Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1941 — Page 17

THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1941

Duel Between Shaw and Rex Is Still On.

Tomorrow's Race Just a Continuation of 40’s

Tomorrow's race may well be a continuation of last year’s 500-miler. Last year, with 125 miles to go, dapper Wilbur Shaw was two laps ahead of Rex Mays, the California cannon ball. The stands were watching with anticipation because they knew- that Mays would challenge Shaw with a last 100-mile burst of speed. But Rex never got the chance to make his final bid. - At the 375-mile mark it began to rain and the field was forced to run under the slow flag for the remainder of the grind. Under Speedway rules all cars must keep their position when the yellow light is on. > Mays had qualified at an average of 127.85 miles an hour on a blustery day, to force Wilbur into the second starting position, and Rex was confident that his racer would prove the swiftest in the final “dog-fight” which never came off.

Both Have Superb Cars’

History has already repeated itself to a certain degree. On the first day of qualifications two weeks ago Mays once more eased past Shaw at a qualifying speed of 128.301. However, even at this speed Rex will have only second place in the starting lineup for Mauri Rose won the pole position with a blistering 128.691. Shaw will be in third place, earned by his 127.836 average. Both Rex and Wilbur are equipped with superb mounts. Shaw will pilot one of the sleek Maseratis owned by Mike Boyle. Rex will drive the same car in which he raced last year—a car whose stamina was proven last year. It is powered with a motor designad by Lou Meyer. So barring mechanical trouble the two drivers may have to depend upon their wits to beat the other man,

‘Get In Front,” Says Rex

Rex has only one plan to win tomorrow’s race and that is “to get out in front and stay there.” The tall, rangy Mays laughed when he said it, adding: “That system has won a lot of races for me but not here. Not yet that is.” Te “There is no way to definitely plan a race as long as this one,” says Wilbur for his part. “You have to wait and see what the other fellow is going to do and then think of something better. I came out here with a plan one year and stuck to it. That was the year I came in second.” os Shaw's feats on the track are already becoming legendary. An example of the skill with which he will attempt to keep Mays from winjing is illustrated by his work. in

Could You Figure It Out?

Nearing the end of that race, Wilbur was fighting it out with Ralph Hepburn, who had been relieved sev-

eral times and was fairly fresh.|

Shaw had been forced to make an early pit stop and was praying that he would not have to make another when his car sprang an oil leak. He knew it, not only because his pressure gauge was low, but because hot oil was spraying back from the motor, almost frying his legs. With tires doubtful, fuel low, oil almost gone, and legs blistered, he calmly planned the remainder of the race. He reasoned that with oil low it would be dangerous to risk “high speed in the turns but decided “to back up to his rivals and drive “wide open” on the level straightaways where the meager oil supply would do his motor the most good. He followed this Pan exactly and won. \ Neither Rex nor Wilbur may win

Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, the colorful presidents of the Motor Speedway, will miss his first race tomorrow . . . but he will be hearing it via radio,

nevertheless. The famous World War ace is. still confined to an Atlanta hospital recovering from his latest tangle with death. ‘ It was early on the morning of Feb. 27th when the silvery Eastern Air Lines sleeper plane carrying Capt. Rickenbacker and 15 others crashed .in a pine grove 15 miles south of the Atlanta Airport. Seven persons died in the crash and eight others, including “Rick,” who is also president of Eastern Air Lines, were injured. ( At the Atlanta Hospital, Dr. Floyd McRae, sur-geon-in-chief, said that Capt. Eddie had a “50-50” chance to live. However, when he made his statement the doctor wasn’t taking into account his patient’s toughness. > For at the scene of the crash despite his broken ribs and fractured leg, “Rick” was able to direct first aid for the injured and keep the survivors from being panic-stricken. He enforced a rule against smoking and lighting matches during the sevenhour wait for the rescuers.

HOW YOU SAY IT—

Don't Gasp When Grease Monkeys Change Skins After a Lead Foot Has Kicked It

er 3

He's Down in Atlanta, Pulling for His ‘Boys’

Duray Still Here, but as

A Car Owner

Famed Heavy-Foot Watching Robson

opher, once opined that there were no ex-aviators and no ex-race

«| drivers.

