Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 29 May 1951 — Page 27

Speeds of ‘500’ Readers

Coverage All Action

avel fast. So does ackside report of

The Times speeds 8 readers: orter is stationed tion stand at the of the four turns. with a phone. The »d to a Times cirthe paddock roof

on the turns is Times’ command paddock. The pade connected to The yard. , Everywhere ers are everywhere l'hey are stationed 1e pits, the pagoda al. All their news the paddock roof » to The Times city the city room a ewrite men turn it the printers. a tire touches the 8s. And Times rers and rewritemen top of it. Thus is vift, accurate, colof the race. 1essengers rush the negatives to The wn office for procfive minutes later e in a race edition. The Times covers ace. It takes speed

raged 114

way President Wilhis third race in ) drive the last 125 ie caution flag beHis average was

AIH

oc 1098

vikda

fi 8

. Into being in 1910.

+ get as much chance to run on the!

TUESDAY. MAY 29, 1951

You've seen the wide-eyed hoy

Is Brand New, |at the circus with a bag of peanuts in one hand and a cup of {pink lemonade in the other. (, S ’ Well . . . that's Tony Hulman,

jowner of the Indianapolis Spe~d|way, when it comes race time.

Words can’t adequately describe Some $750,000 |Tony Hulman. You have to know him, be around him to grasp the By FRANK ANDERSON personality of the man who spent When “something has been S0me $750,000 to buy the speedstanding for 40 years # deserves WAY because he thought it was a seat. That's why Speedway 2 good thing for Indiana. give its new Grandstand 13,000 places to sit down. The old Grandstand “A” came But age and a steady increase in patronage finally caught up with it. So Speedway tore it down in September of 1950 and started work on ft: steel-spined successor. Labor crises came and went. man jr. Rains beat down. The sun But because he's the kind of a smiled. "And through it all work guy he is . . . he wouldn't like went on. By cold weather work-|that. He wants to be known as men had laid all the concrete and Tony. It's more friendly. the columns, put in 25 feet of box! And Tony likes friends seats, Stes! work was started he makes one every time he is the last week of February. introduced to a new acquaintance. Cagle Gives a Sigh p job was done We sday, | Moos a Tis Sconestas Get an introduction to Tony ent Clarence Cagle sighed and re-|2nd you'll feel like you're doing lJaxed his lanky frame. As first| im a favor. He makes you feel cousin to perpetual motion, Cagle that way because his eyes beam, had had a long tough winter. ‘he grasps your hand with a A reporter with strong legs, crushing squeeze and he tells you good wind and lots of patience What a pleasure it is to know can talk to Cagle. He's an affable YOU. Cynical as you want to try guy in spite of a job that would to be, you'll wind up believing tax the patience of Job. He'll that gosh-darn-it he feels that tell you that: way. Grandstand “A” is 525 One of the things that endears 100 feet x 70 feet. So It's all steel with the exception of the wood used in the reserved seats in back of the stands, the » patio and the wa'kways upstairs in the penthouse. Grandstand “A” has 18 restrooms, all modern. It has eight concession stands and. one commissary. The old building had four concession stands and one commissary. 2000 More Seats

The new grandstand has 2000 more seats than the old structure. It cost in the neighborhood of 750,000. Nice neighborhood. Everything about the new stands has been changed, even the prices. Reserved seats that sold for $7.50 lasi year went for $9.25 this year. Cagle cites increased maintenance costs, labor demands and price hikes in ma-| terial. It figures. The Grandstand “A” construection took eight months, but Cagle’'s work goes on forever. The “500” races just once a year. Cagle races every day for 12! months. The calendar knows no, stop watch. Thursday Cagle will have been at work on the golf course for hours, Cleanup crews invade the links to clear the rubbish and the debris left by thousands of race fans. Crews will fold seats. store them away, return them to lenders . . . Work Starts Over

Then Cagle will plan and plan | and plan. New flowerbeds must | be set out, paint must be a] work crews must be cut, grass must be mowed, fences must be! mended. And so it goes. When he isn't planning and superintending Cagle is guiding visitors. Each day from January, to January the phone rings. Con-| ventions request guided tours. Magazine writers seek feature material. And Cagle is their boy. He rarely says no. A track superintendent must have a keen sense of public relations. Cagle has. , You could say that Cagle has f one-track mind. And that track {is the Speedway.

