Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1941 — Page 16
’
Winner's Speed May Be About 115 M. P. H.
f (Continued from Page One)
get it. Rose made his run before Mays had his try which would, indicate that Rex found it impossible to match the Rose pace. Another point in Mauri’s favor is that he is no fledgling on the - Jocal track. He began racing here in 1933 and out of seven starts he has been in the money three times.
. He finished the race last year in
third place and if appearances are any indication he could have run another 200 laps. - The Rose power plant is the El- , gin Piston Pin Special (No. 3) with & Maserati motor which has been worked over to conform to American ideas of a racing power plant. Given weather conducive to a fast track and with as little inter- - ference from the rest of the field as is possible there is a chance that Shaw and Mays might mar their chances of beating Rose by concentrating on their own personal duel. This duel, if-it does nothing else, may set many a new speed record
on the 2'2-mile oval. One very good
trouble with
reason for this race within a race was the rain that slowed the classic last year and forced Rex to hold ‘his number two position for the
- Jast 150 miles.
He's Been Waiting a Year
° Rex had been biding his time, anning to challenge Shaw at the moment in a blinding all-out
4 effort. The rain, however, halted
any chance of that and Mays has been waiting a long time for tomorTow. Shaw plans to drive the same type of race that won for him last year—
- if Mays will let him. Using a new
Maserati motor, a twin of the one
"which carried him last year, he has
a little more speed this year—speed _ he will need when the challenges are made. All three of the cars, the two Maserati motors and Mays’ Lou } Meyer motor, will be burning alcohol which means they all may have
~ to make more than one pit stop.
Alcohol, while a cooler burning fuel, does not give the mileage gasoline does. . Thus far there has been no indieation during practice and qualification runs that the average speed which will win the race will break any “500” records.
Upwards of 115 MPH?
‘It is believed, however, that Bhaw’s winning speed of 114.277 miles an hour last year probably will be bettered and a few persons (very few, though) think that the record pace of 117.200 set by the late Floyd Roberts in 1938 may be
There are two unknown aspects of this race which may change the picture completely. . One is the strong attempt to perfect American
motors to beat out the foreign chal-| lenge and the other is the Miller A ®*mystery” cars.
Of the American motors, Mays’ Lou Meyer job is probably one of the pest. It is an eight-cylinder motor which has been carefully broken in in past races and tuned to purr ing perfection for tomorrow. Al Miller and George Barringer will be pilofing the Miller rear-en-gined machines. In their past performances here these cars have met with nothing but bad luck. They proved hard to keep under control and apt to spin at high speeds.
Cars Perfectly Balanced
Almost perfectly balanced, they are unorthodox in performance and looks. They have been rebuilt by capable Eddie “Offut and the gas tanks which were visible on the sides of the cars, now have been placed inside a strong frame. Both Al and George report that the cars handle “very well” and practice runs by both drivers tend to prove the statement. One of these cars taken. to the _ Bonneville Salt Flats during the past year made a 500-mile test run at an average speed of 143 miles an hour; - Al Miller has a better chance. of finishing ahead of his partner, perhaps, because there has been less S mount than Barginger’s. Chet Seen as ‘Dark Horse’
* Chet Miller, the veteran who has ‘been dogged by Lady Luck’s oppo-
site, is the “dark horse” of tomor-|
_fow’s race and a lot of the “wise money” is being put on Chet. In 1939 he threw up his chances of winning when he deliberately
. steered his car through the rail to
avoid hitting Bob Swanson who had been thrown to the track in a smash-up. This year Chet will be piloting an
: ‘eight cylinder Miller motor for the
Boyle stable. The car has been tuned by Cotion Henning, Shaw’s maestro of the pits. Petillo, the little whirlwind from
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"MAERIDIAN ST.
