Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1947 — Page 13
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| anly to lose it again to Mays, now ( substituting for Bergere in the
| 91st. Robson reclaimed it again on
i miles. Frank Wearne was flagged
PRA
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THURSDAY, MAY 2,
PERN ¥ X
or
When Thor Flashed Ac
Time 114.820 Miles Per Hour, Far : Short of Roberts’ Record in 1938
The 1048 500-mile race will
strenuous for the automobiles, most heart-breaking for the mechanics
and most exasperating for: the drivers.
Some folks had said the Speedway was being too hasty in reviving the international sweepstakes so soon after the end of world war II. . And there was evidence to support this contention when the late George
Clock Records |
Robson flashed across the finish line as the victor last Memorial day. Preliminaries to the race had been marked by a series of setbacks and disappointments. The automobiles,. for the most part, had spent the war in storage while their trainers were engaged in more
serious jobs. Replacements Difficult Old parts had worn or rusted out. Replacements were late, substitute fj Or faulty. Racing teams developed short tempers; enthusiasm lagged. And pesky, cold, wet weather did nothing for dispositions. But in spite of these handicaps, 33 cars were wheeled to the starting line last May 30 to await the green flag from starter Seth Klein. Maybe the five-year war-enforced lapse had spoiled the race in an automotive , but it had served only to arouse the interest of racing fans. A throng unofficially estimated at 175,000 (official figures are known only to Speedwhy) gathered for the 30th renewal of the world’s major automobile race. The race resolved itself into a “survival of the fittest” among the automobiles, Only nine cars still were on their circular feet at the finish; the ¢ 24 had been eliminated in accidents and by a variety of silments. Robson Consistent - When it became apparent that staying was more important than speeding, the pace dropped. Robson's winning average of 114.820 miles an hour was far short of the record 117.200 set by Floyd Roberts in 1938. WW | Robson could credit his victory to his own consistept driving andto the six-cylinder Sparks engine in
his Thorne Engineering Co. Special |
that was fully up to- the 200 laps that day. The race also was marked by an absence of favorites at the finish. Only Ted Hom, who drove the Boyle Maserati to third place, survived out of a list that included Rex Mays, Ralph Hepburn, Mauri Rose, CUff Bergere. Harry McQuinn, Russ Snowberger and Louie Tomei. The other eight cars that trailed Robson to the finish line were scattered 45 seconds to 64 laps behind him. Jimmy Jackson drove his own Jackson Special to second place after matching Robson in a duel that lasted for some 130 laps. Lead by Six Cars Six cars held the lead along the 200 laps. First it was Mauri Rose, who set the pace for eight round trips, Mays for three laps. Ralph , piloting the Novi Governor Special that” had set a new qualifying record in the dusk of the previous Sunday, showed the way through 42 laps. Robson recaptured the No. 1 spot,
¥ Noc-Out Hose’ Clamp Special. Robson was back in front on the 71st, but Jackson briefly set the pace from the 87th through the
the 92d to finish in front. Seven cars actually went the 500
down after completing 198 laps, and Bill Sheffler was waved off after 138. His strategy had been to “Sunday drive” most of the race with the h he could land in the first 10— and the strategy paid off. Three Accidents Three accidents marred the race and kept the field under the yellow light for 25 minutes on one occasion and nine minutes on another. In the 17th lap Paul Russo spun in the twin-engined Fageol Special on the northeast turn- and smacked the retaining wall. Then in the 40th lap Rose’s Blue Crown Spark Plug Special spun in almost the same spot and crashed into the wall. On the 167th lap a jammed throttle caused Billy DeVore’s car to spin and graze the wall in the southwest turn. Only nine cars still were running at the time, so Devore was awarded 10th money in the race.
150 Telephones Used ‘at Track
Enough wire to stretch 25 times around the two and one-half mile track ‘is what it takes to form the communications system at the Speedway on race day. This wire links several dozen circuits connecting track A officials, police and firemen, newspapers and press services. At various points over the area are attached more than 150 telephones. It's lke a small community's phone system with a switchboard and telephone ‘operators. Nor is the public forgotten on race day either. ‘There are 38 pay phones located at special booths throughout the grounds on which one may call home to see if-things are running smoothly with baby’s sitter. ' E. R. Warmoth, service engineer supervisor for Indiana Bell Telephone ©o., has charge of the installation. Tomorrow he will have
17 cars and trucks and 30 men on *. duty to handle service calls. The” °
Speedway hires more thah 130 persons to man most of the phones. In addition to the phones, the system includes eight teletype machines and a loud speaker system.
