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Studebaker at the Brickyard: A Forgotten Chapter of Indy 500 History · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

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Brake Fix's History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part
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by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
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Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
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Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
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Studebaker at Indianapolis.
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While Studebaker is rarely the first name one thinks of when discussing
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motorsports, the company had a strong yet brief presence at the
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Indianapolis 500 in the early 1930s.
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Studebaker laid the groundwork with the introduction of the President's
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inline 8 cylinder engine in early 1928.
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The advent of the Indianapolis 500's 1930 rule changes opened the
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door for production based entries, and the president's rugged eight
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powered a pair of private entries.
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These Studebaker engine specials showed promise and led to the development
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of Studebaker's corporate team.
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This presentation will detail the origins and evolution of Studebaker powered
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race cars beginning in 1930, with a special emphasis on the company's factory
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backed campaigns in 1932 and 1933.
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Additional focus will be placed on the technical development of Studebaker
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race cars, as well as the post Studebaker disposition of the team
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cars and their present day status.
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Sources include Studebaker's corporate archives and image collection at
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the Studebaker National Museum, plus period publications and race accounts.
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Additional data is drawn from secondary sources profiling the Studebaker
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team, plus owner research compiled during their stewardship of the cars.
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Andrew Beckman has been with the Studebaker National Museum since 1999
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and currently serves as archivist.
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He previously worked at the Sheboygan County Historical Society in Sheboygan,
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Wisconsin and the Wade House State Historic Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin.
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Mr.
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Beckman hails from Manitowoc, Wisconsin and holds a BA in History from the
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University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
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In 2004, he completed the Modern Archives Institute at the National Archives and
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Records Administration in Washington, D.
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C.
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In 2009, he earned his mid level certificate in Collections and
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Preservation from the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation
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Studies in Mount Carolina, Illinois.
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Andrew Beckman is the author of the Studebaker National Museum, Over a
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Century on Wheels, and Studebaker's Last Dance, the Avanti, and is a
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columnist for the Studebaker Drivers Club Magazine, Turning Wheels.
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In addition to his duties at the Studebaker National Museum, Mr.
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Beckman is a member of and past president of the Society of Automotive
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Historians, and he serves as a commentator for the Henry Ford Museum's
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Motor, Muster, and Old Car Fest.
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So we will begin our final afternoon session with Andrew, who's going
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to be discussing Studebaker at the Speedway, so please welcome.
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Andrew Beckman.
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Thank you for having me today.
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It's my first time out here at the conference in general and also my
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first time to this part of New York.
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It's absolutely beautiful to answer Kip's question.
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He asked me beforehand.
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Yes, Studebaker did race at the Indianapolis 500.
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So you're gonna have to stay for the whole thing now.
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I'm sorry.
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We're merely conducting an exacting test of our cars stated a Studebaker
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executive on a fine spring day in 1933.
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The executive was Studebaker's chief engineer, Barney Roos.
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He was standing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in front of the
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team of Studebaker race cars.
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His full quote was, as was our policy last year, Studebaker is not
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trying to win the Indianapolis race.
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We are merely conducting an exacting test of our cars.
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He went on to say he had a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn and he
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also had some land in Florida you might be interested as well.
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For if anyone believes that anyone entering a race is not
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trying to win, well, certainly wouldn't lend them any money.
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Now, Studebaker is, I realize, not the first name that comes to mind
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when you speak of motorsports.
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In fact, it's not even the first name that comes to mind if you speak of
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motorsports from South Bend, Indiana.
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Thank you, Ryan Newman, for that.
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But Studebaker, for its 114 years of vehicle manufacturing, had
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a very limited but very intense period of motorsports competition.
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Now this is somewhat of a surprise.
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You would think maybe the Studebaker brothers, the company's founders,
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had something against motorsports.
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No, this was not the case.
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In fact, Henry and Clemens Studebaker were avid horsemen.
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J.
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M., all the brothers, loved a fast race or so the day.
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In fact, in 1881, J.
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M.
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had just acquired a new mount, and he felt that his horse was
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faster than his brother Clem's.
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His brothers are wont to do.
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They took exception to this thesis, and they decided the only logical thing to
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do was to settle this on Lafayette Street in front of the Studebaker administration
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building in South Bend, Indiana.
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Unfortunately, they passed by a local town marshal who immediately cited
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them for speeding and forced them to appear before the chief magistrate,
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who was also the mayor of South Bend.
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Despite a full throated defense of their actions, they were fined
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2 in course costs and furthermore agreed never to do it again.
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Again, if you believe that, well, I wouldn't put too much stock in that.