Pulled out of the wreckage, he complained only of a pain in his back and still banked on the same kind of fate, luck or charm that’s always been with him. He was one of the cap-turned backwards, greasesmeared drivers who made the Speedway famous when death always rode the hoods of the racing cars in the early days. He left the race track to sign up for the war and he returned America’s most famous ace, credited by the Army with 256 German planes and by his friends with 26. He was leader of the “Hat-in-the-Ring” Squadron 94, which the Germans feared more than any other air-fighting outfit. As a race driver, he won $80,000 during his career, although he never came closer than 10th at Indianapolis. That was in 1914 when he piloted a fourcylinder Duesenversg. Two weeks ago at the Speedway’s annual press dinner, “Rick” talked to those at the dinner over a telephone-loudspeaker hook-up. After telling “the boys” about his crash he said he was going to do his best to get here for the 29th running. But the doctors have decreed that “Rick” must stay under their care “for a while yet.”

: The uninitiated walking down the Speedway’s Gasoline Alley might be puzzled, to say the least, by the language used by the drivers

and mechanics. .

Just in case you overhear some motor doctor discussing the race

here are some of the terms he’ll be using:

ALLIGATOR—See “Old Clunker.”

AN OLD CLUNKER — See “Old Goat.” BACKING OFF—Redicing acceleration. BALLOON FOOT—Slow driver. BENZINE—Motor fuel. z BINDERS—Brakes. . BLACKSMITH—A mechanic. BLADDER—Tube. BLOWERS—Superchargers. BUCKETS—Pistons. BUGS—Mechanical faults. CHAUFFEUR — Driver “ Jockey”) : COG (high and low) — Gear ratio. : CONTROL STICK — Steering wheel. . CUTTING A QUICK ONE— Driving a particular fast lap. CRATE—Any racing car. DOUGHNUT—See- “Shoe.” FIFTH WHEEL—Steering wheel. GADGET BOARD-—Instrument panel. : GALLOPER—Connecting rod. GATES—Valves. GREASE MONKEY—Mechanic. GILHOOLEY—A bad spin or skid. (The original Gilhooley lives in New York. He was continually risking his life in spins and skids, hence the term). ? IRON—Motor or auto parts. JOCKEY—Driver.

minute possible.

track. (See

reached.

OLD GOAT—An old car. POURING COKE TO IT—Going fast in the turns. POTS—Carburetors. QUICK—To go fast. REVVING— When a car fis “really revving” it means a driver is getting all the revolutions per

SHOE OR SKIN—Tire. called “doughnut”). SMALL BULL

SNEEZE—Backfire. STICK—Cam shaft. SMOKESTACK—Exhaust pipe. SOUP—Motor fuel. WINDMILL—Supercharger. WIND IT UP—Slowly increasing ‘speed until maximum is

Then, too, if you heam someone mutter: “Look at his knee hit his chin” youll know that a driver has taken his foot off the accelerator before he should have. The same deprecatory term sometimes goes like this: “That was no stone that hit him in the chin.. That was his knee!”

The Grandpappy of These Fast Buggies

(Also RING—A dirt

But times have changed and one of the ex-drivers who ‘chilled many an audience with’ nis heavy-footed driving is big, shaggy, Leon Duray. Leon rode the “bricks” from 1921 until his retirement in 1933 and never finished a 500-mile race. His

was the theory that “you got out in front and stayed out in front and if the car couldnt take it you got another one next year.” His heavy foot constantly kept 'him away from victory at the 500mile oval because mechanics were unable to build a car which would stand up under his high-pressure driving. He was always up. front during his active racing days and couldn’t nurse his car through the gruelling test. - : He lasted only 94 laps in a.brand new Frontenac in his first official appearance at Indianapolis in 1922. His driving attracted the attention of Cliff Durant, millionaire driver, who selected Duray to drive on his six-car team. He completed 340 miles that year, 1923. Always a pioneer in automobile racing Duray for several - years tinkered with an experimental, twocycle motor which furnished thrills

not reach the perfection which he always predicted for it. Now Duray contents himself with entering 4 car each year and planning its race. The car he has entered this year is but two races old and will come to the track with the “bugs” ironed out and prepared for a capable challenge to the many foreignmade entries. The car will be pi-

Kin Hubbard, the Hoosier philos- |

and speed to the crowds but could

J ‘How io Use

That $l Camera

Wilbur Shaw at 130 miles an hour. : . and how “panning” stopped him.