ma + S————————— et se ——
Cars Running
} 4
\ 1947 _
ace, ne Special ross Finish
be remembered as the one most
Racing Time 100 Men ‘Required
To Keep Score '
A clock whieh ticks off every hundredth of a second will time the roaring racers which spin around the Speedway oval tomorrow. The clock is the last word in accuracy since its works are synchronized by a $1500 chronometer {which would not be ashamed to be seen on the bridge of the best steamship. The clock 1s linked with an elec- | tric eye across the finish line of the | track. As a car passes through the beam the circuit is broken and an. {impulse is carried to the clock { mechanism, In an'instant the clock records the time to the nearest ‘hundredth of a second on a wide piece of tape. Writes Car Number { One of the timekeepers then writes the number of the car which just | passed through the beam on the {tape beside the time recorded. It would be & one-mah job if only | lone. car ran the race. But if a full | Held of 33 cars is on the track at| | the start of the event it takes more, than 100 men in the pagoda to keep | track of the racers’ times. | One man is assigned to each car in the race and he sits in the pa-. |goda with the car's number pinned to his back: Each man has 200 cards, one for each lap, and as his car goes by he looks mt a synchronized clock in front of him and re-| cords the time on the back of the | card. This is then checked against! the master tape. # \ | bol Man Changes Seals {| The electric eye across the finish !line can also be ¢ripped by hand in ‘the pagoda. This is done to disitinguish between the times of two {cars coming down the home stretch | neck and neck. i
| Chester 8S. Ricker, director ofl
the men in the pagoda change seats! with each other as their cars change’ positions, Thus timers can look down on these men with numbers| on their backs and pick out instantly the order in which the cars are running on the track. Every 10 laps, a messenger takes down the first 10 car numbers and] checks with Chief Timer William S.| Powell for the official time. Ken] Hurlbut, director of the computing machines, then translates the time| figures into miles per hour. - Only 45 seconds elapse before the scoreboards around the track receive the] official standings. Check Stops in Pits Time elapsed while a car is in! the pits is recorded by the technical | committee and sent to the timers in the pagoda. At the end of the race a full time | and position report is made which | shows each car's time every 10 laps, pit stops, and the time for the leader of each lap. A copy of the report is sent to Washington, D. C., where it is filed in the archives of the American Autgmobile association. Other officials in the timing and scoring department are Cliff Rigsbee, assistant director; O. M. Scott, chief tabulator, and Capt. Dan Babcock.
DePalma Favorite In Early ‘500' Days
Probably the greatest favorite of the fans in early days at the Speedway was Ralph DePalma. And although he won the race in 1915, hard luck dogged him during most of his career. His worst blow from Dame fortune came in 1912 when after leading for most of the race his car “konked” out on the backstretch while he was in his 190th lap. He
{timing and scoring, explains that |
THEY'RE OFF!—The start of the race is the big mpment at the Indianapolis
. THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
Robson, V
Motor Speedway. This is how the first cars looked.as they roared into competition
the track.
Technical Group
Supervises Pits
1 AAA Man Assigned To Each Car
Probably the busiest group at the :
race tomorrow will be that section of the American Automobile assoeiation technical committee charged with supervising the pits. It is up to this group to see that cars and drivers are in shape for the big chase and that everything is run according to A. A. A. “Hoyle.” To do this one A. A. A. man is assigned to each car and after the race begins he takes a position in that car's pit. Each stop of that car at its pit is supervised by the technical committeeman. He in turn fills out a pit-stop form which shows how long the car was in the pit, the lap the car has completed, what was done to the car, and if it is.taken out of the race, why. Backing up the technical men in
{ the pit are five supervisors who also,
lend a hand when a driver pulls his car in for a stop. The pit technicians notify the scorers when a car stops at the pit and also when the car moves owt again. ~ . In addition to the pit technician and the five supervisors the A A. A. staffs a separate téchnical pit with eight men. Across. the track in the stands is a pit-stop record depart-
pushed it into the pits.
ment with 10 men.
. HE ni RE RR ha ut, OE FIRST LAP WINNER — The initial lap of tomorrow's classic wi won By this stock 4-door Nash sedan selected as the 1947 pacemaker. Shown at the wheel is Wilbur Shaw, three-time winner and now president and general manager of the Speedway. Tomorrow he will be a passenger as George W. Mason, president e pace lap: It is the first closed car ever to be
in 1946, the first race after the war.