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As Studebaker transitioned to the automobile age, the early
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Studebaker automobile history is not one of just building automobiles
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out of the Studebaker factory.
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They were essentially marketing cars produced by other upstart companies.
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After all, Studebaker had the name recognition.
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They'd been around since the 1850s.
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They were the worldwide leader of horse drawn equipment.
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The new EMF models for Everett Metzger Flanders.
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That was the larger of the two models in the Flanders 20, given for its horsepower.
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Those as well as some Garford models and even one of their electrics competed
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regularly in local contests throughout the early part of the 20th century.
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The EMF in Flanders down all competing cars in the first sanctioned race meet of
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the season on Montgomery, Alabama's track.
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And of course pointing you to where you could go out and buy one of these new race
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proven Flanders 20 and EMF 30 automobiles.
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Yet despite this early flurry of activity, Studebaker really stepped back from
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encouraging their cars in competition.
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Studebaker was really more playing off their name, again, their reputation.
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You could go to your Studebaker dealer, you were going to get a solidly built
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car, you would pay a little more for it, they certainly weren't competing
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with Henry Ford in the low price field, but you could count on getting a solid,
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middle priced car from Studebaker.
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And indeed, their reputation spoke for itself.
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We have a 1919 Big Six in the collection that logged 475, 000 miles.
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Not as a company test vehicle, but as a privately owned automobile.
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And Studebaker felt this was noteworthy, hence they bought it back
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for inclusion in their collection.
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The first appearance of Studebaker at the Speedway was in 1924.
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This deserves a bit of an asterisk here.
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The Studebaker Special No.
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8, driven by Earl Cooper, actually placed second that year.
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And I will point out the Studebaker components on this car right now.
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That would be the decal on the side here, and also the radiator badge.
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This is a Miller engine, Miller chassis body.
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If you're familiar at all with, uh, Indianapolis race cars, the rules formula
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for that time, these were all very specialized, high performance vehicles.
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And let's face it, Studebaker's 40 horsepower, light six engine was probably
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not going to cut it on the field that day.
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And Studebaker at this period too was in a bit of a crossroads.
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They had, at one time, the top engineering team in the industry with
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Owen Skelton, Carl Breer, and Fred Zeder.
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They worked for Studebaker in the late teens.
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They developed Studebaker's popular Big Six model.
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But they had a falling out with company executive Albert Erskine.
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He was actually the president at the time.
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And they packed their bags and headed off to Chrysler.
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And did very well for Mr.
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Chrysler and his new corporation, which debuted in 1924.
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Studebaker also had a problem in the early 20s of, really, one of marketing.
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There was a survey done of the industry at some point and it figured out
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Studebaker had one of the narrowest price margins in the industry.
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That is, from their least expensive automobile to their
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most expensive automobile.
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Erskine realized this, but he also realized Studebaker needed more capacity.
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They needed larger factories.
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So starting in the late teens up to the mid twenties, he was trying to
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overhaul Studebaker's plant complex.
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And when that was in place, he thought about reinvigorating the model lineup.
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I had mentioned the Light 6 previously and the Big 6.
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Their middle priced model was called the Special 6.
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Let's face it, from a marketing standpoint, these are not
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very stimulating names.
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Their marketing partner got it in gear in 1927.
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The Big 6 became the commander and certain models became the president.
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The Special 6 became the dictator.
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It seemed like a good idea at the time.
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That's a talk for another time.
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The Commander, however, and particularly the Commander Roadster
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with the three musketeers designed Big Six engine, it was noted for
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being an incredibly reliable engine.
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In terms of its engineering style, robust would be your words.
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Someone had said that Studebaker's engineering philosophy was there's no
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substitute for cast iron, and if you can't cast a glance at one of these engines,
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you'd be hard pressed to dispel that.
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Developed a massive amount of torque.
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It could churn along all day, Studebaker.
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Actually gave it full pressure lubrication in 1924.
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And with that, they saw, well, we have this very rugged automobile.
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Let's go out and do some testing with it.
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We'll do some racing.
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Again, these were more private events, not necessarily sanctioned by
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Studebaker, but certainly not exactly discouraged by the company heads either.
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This is at the Amatol Speedway in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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And we see a couple of commanders right there.
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And of course, I wouldn't be showing you this picture if they did not win the race.
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And again, the cars held together very well.
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You got a very rugged, a very solid automobile with the Commander Big Six.
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They sent three more commanders back to Atlantic City in 1928.
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And the orders were to complete 25, 000 miles as quickly as possible.
