Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1939 — Page 19
PAGE 18
THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
INDIANAPOLIS PUTS ON CARNIVAL AIR FOR THE BIG RACE
Speedway Gates to Be Thrown Open at 6:30 Tomorrow Morning; Devotees of Speed Come From All Directions.
Fight fans are more hopeful and baseball followers more philosophic, but for sheer endurance the palm goes to the spectators at the 500-mile auto race. The degree of staying power, of course, varies according to the individual, but your true lover of speed spectacles can eat picnic lunches of warm lemonade and cool coffee for days, mobile, and, on race day
proper, can stand for hours 121 WILL WIN under a sun that would drive 1 an African to shelter. This year, as always, these people | MEYER THINKS have stepped up the tempo of the entire city and given it an air of] S———— anticipation. To the area sur- (Pi ' . rounding the track they have Man Who Drives With His brought a carnival—county fair at-| Head Not His Foot.’ ’ ’ Plans the Race.
mosphere, { It is a unique sports crowd for America. Other sporting events in| this country last for an afternoon | or an evening, but not the 500-mile race. Some regard it as an allday affair, while others, whose cars| have formed long lines outside the
If his car holds up and the weather is right, Lou Meyer will wind up this year's 500-mile race
gates think of it in terms of two with an average close to 121 miles or three days or a week. Probably| =...
can sleep while leaning against the side of an auto-|
How to
MAPLE
<,
3)
WEST 30T™™ ¢
ST.
Get to the Speedway
3a™
ROAD ST.
@ % t
% 4
WEST 3Jot™ ST.
$ %
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
GEORGETOWN ROAD
7
WEST 167
MAN ST.
WEST jot» ST
MICHIGAN
WEST 29™
t
MYERS ROAD W. RIVERSIDE DRIVE
KESSLER
WEST 167 Lon, 4 3
Soe
0
|
CAPITOL ILLINOIS
STREET
¥ mem DIAN ST.
GRANDE JaAve
ue
NOTE: Since the completion of this map, aa bridge on W, between Tibbs and Grande Aves. is therefore now impassable.
0
4 9 MONUMENT k CIRCLE
3
40 W WASHINGTOL
10th St. has heen declared out of commission and that street
He ——————————-
Removal of Inside Retaining Wall Has Added to Safety at Track
{car on a rough surface, actually ir-| regularities in the track enable the!
|and Wilbur Shaw
BRICKS VISIBLE NOW ONLY ON HOME STRETCH
Back Straightaway Covered With Asphalt; Drivers’ Strain Eased.
The Speedway used to be referred to as a brick track, but the only place the drivers will run over a brick surface today is the home stretch. An asphalt surface has been applied to the bricks on the back stretch, and if this change has a favorable effect on this race, Speedway officials eventually are expected to resurface the straightaway in front of the grandstands.
Predict Faster Average
Such speed artists as Lou Meyer claim the new backstretch surface actually makes the track a little slower since it reduces “tire slippage’—their word for traction.
They believe, however, race average should be faster, partly because the new surface will give the drivers an easier ride and keep down their fatigue, which always is a factor in the long grind.
After trying the new, asphalt top, some of the pilots said it gave them the sensation that they were drivling uphill, but they agreed their cars handled as easily as if they
were taking a pleasure drive down!
a boulevard. Tires Wear Fast Although it is harder to hold a
wheels of a racing machine to give
an extra kick forward that increases |
that the!
EARLY PLANE MARK SET AT SPEEDWAY
Twenty-eight years ago an altitude record for airplanes was estab- | lished at the Speedway. Walter Brookins was the pilot. He rose nearly 5000 feet in a primitive biplane so constructed that he sat | below and in front of the motor with | nothing between him and the | ground but a piece of tubing, two, wheels and atmosphere, Ailerons had not been thought of, | and the banking of the plane was
accomplished by warping the wings. | Brookins must have been a worry to his mother.
much to accelerate on these little short north and south stretches, If he puts on too much speed he may not be able to come out of the! next turn, while if he eases up too! much he is almost sure to fall far! behind. J
MONDAY, MAY 29, 1939
Delicious LUNCH
wom 30C SEVILLE
RESTAURANT - 7 N. Meridian
the only comparable crowd is found . : X | The “Flying Dutchman” figures
¢ English Derby. protective headgear is|the speed slightly, drivers say. The ay the English Desh) that will win for him. That's the | y
Three important steps have been | different times, Bill Cummings, the| Thirdly, Drivers used to wear disadvantage, in addition to the
winner, was able to better his po- mandatory.