Don't leave your camera home tomorrow because you're positive that it can’t take a picture of a racing car traveling at 130 miles an hour. It can. If you own a camera capable of snapping its shutter at 1-50 (a fiftieth of a second) it will handle most of the shots at the Memorial Day classic—and do a good job of it, too. There are two recommended and time tested methods of snapping speeding race cars. One is to shoot at an angle, thus cutting the speed down, and the other is the system called “panning” or “swinging.” If you shoot at an angle it will necessitate your being fairly close to the track itself. A 45-degree angle is ideal. It will cut the racer’s speed down and present a good perspective. Panning or swinging is much the

loted by George Robson, a young

N but experienced driver,

Sustained-speed

best method of stopping your speeding subject and it is used even

driving is a new,

extreme condition made possible by today’s modern cars and our new super-highways and fine “open-country’”’ highways . .. ‘Roads of Tomorrow’ are here today

‘—~the 1941 event, but you can be sure of one thing: It will be a battle all the way.

They Can Fly, Too

KICKING IT—Stepping on the gas. LEAD FOOT—A fast driver. LOGGY—Motor acting lazy. LOSING IT—Letting a car get out of control.

The first gasoline buggy in the United States was operated by its

inventor, C. E. Duryea, in 1892. Mr. |"

Duryea went on to win the first

American contest in Chicago in No-|.

”

by the professional boys who will be out at the track “seeing” the race for the people back home.

To “pan” choose the car you wish to shoot and while he’s making another lap get ready to catch him in your viewfinder and swing the camera to keep him there. As he comes closer and closer, youre forced to pivot your camera to keep up with him, and the closer he is the faster you need to pivot. . When he is directly opposite you, snap the shutter and keep swinging. Remember that one point! Don't stop swinging after you snap the shutter. The panning action is identical with a golf swing: It has to be smooth and it’s top speed is at the moment of impact (snapping the shutter), and the {followthrough is very important. Use the top shutter speed of your camera - when panning the Rex Mays and Wilbur Shaws. If its only 1-50th of a second don’t worry. Panned correctly youll have it on your negative.

_. PAGE 3

Rich, Poor Alike

Speedway’s “open-air” restaurant, has fed many a driver and mechanic “on the cuff” in the lean pre-race days—and he’s never lost a nickle. Tom opened for business under two umbrellas when the track was

first opened. Many a driver and his aids have kept eating their three-a-day because of Tom's trust. And he vows that no one will ever go out on the track hungry while he’s still in business.

AIR FREE means thot flavor and taste are pro» tected. Try it! You'll like Cook's Air Free Beer.

* BEER AND ALE *

Universal Beverage Co., Ine, 725 Fulton St. Phone: LIncoln 2446 MADE

10°07% UNION

vowin INDIANAPOLIS

Tom Feeds Drivers,

Tom Beall, the proprietor of : 4

#.W.Cook Co. Evansville, Ind

{

the new Super-Lubricant with X “safety factors | for sustained high-speed driving

ON IT—When a driver is pressing hard on the throttle. OLD GABE—Reference to Gabriel riding with a driver who has had a narrow escape—“Riding with Old Gabe.”

Stop Shifting. Go Fluid Driving

the De Soto Simplimatic Way!

vember, 1895. In a test run of 52 miles from London to Brighton, England, a year later his two cars outdistanced all competitors, including the winner of the French race that year..

William Cantlon, the relief driver ‘petter known to his comrades as “Shorty,” is also an airplane pilot—{ ~ which puts him in the same class with Wilbur Shaw, who owns his own plane. :

SHELL X-100 MOTOR OIL Is SAFETY INSURANCE | FOR YOUR ENGIWE! |

WARNI NG: Until recently,

motor oil--even ‘the best’ —was not made for today’s extreme conditions. Under sustained high" speed, chemical changes may take place in such oil—*break down’

its protection. SHELL X-100-—-the new super-lubri-cant — was created to solve this problem. Extra safety factors—the new “X” factors — resist “BREAKDOWN?” and thus retard CORRO- (0 DRAIN AND REFILL NOW SION, SLUDGE, VARNISH, RING WITH SHELL X-100 MOTOR OIL.

‘STICKING. It was proved in the

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