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The commander you see right there in front, the roadster, completed
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that task in 23, 000 minutes.
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Now, 23, 000 minutes is a bit of a tricky concept to wrap your head around.
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Anyone good at math in here?
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How long is 23, 000 minutes?
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Put it in days.
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Anyone?
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Anyone?
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I see Luke furrowing his brow.
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I gotta tell you, the grade schoolers I give tours to figure this out a
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whole lot faster than you guys do here, but, uh, it comes out to 16 days.
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So for 16 days, day and night, these commanders lapped, Rain or
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shine, through mid and darkness, and it was not running time.
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The clock started when they started the first mile, and it stopped
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when they completed the 25, 000s.
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It was a new record, and in fact, Studebaker proudly proclaimed, Nothing
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on Earth has gone so far, so fast.
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Now as part of Albert Erskine's grand plans for the company, marketing the
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product as one end, he had to do something about expanding Studebaker's price reach.
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So with that, he acquired the Pierce Arrow Corporation in the late 1920s,
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I believe it was early 1928, to give Studebaker a luxury brand.
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He wanted to introduce a low priced model called the Erskine.
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Modestly named, one might say, but the Erskine VI, it had an incredibly
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handsome car designed by Ray Dietrich.
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Unfortunately, it had that fatal flaw in the automobile industry of being
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both overpriced and underpowered.
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And the Erskine was not a success in the market, especially when this new
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product from Chrysler and Plymouth and Ford's Model A came on the scene later.
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The Erskine really never had a chance, and unfortunately, it disappeared from
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the landscape just a few years later.
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On the other end of the line, however, was Studer's President 8.
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The President, as I mentioned, initially started as a upscale model of the
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Big 6 when they renamed that line.
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But for 1928, the all new model F A President came out, and with
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it came a fresh engine design.
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313 cubic inch inline eight cylinder engine, fresh off the drawing boards
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from new chief engineer Delmer G.
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Barney Roos.
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Mr.
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Roos had previously done stints Marmon.
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He had a good engineering mind, and he was The chief engineer that Studebaker
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was looking for at the right time.
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The President 8 was really a hot performer for the day, and kind of
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very out of character for Studebaker's steady yet solid reputation.
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And they immediately realized they had a pretty hot car on their hands.
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Back they went to the Amatol Speedway with a quartet of presidents.
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This time the goal was 30, 000 miles, in which the roads through up front
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there completed in 26, 000 minutes.
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So that's about 19 days.
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Again, Studebaker was doing things that no other automaker was equal to able.
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I believe Hudson went out and did a similar test, but they counted
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driving time instead of actually continuous running clock last time.
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And you got to think Studebaker was really on to something here.
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Erskine, in his mind, I think he was looking at going kind of the General
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Motors route, a car for every person purpose, really expanding into the luxury
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market, and expanded Studebaker's reach and awareness, trying to really rebrand
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Studebaker from that old horse drawn air manufacturer to someone who's really
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bringing you some exciting automobiles.
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Now the Studebaker President 8 might have sounded like an ideal power plant for
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the Indianapolis 500, and fortunately the rules at the time were such that
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that engine simply did not qualify.
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They had a maximum displacement of 91 cubic inches.
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And again, we hear the names Miller and Duesenberg bandied about a lot
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during talk of the 500 at that time.
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Thankfully, there were no restrictions on displacement for the pace cars, and
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Studebaker was selected to serve as the pace car for the 1929 race, and also
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supplied a trio of official cars as well.
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And here we see the Pace car, you know, festooned as one would
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be, so there's no mistaking, this is most definitely the Pace car.
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Anyone identify this?
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I know an Indianapolis figure, a name that will sound familiar,
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and you'll probably go, Oh, yeah.
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Anyone?
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Well, that would be Harry Hartz.
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And sitting behind the wheel is, if you get this one, I'll give you 5 right now.
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Miss Anita Page, a star of the screen, an actress, and she was actually appeared
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in an Academy Award winning movie, The Broadway Melody, available on Netflix,
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check it out tonight back at the hotel.
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Now, back when I was in high school, some guy tooled around town in his Chevy Monte
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Carlo pace car replica, and apparently, I'm not sure if it came with the jacket
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and the hat and, you know, everything else, or if he stopped at the pro shop
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on his way out, but, I mean, there was no mistake in that car driving around
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Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and of course, I'm sure a lot of you remember the
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pace car replicas from the later 60s, early 70s, uh, at our Concord and South
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Bend, we had one of the I think it was early 70s Oldsmobile pace car replicas.
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This is not a new concept.
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I came to learn when I was putting this talk together.