The magnet that draws these people here is the love of speed and the high pitched sound of a straining motor. Others come with a half-dread, half-anticipation of a sight of some of the tragedies which so frequently accompany this sport.
Many Up at Dawn
Early tomorrow morning, hitchhikers will roll off benches in University Park and head for the track. Other bench sleepers will rouse themselves at Union Station and catch the first shuttle train. { From hundreds of side streets, families, who will spend the night in their cars, will wake their tired and fretful children and begin the last lap of treks that may have begun in Maine or California. Speedway gates will be thrown open at 6:30 a. m. and the throng, lined up for two miles outside, will sift through to the infield. By 9:30 a. m. the grandstand ticket holders will have arrived and the 1000-piece band, headed by military color bearers, will assemble at the northwest turn for the prerace parade.
Old Drama Recalled
Bombs denoting the approach of the starting time are fired, a field mass is held for Catholie drivers in the infield and the cars are wheeled out on the track This is the time, just before the start, when your true race fan has a flood of memories of past Memorial Days and other speed heroes. They remember Ray Harroun who rode alone in the Marmon Wasp in 1911 and won with the then astounding average of 74.59 miles an hour. There was Ralph DePalma, whose car quit on him in 1912 just as victory was within his grasp, and Joe Dawson, who won that year. How happy they were when DePalma came back to triumph in 1815. It doesn't seem so long ago that Jimmy Murphy of the golden tenor voice and Tommy Milton were racing. Who will ever forget the] flaming ride Norman Batten had in the 1927 race, when he refused to jump to safety and steered his blazing car into the pitts to avoid endangering the lives of the other drivers, You Get Used to It Memories run to Peter DePaolo and Frank Lockhart and to Bill Cummings, who met death here in an ordinary traffic accident just a few months ago. Now the field rolls by in even rows on the pace lap and when they hit that starting line on the next time around their motors will scream like a miliion devils in a burning pit. The close packed cars sweep into the southwest turn and] everyone breathes easier after a few laps have been run and the cars spread out Spectators become used to the speed after the first hour or two. They wander around eating sandwiches and talking, but they are held at the track until midafternoon when a checkered flag has waved someone to victory. Then the evacuation starts, and it is carried out more quickly even than the invasion. By the next day, the city has returned to normal, and people are | talking about their jobs, the movies and their golf scores.
lany other man.
| 1933 and 1936.
kind of race driver he is. He sets
‘his pace in advance and holds to it,
regardless of how fast the other boys go. Three times he has been right— and he's the only triple winner in | history. Last year he said 117 miles {an hour would win. It did—but Lou; watched winner Floyd Roberts from!
taken in recent years to improve! |safety on the busiest one-day, oneway roadway in the world. First and most important was the | removal of the walls on the curves. Wilbur Shaw characterizes this “as the most considerate thing the
|
the sidelines after his own car had|,cement ever did for the drivers.”
been forced out
trouble. Passes DePalma Mark
Regarded by many as the greatest driver of them all, the 34-year-old
Californian has driven more miles
competition than! He's travelled 4757 miles in 12 years—700 more than old
Ralph DePalma, now retired, held the previous mark. He
in Speedway
by mechanical]
Before, when there was a heavy cement wall around the bottom | edge of the curves, a car out of control would careen from the inside wall to the outside and back again (causing pileups of oncoming cars. With the inside wall out, the natural tendency of a lurching car, the drivers say, is to go down toward the infield. As soon as a driver can get one or two wheels on the dirt
who | apron just off the edge of the track has he can halt his car and climb out to
finished six times in the money— safety.
three firsts, a second and fourth twice. He made his debut here in 1927, won in 1928, and repeated in As for his car, Lou is satisfied. And why shouldn't he be? right up in the front row of the 33
starters with a qualifying average of |
It took a record Snyder to keep
130.067 m. 130.138 by
P. h. Jimmy
him out of the pole position. Since!