MONUMENT circus
Horse racing may be the sport of kings, but on Decoration Day the ordinary man pays homage to his sport—that of speed, danger and roaring motors. Sitting out in front of the Speedway gates for the last month has been a handful of early arrivals. Almost imperceptably that handful has grown and today the eve of the race finds Indianapolis playing host to its biggest annual crowd. A typical American crowd—it is noisy and full of laughter. Many
A Long Haul
Rene LeBegue is one-race driver who refused to allow circumstances - to keep him from the “500.” Rene brought his Frenchbuilt Talbot over the Pyrenees, through Portugal and across 3000 miles of ocean from conquered France. He attempted to qualify late yesterday, but his 115-mile-an-hour speed wasn’t quite enough to win him a starting position.
car this year. The machine is far from the best on the track but Kelly has the knack of making it behave.
Bergere Driving An Offenhauser
Hollywood's favorite stuntman, Cliff Bergere, is usually a dependable driver to end up among the first 10 and this year he is driving an Offenhauser four-cylinder job, a dependable motor for a dependable driver. Ted Horn has finished in the money five times out of six starts and this year is hehind the wheel of a six-cylinder Sparks from the Thorne garage. Joe Thorne, the lanky millionaire sportsman himself came in ninth in '38; seventh in ’39.and fifth last year. His car, with a Sparks motor, is a powerful one and in A-1 condition. Barring mechanical failure (next to impossible in a “500”) “Gasoline Alley” DP res the winner of the
race should be among the “big three” with the odds favoring Rose.
Speedway Crowd. Is One
Of World's Most Colorful Facing Duel
of the thousands here to watch the race have come from as far as
lection of license plates will testify. Speedway City, which has become used to the annual invasion of the thousands, has turned overnight from the quiet shopping center of a growing industrial community into the Main Street of America. The small army of traffic officers, this year as in the years gone by, struggles mightily to herd its charges into the haven of parking lots—lots which a week ago were pastures and playgrounds. At 6 a. m. tomorrow the Speedway gates will be thrown open to the lines of waiting cars. These lines began forming several days ago with the bulk of the arrivals filing inito Speedway City today. Four abreast and lined for more than a mile in each direction the sleek, lean limousines and bulging cattle trucks alike will pour through the Speedway gates seeking shady
{places for the day.
Many persons who will stay up all night will sleep in the shade of their cars throughout the actual running of the Speedway and many persons who came from towns hundreds of miles away will never even get inside the gates. They come and visit the cafes and talk to hundreds but have no tickets to get in and have no intention of getting any. These people, too, are a part of the roaring “500.” Their thrill comes from the audible roar of the motors which blanket the countryside—~the wild rumors of crashes and death—and the tired feeling of being a part of one of the sporting world’s largest crowds. However two persons among this giant crowd may look about them and feel a tightness in their throats and a longing for things gone past— a time when their native land was known as the Ey nation of the universe. They are two drivers Rene LeBegue and Jean Trevoux, of France.
Make Sure You Get There On Time
Pack your lunches early and start for the Speedway in plenty of time tomorrow morning, for the race has started late only twice in its history—1930 and 1933, In 1930 rain threatened to’postpone the race altogether, but the weatherman relented and the skys cleared and the race began an hour late. Three years later a drivers’ strike was called when the pilots learned that Howdy Wilcox had F barred from the track by Speedway doctors. However, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker finally persuaded the men to start .
They Ought to Know
Gasoline Alley, when it makes a prediction, is almost always right. Before the qualifications began this year, Gasoline Alley experts opined that the gentleman who sat on the pole position would have to average between 128 and 130 miles an hour
Rose won the honor with a speed of 128.691.
Maine and California—as the col- :
on the first qualifying day. Mauri] -
Foreign Cars
U. S.-Made Machines Are in Top Shape
(Continued from Page One)
ry’s racer was given on the flist qualification day when he toured the oval at an average of 125.449 miles an hour. . The Sampson Special to be piloted by veteran “Deac” Litz may prove a serious threat to the foreign cars. The long hooded racer has 16 cylinders and has been tuned to peak performance. The blocks of this super-super motor were used by the ill-fated Frank Lockhart in his attempted straightaway runs at Daytona Beach.