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Studebaker commissioned 30 replicas of the 1929 Indianapolis 500 President
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Roadster powered by the 115 horsepower Studebaker President 8 motor.
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This car possesses the speed and endurance so strikingly demonstrated
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by its record breaking performance of 30, 000 miles in 26, 326 minutes.
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They weren't wasting a beat on promoting that achievement.
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One of these cars still survives today, believe it or not.
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It was found, it had been repainted several times, and the seller had
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actually promoted, Oh, you know, this is one of the Pace cars, replicas,
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and the guy who bought it was like, Yeah, sure, right, you know, you're
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trying to boost the price a little bit.
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Then as he's stripping the paint, he found the unique paint
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scheme that was only supplied.
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On those 30 cars, so it's good to know one of those is still with us.
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Well, ahead of the 1929 race, there was an announcement for rules changes for 1930.
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In particular, displacement was up to 366 cubic inches.
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Minimum weight was established, I believe it was 1, 750 pounds.
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The riding mechanic came back and a few other choices to really
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open the door for stock engined vehicles at the Indianapolis 500.
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And as you might imagine, some people were looking at Studebaker's new President 8.
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They said, this might be a pretty good idea to look into this as well.
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Now, this period at the 500, the early, the so called junk formula period, this
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was very much like open mic night at the Indianapolis 500 for a couple years
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with all the different manufacturers.
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In 1930, you had Buick, Stutz, Oakland, Chrysler, this along with a couple of
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Maseratis, Mercedes Benz chassis car.
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Literally, the quote unquote junk formula where, you know, run what you brung.
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Looking through the pictures before putting this together, and
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there's the picture of the Stutz.
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And it literally looks like a guy went and got a Stutz Roadster, took the
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fenders, the splash aprons, running boards off, and painted a number on the side,
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and he was able to qualify and race.
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The Studebaker entries for that year, a quintet of Studebaker engineers
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got together, said, hey, we can build an Indianapolis 500 race car.
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They called it the Rompthie Special.
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That may sound like an odd name.
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Well, it was the first initial of the last names of the engineers,
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and they added an E on the end to make it at least pronounceable.
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But we see J.
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C.
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McDonald, that's the M in Rompthy, as the driver.
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And William Richards, the R in the Rompthy, as the riding mechanic.
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And another name, a privateer, if you will, that was Russell
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Snowberger in the Russell 8.
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And he also competed with his, Paul Rice's riding mechanic, and they
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qualified for the 1930 Indianapolis 500, one of the many stock blockers there.
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And here we see a Russell 8 motor.
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Studebaker's present engine was given the usual massaging.
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You see the magneto down there, four carburetor intake,
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raised compression ratio.
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The standard hot rodding features to get a little more output out of the engine.
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So how did they do?
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Well, the Rompton qualified 13th.
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It finished 13th.
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And the Russell 8 qualified 7th and finished 8th, the top finish
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of the stock block entries.
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Billy Arnold was actually the winner that year, having the
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lead from start to finish.
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But to give you an idea of how the race was going, the first
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year of the junk formula, In 1929, your slowest, fastest qualifying
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speed was about 18 miles an hour.
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18 miles an hour spread on there.
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But you'll see the stock blockers are trying to figure
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things out as the years go on.
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So fast forward to 1941, we've got the Russell 8 coming back, the Rompsey Special
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has been renamed the Richards Special because William Richards bought out his
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partners and set out to campaign again.
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And there's a new entrant, the Hunt Special.
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This was really a Studebaker, if I could say Skunk Works
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Project, an off books project.
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Studebaker was kind of eyeing up the 500, but they weren't 100 percent sure they
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wanted to go in and have a grand failure.
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Looking ahead at what Ford V8s and the Miller component there a few years later,
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trying to get those cars to work well.
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Studebaker wanted to hedge their bets, so they commissioned George Hunt,
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their director of testing, to create a Studebaker powered car for the 500.
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Instead of a home built special, they contracted Herman Ringling
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from Indianapolis to supply the body and chassis, and then they used
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the Studebaker President engine.
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Which, conveniently, was up to nine main bearings for the 1931 model year.
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Wouldn't they have loved to have nine main bearings in 1930?
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Well, they added that for 1931, and continued to raid the
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rest of the Studebaker parts bins for the remaining parts.
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The brakes came from the Studebaker Dictator and Studebaker 6 models.
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The rear axle came from a 29 President.
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And other odds and ends, gauges and whatnot, were
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sourced from other parts bins.
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The big news?
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Russell 8 took the pole in 1931.