RD i Bibiac. UN
"WHAM! — Hurling its axle 20 feet into the air, Mauri ‘Rose's car crashes. in the hortheast Yorn on the 40th lap in the 1946 race. Mauri himself miraculously escaped serious injury. The arrow shows the axle sailing above
Robson, ‘Winner -in 1946, [12 of 2 Race
Killed at Atlanta Labor Day
Barringer, Another
I
Speedway Veteran,
Fatally Injured in Same Pileup
Tragedy rode the Lakewood Park race course under a swirling gloud |
1946 500-mile race, and George Barringer, another Speedway veteran, | were injured fatally in a multiple clash. It was a violation of auto racing's unwritten law that cost Robson
his life and added his name to the
| List of 500-mile winners who' have { been killed in this daring sport.
The 100-mile race was in its 98th lap, and the holiday throng of 38,- { 500, seeing the south’s first championship racing event, was waiting to greet the winner that would come out of the dust.
In the obscurity of a far turn there was that tell-tale grinding of metal. - There were more impacts, more horrifying smashing of metal. Robson had swerved his car to avoid striking Billy DeVore's racer, which had been riding low on the track at slow speed with mechanical difficulties. As Robson swung out, his car was struck by Barringer’s, which in turn caromed into DeVore's automobile. The closely bunched field, running blind in the dust, could not avoid the initial pileup. Altogether six of the nine cars still in the race were crippled in the smashup, among them the automobile of Ted Horn, who was leading the race at the time.
ats’
I. be_led “and
of red clay dust last Labor Day at Atlanta, Ga.’ “In that blinding, almost-choking fog, George Robson, winner of the |
Just after his car was struck by Barringer’s, witnesses said, Robson
!disregarded racing’s unwritten law
to stay in the cockpit, jumped from the car and ‘attempted to grope his way to the rail. He was struck down by another car, and several more reportedly. passed over his body. Both Robson and Barringer were rushed to’ an Atlanta hospital, but they died a few minutes after arriving. Bud Bardowski, also involved in the wreck; received minor injuries, while Billy DeVore suffered a broken collarbone and broken shoulfer. The race was halted, and Horn, the leader, eventually was declared the winner. Second place was awarded to George Connor and third to Steve Truchan. It seemed that Lady Luck, who had just recognized Robson for the first time here at the Speedway, had turned her back on him. ? Robson, a quiet native of England with a flair for mechanics, believed his fortune had turned when ‘he
brought his six-cylinder T, E. C. Special to the finish line first last Memorial day. It was his first big break. Robson saw an end to 15 years of heartbreak and defeat. It meant money for him and his family of four; it promised a free trip to Europe at the end of the racing season, and "it boosted him into the lead for the national A. A. A, driving championship. More fame and fortune would be his.if he could. amass more points and win the 1046 driving title. He mapped a full racing program for himself and already had won two minor races before death cut his campaign short at Atlanta. = , . . Death was just the last in a series of tough breaks for the 42-year-old Barringer, who was one of the Speedway’s veterans but never a winner. The closest he had come to victory was in 1939 when he finished sixth.
-
First Reservation For 1948 Made 3 Months Ago
three months ago.
sett at the ‘1948 event. viii
the No, 1 spot,
TIA The first ticket reservation for next year's race was made nearly
A fan wrote in for seats in a particular section for thé 1947 race and when he was notified by the Speedway office that they were already sold he rushed off a request for the
reservation is being held in
Special to victory in the | into the pits and comes to a
|
THE WINNER! — George Robson of Los Angeles pilota his Thorne Engineering oR
946 race. An eager throng surrounds him as he w full stop. Standing to the right of the winner is his wi
>»
A .