German Race Team May Enter

Structure Cost

Tony to the Boys

Because he’s a multimillionaire (and he doesn't like for vou to fay it) and because he heads a successful business known as Hulman & Co., wholesale grocers and makers of Clabber Girl Baking Powder ... maybe vou should refer to him as Mr. Anton Hul-

Gets Into Jams

feet x

WE |

Barring a war in Europe “500” fans can expect to see a team of!

three Mercedes-Benz cars from! Germany entered in the event next year. |

Authority for that prediction is Gunther Molter from Stuttgart, Germany, here today covering this year's race for a number of German racing magazines. “The Mercedes factory will he working full time for the next 12| months getting their three cars| ready for the Indianapolis event next year,” Mr. Molter said. He said a factory Mercedes) team will prove to have better luck at the “500” than Mercedes cars entered in years past. In his opinion the best chances for the German team would be for them to get here early and!

track as possible, He said the Mercedes team might consist of two German drivers, and if possible an American driver, experienced on the| track. The 31-year-old German re-| porter pointed out that the Me-| morial Day race here was a great deal different than the road| races in Europe, usually run| on tracks like highways with] both left and right hand turns. | The Mercedes cars which will come here will have ample power | plants to compete with the] American cars, he indicated. | The German cars will be pow- | ered with V-12 cylinder engines with European horsepower rat-| ings of 480. By American standards this would be about 520 h.p., he said. In the press room in the garage area the German writer picked the pole winner this year as Duke Nalon, the day before | the race and selected the first row in their exact order. “Part of my guessing was pure luck, but like most European race fans I followed the reports on the | cars and records of the drivers all year long,” he said. : : “When I got here I Iqoked me ne

the engines, talked to\ the mechanics and made my |

{Tony to

- Grandstand A No One Has Any More Fun

Tony Hulman the race fraternity is the way he gets into “jams” at his own race track. A couple of years ago he was stopped at the speedway gate on race morning by a guard because for some reason he didn't have hi€® credentials. Tony didn’t try to “throw his weight around.” He sorta cooled his heels, trying to explain the situation calmly to the guard. Up came Bill to evervone

Holland. known around the race tracks because of his achievemens in the Aon.” Rill didn't have his credentials, either.

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Than Its Grand Owner Tony Hulman

) )

Instead of attempting io nrush the guard. Tony explained in detail who he was—and who

Bill Holland was - and after sevsral telephone calls to the main

past

fice, Tony's identity was stablished. He thanked the mard and he and Bill Holland ent in.

Last to Get Car

Another day. Tony didn’t have he proper badge to admit him to his own floor on the Pagoda, where he was entertaining celebritiers who came to the races, When a guard stopped him, he iidn't ask for special privileges. He sent word to a speedway official who had the proper credential sent to him <0 he could get to his own private floor on the Pagoda of his own speedway. This vear when ‘he official cars were assigned to speedway andAAA personnel by Chrysler

Motors--who furnished the pace car--Tony was the last one to get his . . . had to wait a week

or so after everyone else had

been taken care of. For some unknown teason. he thought it was a sort of a funny turn of events, Ask Tony how he likes owning the Indianapolis Speedway and what his future plans are and he'll tell you something like this: “Well . . . we just go on trying to make things better every year so people can have fun.”

And he means it, too . . . for no one has any more wholesome fur. at 500-Mile-Race than Tony Hulman.