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Now, the Duesenberg and Miller guys didn't just stay home that year and say,
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you know, we're not going to sit there.
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No, they were there.
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Russell 8, with his home built Studebaker President 8 engine,
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took the pole, finished 5th.
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Richards, 12th, had some problems.
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I believe they had a ruptured fuel tank that year and finished 20th.
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And the Hunt special, steady yet unspectacular, managed to finish 18th.
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Now Studebaker was satisfied.
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They were convinced that they could really make a go of this.
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What a go they did for 1932, the company commissioned four
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additional Studebaker specials.
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They went back to wriggling and said, we need four more
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what you built for us in 1931.
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And again, they were outfitted in the Studebaker shops.
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This is actually the Studebaker engineering building
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in South Bend, Indiana.
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See, Tony GoTo will hear a little more from him.
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In a minute right there, as the Studebaker specials took shape.
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Studebaker advertised these cars as 85 percent stock.
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This is also Depression Era II.
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They were trying to say, you know, we're being sensible with our
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expenditures, but this is, as Mr.
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Roos would say, the next year, just an engineering test of our car, for
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cars that we're never going to produce for the public anyway, but you get the
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point, went on Sunday, sell on Monday.
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Certainly that was playing into their thinking as well.
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Here we see the Studebaker team at the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
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And for drivers, they had quite an impressive roster.
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Of course, we mentioned Tony Gulotta.
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We see him right there in the 25 car.
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Other drivers included Luther Johnson, another Studebaker test driver.
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Cliff Berger, who was a Hollywood stuntman and also was an available free agent.
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Peter Kreese was a building contractor by trade who also, as I said, he
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took a month off each year so he could go racing at Indianapolis.
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As one does, apparently.
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Most of my friends who are building contractors, they go out on their boat
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on the lake in northern Wisconsin.
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Routing out the quintet was Zeke Meyer, who had experience as an airline mechanic
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and had been dabbling in racing, I believe he started racing in Indianapolis in 1926.
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Just from a visual standpoint, you know, you're from Indiana, home of
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Studebaker, you buy your ticket to go sit down at the Grandstand, the
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500, and you see Studebaker Special, Studebaker Special, Studebaker Special,
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Studebaker Special, who's that?
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Oh, Duesenberg, and someone else.
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Number 18 car sitting in the pits here and one of my coworkers was looking at
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this picture and they said, What's that?
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And I said, Well, that looks to be the men's room.
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My coworker, Joe McCoy, our assistant director said, Where's the ladies room?
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I did not have a good answer for that because I could not find it anywhere.
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So at the start of the race, Studebaker drivers were really stressed.
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It's important to finish the race.
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Again, they're not gonna just pull over and do leisurely drives around the track.
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There's definitely competition going on.
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But they were instructed, try and finish the race.
18:59
There's much more value in that.
19:01
So, with a very moderate, aggressive standpoint, and they knew that the
19:04
Studebakers would hold together, whereas let the other cars break themselves.
19:08
Ultimately, this strategy proved to be successful.
19:10
Studebaker did not win the Indianapolis 500 in any of the years
19:13
they competed, I'm sorry to say.
19:14
However, they did finish 3rd in 1932, which year started 10th,
19:18
3rd, and the other teams shook out.
19:20
1315, solid showings and all, and also a rather lucrative year for Studebaker.
19:24
1932, they netted 11, 435 in prize money.
19:29
So for not spending a lot on their specials, was it a profitable event?
19:33
Is any race unprofitable for the company?
19:35
But still, I thought that was a fairly impressive return.
19:37
They could have gotten very little, had things gone poorly for them.
19:40
So what do you have in store for 1933?
19:42
Well, if you aren't changing something, if someone else will and they're
19:44
going to catch you, and Studebaker definitely had it on their minds that
19:47
they needed to up their game for 1933.
19:49
What that brought was new streamlined bodies.
19:52
They used scale models just like these, actually with the aid of the University
19:55
of Michigan's wind tunnel, to determine what could be a more aerodynamic shape.
19:59
And this is where you can tell the competitorship is starting to show a
20:02
little bit with the Studebaker engineers.
20:04
Even though they said their cars were 85 percent stock and, oh, everything's the
20:07
same as last year, they just upped it, no.
20:09
No, they didn't.
20:10
Because we have in Studebaker's part number list here, 92
20:14
in Studebaker language means the 1933 Speedway President.
20:17
Notice the name they applied to their grandmother, the Speedway President.
20:21
In 1931, they had a Speedway package for the President Roadster
20:24
with a little higher output.