THIRD BALCONY — Fans had a num on how to see the race last year. There'll be some ones this year, too! These lads brought their'own bx
- Year Driver ‘Engine & CyL ners ve 1911 Ray Harroun Marmon-6 74.590 re 1912 Joe Dawson National-4 78.700 Agi Soon 1913 Jules Goux Jeugeot-4 76920 a ro ame ‘ There have been 30 500-mile races 1914 Rene Tomas. Delage-4 . since 1911, 1915 Ralph DePalma Mercedes-4 | Twenty-six men have won or i sot. | shared victory. Among these are 1915, Dario Resta ; Peugeot 4 two three-time winners and -one/1919 Howard Wilcox Peugeot-4 ie Mehr a 1920 Gaston Chevrolet” Monroe-4 . welve e winners are : dong eerie of them the ots of/1921 Thomas Milton Frontenac-8 thé sport that brought them fame.[1922 James A. Murphy Miller-8 And of the total, only 1941 co-win- . ners, Mauri Rose and Floyd Davis, [1923 Thomas Milton *H. C. S.-8
aré still actively engaged in the racing sport. ,
guard fence to avoid striking Bob Swanson’s spinning machine. Chet Miller's. car was also involved in the three-car pileup, but only Rob-, erts died. ¥ ' Joe Dawson, winner of the race, and Louis victor in 1031,
1924
t 1912
‘Winners Since 1911
L. L. Corum-Joe Boyer Deusenberg-8
Wilbur Shaw and Lou Meyer were|1929 Peter DePaolo Deusenberg-8 30 se Wo tieeme Both 1926 Frank Lockhart « Miller-8 95.880 er e road, 8 although Shaw has stayed at the 1927 George Souders Deusenberg-8 97.540 Speedway as its president. 1928 Louis Meyer Miller-8 To 09480 Sevres oS the 1946 Winges 1929 Ray Keech Miller, 8 97 580 ws was e lates e In a ng 211. NG, car, He wes injured fatally last 1930 Billy Arnold Miller-8 100.440 Labor day during a 100-mile cham-|1931 Louis Schneider Miller-§ pionship race at Atlanta, Ga. 1932 Fred Frame Miller-8 Resta First to Die 1933 Louis Meyer Miller-8 Dario Resta, winner in 1916, was ill Cummi Mill the first winner to die. He was 1934 W m Cummings er-4 Killed on Sept, 2, 1924, on the Brook-{1935 Kelly Petillo Offenhauser-4 lands track in England while tesi-11936 Louis Meyer Offenhauser-4 ing a racer. Howdy Wilcox, vho won in 1918, 1937 Wilbur Shaw Offenhauser-4 8( was killed on Sept. 4, 1023, in a race| 1938 Floyd Roberts Miller-Offenhauser-4 117.200 at Altoona, Pa., when his car threw (1939 Wilbur Shaw Maserati-8 : 115.028 a rear wheel.’ s RRA w MaseratiGaston Chevrolet, the winner In 1940 Wilbur Sha Floyd Da x ti-8 2 114.277 1920, died six months after his vic-|1941 Mauri Rose-Floy vis Offenhauser-4 115.117 : tory in a crash on a Beverly Hills|1946 George Robson Sparks-6 114.820 board track. 0 { - tpg Ls ep Next to die was “perfect driver”) : WwW , Ua Jimmy Murphy, the 1922 winner, New Hospital ' here They Are who met his death on a Syracuse, : ’ Here is the chart that tells N. Y, dirt track Sept. 15, 1924, | ” wx story of past winners: x Joe Boyer, co-winner with wn Bilt This Year Yr. Winner EL; Soruny i 1924, Sed sit Sontiis ; "11 Harroun * later on e same a track | "12 Dawson 1 , 2. modern, permanently con-|. Where Howdy lost his life the your | tructed hospital staffed by 200 "3 Goux “Killed at Daytona | doctors, interns and nurses is ready| 14 Thomas Prank Lockhart, daredéviy winner (10 Administer to the slightest ail-|’'¢ DEEAmA 5 : a ious jnjury to- "16 Resta in '26, died on the sands of Daytona ME OF the most Ser "1 No ree Beach ip In Tlie tiene %|” Constructed this year, the hospital {'l8 Ne race oi "is equipped for any type of emer-|’l9 Wilcox Ray Keech, a former truck driver, gency operation and even an|%?0 Chevrolet won the Memorial ‘day classic in| ciotriotion will be on hand in case|’21 Milten 1929 and was killed two weeks later |. one flies in unscheduled. ‘Dif E.| 22 ‘ 5 Alwoona, : Rogers Smith. will be chief of the|'23 Populgr Wild Bill Cummings, the|gpeedway medical staff, a position) ‘sé 1934 winner, died in 1939 when his|he has held for many years, The (25 private car struck a culvert and |staff will include 75 nurses and 78) 26 somersaulted into a creek just out~| interns. : 28 side of Indianapolis. First Ald In Stands 28 Floyd Roberts, winner in 1938, was| This year, for. the first the first winner to die in a 500-mile | terns will be on duty race. It happened in 1939. stand ready to Floyd had shot to the outside of | assistance to the the track and pldwed through the bulances will be available with
causes,
: poe, Janele. ul hens hella, will be of Nash-Kelvinator Corp., drives th of the © | used as a pacemaker, scar 3b 8% ii SL