our next installment we will examine how Chance Kinsley’s racing successes led to growing prominence within his home state. 

A big “thank you” to Don Capps, Dennis Mattish and Jim Thurman of the Racing History Group for the information on the 1915 Tropico Road Race. Learn more and join the group at   https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/RacingHistory/info