20:26
Certainly making the most they could on this campaign.
20:28
These entries, 92 race, these are the race only parts for the 1933 model year.
20:33
And you come down here, cylinder, part number 180607.
20:37
Those were the race only blocks for the 1933 race.
20:40
They had a few modifications.
20:41
They also had special heads, special camshafts.
20:44
And these were only used in the 1933 model year.
20:46
Indianapolis race cars.
20:48
This did not cross over to any production model.
20:50
If anyone sees a Studebaker straight 8 block that has a casting number,
20:53
please call me day or night.
20:54
Feel free to stop by the house.
20:55
I'll give you the address.
20:56
The dog will bark a little bit.
20:57
Don't worry about that.
20:58
He's friendly.
20:59
But there are only two of these blocks known to exist.
21:01
And we see the new streamlined bodies here on the Studebaker mounts.
21:04
You notice only four or five cars got the new body.
21:07
Studebaker had chosen to sell one of the cars, the 47 car, and it was actually
21:11
technically owned by Ab Jenkins.
21:13
Another noted racing driver who had actually done many
21:16
campaigns for Studebaker, particularly for endurance racing.
21:18
And he was actually slated to be one of the drivers for the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
21:23
Unfortunately, he found closed course driving was not really to his strengths.
21:26
He much preferred endurance driving, so eventually he relented the
21:29
driver's seat to someone else.
21:31
But as such, because Studebaker did not own the car, they weren't
21:33
paying for a free body for Mr.
21:35
Jenkins, so only the four cars here got the new coachwork.
21:37
So how effective was this?
21:38
Well, the Studebaker bodies and the extra engine components bought them an extra
21:42
three to five miles an hour of qualifying speed, which was fairly significant.
21:46
As I mentioned before, the rest of the field was upping their game.
21:48
Spread from 1931, 16 miles an hour from fastest to slowest.
21:52
For 1932, it was six miles an hour.
21:54
For 1933, it was nine miles an hour.
21:57
Now, compare this to the last year of the very exclusive 91 cubic inch formula.
22:02
That was about a, uh, 18 mile an hour top to bottom speed.
22:05
So you were seeing a lot more competitive racing from the junk formula, really
22:08
achieving what they had hoped for.
22:09
And this shot, of course, in front of Indy's iconic Gota.
22:12
And representation of the Pierce Aero connection here, too.
22:15
We see in the back one of the Pierce Aero silver Aero show cars.
22:18
Piercero built these for the 1933 Auto Show Circuit.
22:21
They only built five.
22:22
These were actually built in Studebaker's Experimental Body Shop in South Bend,
22:25
and, uh, one made it down to the Speedway for publicity purchases at that time.
22:29
So, the start of the race again.
22:31
Studebaker was going through a cautious race, but there were also
22:33
some additional entrants at the Studebaker Contingent that year.
22:36
A number of privateers joined the fray.
22:38
We'll talk about them in a minute.
22:39
Pictures you see, I've seen many of these, and I always assume the numbers
22:43
on the grill were just airbrushed in by the photographers after the
22:46
fact for identification purposes.
22:48
It's like, oh no, they put those on the day of, and he had, here, look
22:50
at this picture, and it was a picture of the number 34 car, and yeah, it
22:53
must have been placed on hastily with tape or paint or something like that.
22:56
They literally painted the number on the front of the car.
22:58
So here we go for 1933.
23:01
This is the Studebaker roster right here.
23:03
We see the wriggling chassis cars.
23:05
You get the Studebaker Special, the factory teams.
23:07
Russell Snowberger was back with a new chassis, Russell 8.
23:11
And you had some other, uh, interesting cars in here as well.
23:14
The Art Rose Special, driven by Dave Evans.
23:17
That was a front wheel drive automobile.
23:18
And it was actually powered by Studebaker's smaller straight eight
23:21
engine, the 250 cubic inch unit that was used in the 1929 Commander and
23:25
up through the 1942 President line.
23:27
I gotta call out this one here.
23:29
Yes, this was a Duesenberg chassised race car with a Studebaker engine, which
23:33
is not something I ever thought I'd say in my life, and I'm gonna say it again.
23:36
The chassis was Duesenberg, the engine was Studebaker.
23:38
Doc McKenzie piloted that to an 18th place finish after 192 laps.
23:42
And we had three guys who were unable to qualify, Brady and Nardi, Allegheny
23:47
Metal, and the Snell brothers.
23:48
And I felt bad for Mr.
23:49
Speed Gardner, because he has an awesome racing nickname, and he failed to
23:52
qualify two years in the Studebaker cars.
