Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1940 — Page 25

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In the Field

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Ea “Hollywood More Perilous, - “Bergere Contents

A bite Bergere is on his annual ‘vacation.

i : He's been taking it to same way Jor the last 13 years—by driving

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the 500-mile race. © Clift is still as toug ‘although he’s 42. Dri ng the car

he ‘bought from Lou Moore—Floyd k Roberts won with [it in 1938 —Blergere figures to be among ths favorites. Roberts set an all-time record of 117.28 miles an hour in the car. When he's not on his vacation, Cliff is | one of Holly. i . wood’s op Bergere stunt men. Just before coming here for qualifying trials, he doubled: for Jack Holt in an underworld picture, The stunt he did was racing a car down a landing field at 60 miles an hour to cut'off a transport plane in which :a gang of crooks were staging their getaway. Bergere spun his car and skidded to a stop two feet in front of ithe airplane and narrowly missed a crackup. In the film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” he wrecked & road-

as ever,|

1, Dawn. The cars wait in a two-mile queue. The early |hirds -filter through the gates for favorite spots. Souvenir salesmen are just getting the slespineds out of their voices. | . 2. The green | flag. eyire away! The pace car is. heading for the pits. The 33 drivers still hold their positions as they [cross the starting ling and whip | | into the first turn, | 3. Here they * chia The, first three lines roar into the southwest, teen, fighting to be in the | lead “T

at the end of the first lap and begin gathering the rich lap prizes. 4. Crash! Death strikes as three cars tangle on the back-

stretch and a Miller flares into-a

searing plume. Bob A Swanson, driving this car, lived, but Floyd Roberts lost his life going through the fence. 5. Victory! And it's sweet. Sweeter than the pitcher of lemonade Col. Roscoe Turner is pouring over Wilbur Shaw in the winner’s circle. Nearly five hours of gruelling pounding is over and is Wilbur glad!

ster at 50 miles an hour, In another called “The Saint’s Double Trouble” he had to drive a car off a pier at 55 miles an hour, leaping from the machine just before it plunged over. | Clff says he’s been knocked out

a few times, and has broken several ribs in movie stunting, but he has never had an accident on the

‘Speedway.

He believes he has the best chance of his career to win the “500” this year.

Spacey Church Named for Patron Saint of Travelers

/ The Catholic Church in Speedway City was named for St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, because of its nearness to the track. , When the Most Rev. Joseph Chartrand, late bishop of the diocese of Indianapolis, decided there ought to he a church in Speedway City, he also chose St. Christopher as its name.

The church, however, was not built until after Bishop Chartrand’s death when he had been succeeded by the Most Rev. Joseph E. Ritter. The first mass was chanted on Aug. 1, 1937. Some of this year’s entrants in the 1940 race, race drivers of other years, and many Indianapolis citizens, have had their cars blessed at the church. On any Sunday afternoon, cars are parked by the church for the blessing. Most of them come on the Sunday before or after July 25, the Feast Day of

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When the Rev. Fr. Leo, Lindemann, church pastor, blesses a car, he asks that St. Christopher intercede with God for the safety of the driver. A small medal i§ affixed to the inside of the car as - a token o; the motorist’'s devotion to the saint. Father Lindemann’s dream is to Lave a heroic statue of St. Christopher erected on the church lawn. At present the church cannot afford it. Father Lindemann has done much research on the titular saint of his church. The only historically certain fact, he says, is that St. Chris{opher was a Christian martyr of the close of the Third Century. Around the saint, however, have grown colorful legends which tell cf his kindness to wayfarers. When the race is run tomorrow, those drivers whose cars bear the insignia of St. Christopher will, according to church history, be following the example of ‘travelers who for 1300 years. have trusted in the intercession of the saint to keep them safely in all their journeyings.”

How Two-Man Crews Worked

Riding Mechanic Performed Many Duties

In the days of the two-man race cars, the mechanic served as an auxiliary pair of oye for the driver. When a “car was overtaking another the chanic in the leading one, by pressure on the driver's accelerator leg, would indicate how far he should move over to let the other driver pass. He used hand. signals wherever possible but sometimes had to talk with the driver. Then ev! * whisper was a shout. The mechanic also relayed sig-. nals to the pits for the driver. As they whipped by their pit if the mechanic held up two fingers it meant. “we’ll be in for fuel in two laps.” Pointing at the left front tire with one hand and backing up the point with another meant “we have to change a left front tire.” Both arms overhead with index fingers pointing toward each other was translated to mean “we are coming into the pit the next time around. The mechanic kept a o eatlierseve on the course at all times, telling the driver what he needed to know. In the straightaways the mechanic slid down in the car to reduce the wind resistance.

gas pressure up by pumping and watched the whegls and tires on the right side of th

‘Early Races Were

Battles of Tires

The races of 1010, 1911 and 1912 were battles of tires instead of na. chines. Tires in the old days were ads of fabric instead of cord and they couldn’t stand up under the terrific heat. During one early race, Don Herr, now an Indianapolis businessman, was following Hughie Hughes in a Mercer in the back stretch. Suddenly the tread came off Hughes’ right rear tire, and instead of falling on the track it fell in Hart's lap. The tread was so hot that he burned his hand throwing it on to the track.

A Lot of Parts in These Race Cars It would be easier to take apart

There are about 3000 separate parts in a speed creation. Of these more than 1500 are termed by drivers as “vital parts.” If any one of the 1500 goes bad the machine bes to stop for repairs. It would be even tougher to put a car together even if you had the plans. To build a racer, a blue t of every single part must be made. Each of the dimensions is calibrated

down to thousandths of inches.

ace Delayed nly Twice By Rain in ’30 and by Drivers’ Strike in ’33 Only twice has the 500-mile race failed to start promptly at 10 a.m. In 1930 rain threatened to post-

pone the race altogether, but the sky cleared and the Memorial Day

1933 when the pilots learned that Howdy Wilcox II had been barred

from the track by Speedway dpctors. Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker finally persuaded the men to start. In 1916, the pre-war year when the United States was operating on a. conservation plan because of the World War, the contest was shortened ‘by agreement.” Officials decided they'd save as, oil, rubber and the many other things that go toward making a race, by cutting the distance to [300 miles. The race wasn’t held in| 17 and ’18 because most of the artjers were in France.

The race was called at 400 miles in 1926 because of rain.| A

‘classic began an hour late. A drivers’ strike was called in

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He kept the driver refreshed by| peeling oranges for him, checked |: | the various gauges, kept the oil and

an elaborate clock than a race car.|.

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