Mever usually is content just to qualify test runs must mean that he intends to go after the laurels from the
start this year. From Last to Fourth and Out
“I like my setup,” Lou says. is the same vear, but she's really got the ‘bugs’ worked out of her. iast year.” And race fans remember that. The throttle jammed at the start. the starter wouldn't work properiy. The leading cars were nearly four laps on their way when Lou finally got going. “That was the longest stretch of time in my life,” he says. “I thought we'd never get rolling. I was 33d and last at 25 miles. Then I turned it on—averaging about 125 miles an hour. At 350 miles, I was fourth. About 20 miles later, I was out with a burned piston—probably because I had to force the car faster than I had planned or wanted to. But I dont think that will happen this year.” Whole Family Races
Lou comes from a racing family. An older brtoher, Eddie Jr.
champion. He quit in 1926. Lou's father was a champion bicycle racer in Germany many years ago.
Now a younger brother, Harry,
‘hopes to follow in Lou's footsteps.
He's in his brother's pit crew this vear—wants to start driving in a year or so. If he adopts his brother's formula, he should do all right. Deacon Lita, me of the “roaring way’s” popular veterans, expresses it best when, rating Lou as the smartest driver of all time, he said: “Drives with his his foot.”
head instead of
15,000 PARTS IN CAR There are approximately 15, parts in the average American automobile.
Prefers Race to Movie Work
AN Ny N Babe Stapp, who will drive Bill
technical adviser for the new movie “The Devil on Wheels.”
hp }
SN NRE SES
a
8 | Emil
White's Alfa Romeo tomorrow, was Babe said
it was easy money but he likes the tuning up and actual driving in the
“500” a lot better.
Stapp has been in the money only once, that being in 1923 when he
finished drives.
pn, Something has always happened to cars the “Babe” This year he’s hoping for a victory.
He's |
his burst of speed in the
“This | job that I drove last]
Wasn't that way |
Then |
was a | dirt track driver and Pacific Coast]
| The second safety factor which has been so successful in recent races is the use of traffic lights instead of flags at all points on the ‘track except the starter’s bridge.
Yellow Denotes Accident These lights are yellow and ‘green, The yellow indicates that an ‘accident has occurred and the drivers must slow down and hold their respective positions, while the green ‘advises that the course is clear.
Flag signals used on the bridge
are as follows: Green—Starting signal; course is clear, White—Stop for consultation im‘mediately. Red—Stop, race is halted. Yellow—Drive with caution and remain in your position. Orange With Navy Blue Circular |Center—Car attempting to pass you. King’s Blue—You are starting ‘your last lap. | Checkered—You are finished. | Before the installation of the lights in 1935 the slow signal was relayed from one flag man to another until it got back to the starter, | 'who then took charge of the situa- | tion. Rose’s Protest Started It
One of the reasons why this old flag system was abandoned was the protest filed with the American Au-| 'tomobile Association Contest Board
‘by Mauri Rose, second place winner
in 1934. Rose claimed that vellow flags were
because
displayed at
the
| '. | sition. Cummings speed was 104.863 cloth headgear similar to those used jdanger involved,
[and Rose's 104.497 miles per hour by aviators only lighter.
that year.
| safety measure, Shaw began using a |
is that a rough
As aj surface causes fast tire wear.
The front and back straightaways
Under the traffic light system, the crash helmet of a type similar to|of the track are 3300 feet long, while
track where an accident has oc-| [number of years. curred can switch on the warning | lights clear around the track. This| helmets even
when turning
inside retaining official in charge of a section of the those used by English racers for a the corners extend 320 feet and the
short straightaways on the north
Now all drivers must wear these and south ends are 660 feet long. the | One of the distinguishing marks ot Speedway man- slows the entire field simultaneously. | track in slow pre-race practice laps. a star driver is that he knows how
{4B (1
THAT PLYMOUTH BEST-BUILT LOW-PR
IS THE ICED CAR!
HAS 20 HAS 9
|
Since “All Three’’ low-priced cars cost about the same, Plymouth’s big advantage in these advanced features shows itis the best buy...the most for the money!
All-Silent Transmission * Front Coil Springs~standard * X-Braced Frame * Hypoid Rear Axle * ‘‘L-head”’ Engine Design * Aluminum Alloy Pistons * Four Rings per Piston * Roller Bearing Universal Joints * Full Pressure Lubrication * Valve Tappet Adjustment
Your nearby Plymouth dealer will gladly show you the complete list and explain what each feature gives you in extra value.The Plymouth ‘“Roadking’’ has 20 out of 25!
- and the De Luxe Plymouth has 24!