23:54
So, I don't know if he went back to his given name after that or not.
23:56
The team best finisher for the Studebaker team was the number 34 Studebaker Special.
24:01
It came in 7th.
24:02
We saw one of the privateers actually came in 6th.
24:05
And you look at the finish here, we had 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
24:11
were all Studebaker powered.
24:12
From the starting standpoint, just over 20 percent of the Studebaker powered from
24:17
the factory teams and the privateers.
24:19
The bodies were great.
24:20
There was a minor flaw, however.
24:22
The streamlining was so good, the cockpits were like Dutch ovens.
24:25
And the drivers were coming in saying, I can't go on anymore, it's too hot.
24:28
And supposedly, one story circulated that they used a fire axe to actually
24:31
chop holes into the car to get some ventilation into the cockpit.
24:34
That was not the case.
24:35
As you can see here, I don't see any evidence of axe
24:38
trauma anywhere on the car.
24:39
And this was rebunked later by some of the other engineers saying, I
24:42
No, no, we use more conventional methods to keep the drivers cool.
24:45
Studebaker, of course, wasted no problems advertising their success.
24:49
From the Speedway comes the stamina.
24:50
From the Skyway comes their style.
24:52
They created this wonderful logo of the circling car on the
24:54
racetrack and an airplane flying.
24:56
Seven of the first twelve winners at Indianapolis were Studebakers.
24:59
How did you have seven winners at a race?
25:01
No, you won third place.
25:02
You won seventh place.
25:03
You won twelfth place.
25:04
It's all in the copywriting, really.
25:06
Studebaker promoted that far and wide that their cars had been so successful that
25:11
Indianapolis and U2 could buy a Studebaker with that racing predigreed engine.
25:14
Unfortunately, Studebaker had entered receivership in March of 1933.
25:19
The company was broke, plain and simple.
25:21
The only reason they continued at the Indianapolis race was they were
25:23
able to convince the creditors this is essentially bought and paid for.
25:26
Whatever our plans were, this will be good publicity that
25:28
we're still trying to go on.
25:30
But when Studebaker entered receivership, that meant the end of
25:33
the factory backed racing program.
25:34
The cars were sold off.
25:36
Company memo, this was issued on August 28th of 1933.
25:39
Serial numbers 50 were sold off at 1, 000 a piece.
25:44
And verified with, these is actually from the 34 car, the engine number and the
25:47
serial number that correspond with memo.
25:50
But Sudebaker was still not done racing.
25:52
They were happy to enter the power plant business.
25:54
The smaller Commander 8, used in the Art Rose Special, they were
25:57
willing to supply those to racers at the mere cost of 750 a piece.
26:02
And with that, you got A fully dressed race engine ready to go.
26:05
See, when I say fully dressed, you've got the carburetors.
26:07
Four carburetor intake, the magnetos.
26:09
By the way, these are the same magnetos that some Bugatti race cars use.
26:12
Which, amazingly, the interchangeability has not brought down their price
26:15
at all, on the current market.
26:16
Since we're back in 34, and it was all privateers from here on out.
26:19
As I mentioned, the Art Rose Special with his front wheel drive, that's
26:22
the Schrader Special for 1934.
26:24
The Russell 8, again, Russell Snowberger really had the secret
26:27
sauce for getting performance.
26:28
He actually finished far better than any of the Studebaker team drivers.
26:32
Luke and I were talking about this before.
26:33
We never figured out why he didn't hook on a team.
26:35
Well, maybe he was just making more money being by himself than
26:37
he was actually under the employ of the Studebaker Corporation.
26:40
Studebaker power continued in 1935 and 1936.
26:45
But by 1935, a new name was starting to appear in the Indianapolis 500
26:49
leaderboard, and that was Offenhauser.
26:51
And you can wonder, what would have happened had Studebaker
26:53
not entered receivership?
26:54
Well, I think the, how the racing was going, I don't know how much
26:57
longer they could have been a player.
26:58
I mean, even without factory support, they continued to go
27:01
as long as, we'll see, 1939.
27:03
I'm in here, but this is 1937.
27:04
This is actually the original 22 car from 1933 that had been sold off.
27:08
It was a Sobonite plastic special in 1937, and the last of the Studebaker
27:12
cars to campaign at the 500.
27:15
Another privateer, Joel Thorne Special.
27:17
This was Schrader Special we just saw previously.
27:19
Unfortunately was out of the mix after an accident during qualifying.
27:22
This car still survives today.
27:24
Unfortunately still with the damage to the front wheel drive
27:26
componentry which we found out does not interchange with an L29 cord.