Wire Is Used To Cover ‘500°

Communications pose a great problem at the fast moving 500Mile Race and to insure the swift transmission of information, warnings, reports and handle the calls of spectators more than 37 miles of phone wire is installed on the track. use of poles and mote than 60,000. feet

of drop locations,

This requires the

wire to separate phone

The phone company starts each « «

April to. set up for the big event and this year have pay stations, in various numbers, at 45 locations under the stands and in the infield. Communications for the race are handled through a special R0-

line switchboard located in the first floor of the Pagoda, Long and Short Car owner J. C. Agajunian

boasts the long-and-short driving

team for the 1951 500-miler. Walt Faulkner, l.ong Beach, Cal, stands only 5-4 and drives the Agajanian Grant Piston Ring Special No. 2. Troy Ruttman of Lynwood, Cal. is 6-2 and pilots the Agajanian Featherweight Special No. 98, Faulkner's record breaking qualifying’ mouprt last veal,

construction.

Panoramic Visibility.

easier cantrol.

207

Here’s why

At The '500'3] Miles of Phone Wilbur Shaw, 500's Boss Man Has

PAGK 11e

Never

Forgotten That He Once Was aRace Driver

That little bundle of nervous energy known "as Wihbur Shaw won't he at the wheel of a car in the 500-Mile Race ... but he'll drive every lap. Although he's now president ot the Speedway and the guy who makes it “click,” Wilbur never forgets that he once was one of the drivers.

The day before the race he talks to the drivers like a “daddy.” Something like this: “Now for gosh sakes, fellow

. don’t try to win the race in the first lap. Take it from a guy whose heen in there, when you come down for the start and rush into thats first curve you'll think you're in the middle of a tornado and there isn’t anything vou can do about it. Don't drive ‘over your head’ the important thing is where vou are at the end of 500 miles, Take care of yourselves.” Worries About Boys? He knows any advice he gives the boys won't change their driving plan. But, veteran that he is, Wilbur can’t help but tell them . he worries about every one

of them. Because . , Wilbur Shaw has won the race . . . has tasted disappointment as well as victory in the “500.” He's zoomed over the concrete wall with his car out of control to

crash-land in the grass . . . still come back car in the same race. champion, too. He still gets the urge to drive. He wouldn't intends to drive another H00-Mile Race. If he weren't the Speed way's top man with all the

and

He's been

| oF eda £1

to drive another

admit that he never

Speedway giving the ‘glad " to old friends and new, Wi is “one of the boys.” . And when it comes to gi mad-as-blazes when it’s justified,

he can do that too, But he cools

ff just as quickly. Nat Just like he did when he was + driver. Sold An Idea *

And when it comes to sitting down with the newspapermen who annually report .the race—and the preparations weeks before— vou'd think the little guy was one of the writers, too. He won't “cross them up”... sometimes he's top frank for his own good. And. when he talks “off the record,” you wouldn't take advantage of the little guy. Because at heart he isn't a big speedway executive ... he's a race driver who heads a speedway be- . cause he sold Tony Hulman on Wilbur Shaw the idea of buying the track te

responsibilities of producing the keep it from being cut up inte

world's greatest auto race, it real estate lots, would be a safe wager that Wil- meron bur * Shaw would be in racing togs. He still cuts a fast one A New Idea

with a sports car, pace car or in The No. 3 Wynn Friction Any ehjels that opuen iakes VIP Proofing Special being driven by Aig he prior + race day. Johnnie Parsons of Van Nuys, And he wouldn't miss riding the Cal, in the 1851 Indianapolis pace car at the start of the race classic features a new reat air for anything. vent at the tip of the tail that acts as an escape hatch for aie pressure in the driver's comparte ment. This is expected to ‘add several miles per hour for the ear meer SAY pine in the 500-Mile Race, which Pare

When it comes to racing up and sons won in another Wynn spone down Gasoline Alley at the sored car last year. “

Tough Executive

When it comes to sitting down at a conference table to work out business details, Wilbur is as “tough” an executive as you'll

sven rr

J CG TS

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