Timing Is Smoothed Out
A recent check of the car disclosed a miscalculation in timing and the correction of this has given rise to hopes of a speed capable of meeting any test at the Indianapolis oval. The two rear-engined Americanmade racers which will pound the bricks tomorrow are two packages of potential surprises. No one knows exactly how they will perform but tests in the last few weeks look promising. Germany has met with some success with her rear-engined Auto Unions and the Miller cars may prove to be their American counterparts. Both Have Been Rebuilt
Followed by bad luck in the past, these two “irons” have been redesigned and rebuilt by capable Eddie Offut. Last s er one of the cars, on a Bonneville salt flat 500-mile run, averaged better than 143 miles an hour. - These cars have had trouble tak-
ing the corners at the Speedway bute
if this trouble has been overcome (as their drivers, Al Miller and George Barringer report) then they may outclass the foreign competitors..
{the A. A. A. and the French con-
« |drivers, Rene LeBegue and Jean
French Drove Their Racers Over Pyrenees
Presence Adds Glamour To Big Event
Two Frenchmen, who couldn’ buy ham and eggs but who spent $10,000 to reach Indianapolis from Vichy, France, are at the ‘Speedway this year, auding an international aspect to the famous “500,” even
starting lineup. The two trucked their two Talbot cars through France by trailer. They crossed the Pyrenees and wound down through Portugal to Lisbon, gateway to and from embattled Europe. It took the combined efforts of
sulate in Washington, but finally passage was obtained for the two
Trevoux, and their two Talbots, which are six-cylinder jobs just under the limits of unsupercharged motors which are four and a half liters or 274 cubic inches plus.
Came in Tenth Last Year
LeBegue drove here last year and came in tenth. - Missing this year is pretty Mme. LeBegue, who this year could not accompany her racer husband. During last year’s race she supervised his race from a Shepinl platform built behind the pits. Both LeBegue and Trevoux are veterans of European road races. In road races the terrain is constantly changing and the car is subjected to brake and gear tests besides motor strain. European races take place through mountains and flat land, and the driver has to meet all conditions. In addition, some road races in which the two Frenchmen have successfully competed the route is 2000 to 3000-mile affairs that requjre several days of driving. The driver and his riding! mechanic travel through country after country day after day, sleeping. and eating in the car.
Defeated Two Germans
Stocky Trevoux twice won the 2000-mile Monte Carlo road race which took four days to complete; the 1200-mile Morocco Circuit twice; the French Grand Prix of 600 miles, and the 3000-mile Liege-Rome-Liege non-stop race. “I won the race by heating two Germans eight days before we go to war,” said Trevoux, unable to conceal the glee in his voice. LeBegue won the Grand Prix of England in 1937, the 1938 Coupe de Paris and the 12-hour Paris race. In 1939 he won one long-distance race and was third in another. One of the endurance races in which he participated was the 1937 Monte Carlo Rally. Starting from different cities, the drivers of varying nationalities raced to Monte Carlo. LeBegue had to start from Stavenger, Norway, in the dead of winter. He didn’t win the race, but he is proud that his compatriot, Trevoux,
Where Henning Got His ‘Cotton’ Tag The “Cotton” in Harry (Cotton) Henning originated way back in the 20’s when Henning wore his hair cut short. I guess my head looked like a
cotton ball and the name just came naturally,” he said.
The Picture Finish
The closest finish of the Speedway classic was in 1937 when Wilbur Shaw flashed across the finish line just 2.16 seconds ahead of
though they will not be in the i
Ralph Hepburn.
La
Rs om
Here is one truck that failed t pass the safety rules at the Speedway so it was refused admittance
to the grounds. Maj. William Carpenter, Speedway | feet from the floor are taboo.
od ”. 5 PRS RR Safety Director (right) explains ‘that trucks with seats, stands or platforms built up higher that three
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