And
TRAGK WAS BORN IN TABLECLOTH SKETCH
Many Speedway historiens main(tain that the idea of the 500-mile (race was first born when Carl Fisher using a pencil, sketched an oval on a restaurant tablecloth. According to the story, Mr. Fisher illustrating with the pencil in 1907, [told his companions that “This is | the shape of a race course I am go{ing to build one of these days, and
then the world will hear of real {automobile racing.” | True to his word, Mr. Fisher with James A. Allison, F. H. Wheeler and A. C. Newby who ran a bicvele track in Indianapolis, established the | foundation for the track. Ground was purchased, contracts were let and after months of activity the course was completed. At first the track was paved with gravel. Numerous accidents added to organized opposition to the track helped keep the corporation in the red. | Finally, track was laid. The following vear the race drew national attention and the ¥ rest is history.
RACERS ENTER CARS | BUT DRIVE OTHERS
| Wilbur Shaw, Indianapolis, and {Jimmy Snyder, Chicago, have cars | lentered but neither pilot will be at | {the wheel of his own car. Mauri {Rose will drive Shaw's car and Andres will drive Snyder's car. Shaw will drive Mike Boyle's Maserati, a brand new job which “Cotton” Henning, chief mechani- | cian, brought back from Italy. Snyder will pilot the same Joe {| Thorne entry with which he led the race last year when he ran into {trouble at 375 miles. Floyd Roberts, |last year’s winner, also became a {car owner. He shares interest in a car with Lou Moore who is the | sole owner ¢f the car which Roberts will drive this year,
| as a last hope, a brick]
PLYMOUTH GIVES YOU the safety of time-proven Hydraulic Brakes, Floating Power engine mountings!
mith $685
«DELIVERED IN DETROIT, including front and rear bumpers, bumper guards, spare wheel, tire and tube, foot control for headlight beam with indicator on dash, ash-tray in front and rear, sun visor, safety glass and big trunk space (19.3 cu. ft.). Plymouth prices include all federal taxes. Transportation and state, local taxes, if any, not included. See your Plymouth dealer for local delivered prices. PLYMOUTH DIVISION OF CHRYSLER CORPORATION, Detroit, Michigan.
TUNE IN MAJOR BOWES’ AMATEUR HOUR, COLUMBIA NETWORK, THURSDAYS, 9TO 10 P.M, E. D. 8. T.
ILLUSTRATED ABOVE
ALN
OF 25 BIG FEATURES found in most High-Priced Cars Here's How Many you'll find in “All 3" Low-priced cars:
HAS 7
TILL MORE PROOF of Plymouth'’s greater value: of the leading low-priced cars, Plymouth is § inches longer than one; 6 inches longer than the other!
Plymouth alone of “All 3” has coil springs standard on all models.
all Plymouth models have
the same big, 6-cylinder ‘‘L-head”’ engine giving full power with economy. Yet Plymouth is easy to buy!
IT'S CALLED SMARTEST OF THE [% LOW-PRICED CARS /
BUILDS HVE ED
Alongside of us a mouse is noisier than a skeleton doing a “buck and wing” on a tin
roof in a hail storm.
Not a single peep will you heat out of us about the top-cylinder o#/ in every drop of Tydol Gasoline. We won't even tell you about Tydol’s octane rating . .
its mileage ot its economy.
Instead, all we say is, “Try it.” Stop at your Tydol dealer’s today . . . Fill your tank with Tydol . . . Let Tydol tell its
own story in performance.
TRY A TANKFUL TODAY... LET TYDOL TALK FOR ITSELF
TROY OIL CO
and Approved Dealers
Gepyright, 1939, by Tide Water Associated Of Company
AWAIT YOU [3 IN NEW YORK!
You read this newspaper because you like its way of presenting the news and because you enjoy the features + + . the columnists, writers and cartoonists. When in New . York for the Fair follow your home-town favorites in the New York World-Telegram.
3
These Home-Town Favorites Westbrook Pegler, Hugh S. Johnson, Hey. wood Broun, Eleanor Roosevelt, Raymond Clapper, Joe Williams, Wm. Philip Simms, John T. Flynn, Ernie Pyle, Talburt, David Dietz, Crossword Puzzle. This Curious World, Metropolitan Movies, Side Glanees, Boots and Her Buddies, Our Boarding House, Out Our Way, Grin and Bear it, Wash Tubbs, Fashions, Science.
appear regularly in the
NEW YORK WORLD-TELEG
The Se ps-Howard Paper in New York Cay,
.