27:30
So he's figuring out how to repair that.
27:31
The Greenfield Service Special.
27:33
In 1937, this started life as the American Twist Drill Special.
27:37
And this was a Perseverance Award.
27:38
He tried to qualify three, four years in a row, did not make it.
27:42
Finally was able to punch through and has the distinction of being the
27:45
last Studebaker powered entry to run at the 500 in 1939, finished 24th.
27:50
But not the last attempt at Indianapolis to qualify.
27:53
The Kiel Osborne Special of 1947.
27:56
This was put together by two Studebaker engineers.
27:58
The body was designed by Virgil Exner, who at that time was in Studebaker styling.
28:02
And again, went back to the 250 cubic inch President, now the Studebaker
28:06
President, engine to power the car.
28:08
Unfortunately, the car did not qualify, despite two years of attempts.
28:12
They just did not have enough development time and resources to
28:15
proceed and make it successful.
28:17
As for the Sobonite Plastic Special, we just saw Virgil Exner.
28:20
Bought this car from Studebaker, turned it into a sports car.
28:23
Virgil Exner Jr.
28:24
is still with us and lives in South Bend, Indiana.
28:26
He remembers going out to meets all across East Side.
28:29
We were driving an absurd amount of speed on the new Pennsylvania
28:31
Turnpike with this car.
28:33
People were amazed that we got from one side of the Turnpike to
28:36
the other as fast as we could.
28:37
The SCCA guys did not want to let them in because they said that's a
28:40
race car, that's not a sports car.
28:41
Eventually they relented, probably pointing out they'd driven all
28:43
the way from South Bend, Indiana.
28:45
Studebaker bought this car back on at least two or three occasions
28:48
because it appeared at the 1952 Indianapolis 500 when Studebaker paced
28:52
the event, and we'll have more on the disposition of that car in a moment.
28:55
And here we see Studebaker in 1962, they bought the 22 car back, as I
29:01
mentioned, for the second or third time with orders to restore it and
29:04
also have it functional at its Racing capable speeds from 1932, so they could
29:08
show off that at the Indianapolis 500.
29:11
Joining him was the freshly restored 34 Special from the
29:13
Brooks Stevens Collection.
29:14
As Studebaker was showing off their brand new sports model.
29:19
They did have some difficulty getting the 22 car back together because as
29:21
strange as this may sound, when they went to rebuild the engine, no one had
29:25
any bearings for the big President 8.
29:27
This was the Studebaker factory.
29:28
They took to sending telegrams to dealers all over the United States.
29:31
Does anyone have a set of bearings for a 33 President engine?
29:34
They eventually found that because the Pierce Arrow Straight 8 was
29:37
also designed by Barney Roos and is identical in many formats with critical
29:41
measurements of Studebaker, that engine was used in fire trucks until,
29:44
I think, right around World War II.
29:45
They actually found they were able to adapt some Pierce engine bearings and
29:48
be able to get the car going again.
29:49
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
29:51
And here we get into the nebulous part of what constitutes a car.
29:54
The running joke with the Studebaker Specials is, of the
29:56
five were built, eight remain.
29:57
We'll get to that in a minute here.
29:59
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
30:00
This is currently out at the Price Museum of Speed in Salt Lake City, Utah.
30:04
Number 34, Studebaker special.
30:06
It, too, suffered the indignity of a roadster body applied to it.
30:10
The original body sat outside a garage in Chicago for many years.
30:14
It was actually advertised, I believe it was in Car Classics magazine.
30:17
And the 34 car was acquired by Brooks Stevens in the late 1950s.
30:21
It was sitting on a used car lot in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
30:24
Brooks knew what they had, so he got it and commissioned a restoration.
30:27
He actually had the back section of the body rebuilt from
30:30
scratch, just from photographs.
30:31
And they were nearly done, and someone calls and says, Hey,
30:33
we have the original body.
30:34
Do you want it?
30:34
How much?
30:35
I heard that I think it was 25.
30:37
Nope.
30:37
Don't want it.
30:38
Don't need it.
30:38
That body is actually out in California as part of another Studebaker Tribute Racer.
30:43
Or is it not a Tribute Racer because it has part of the original body?
30:46
That's a debate for another time.
30:47
The 22 car is down at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, currently on loan
30:51
to us at Studebaker National Museum.
30:54
Now here's where it gets a little foggy.
30:55
The 18 car, still with us, you see it right here, this is actually out
30:59
from the vintage races in California.
31:01
The body, grill, and some aftermarket frame rails were
31:05
found in a garage in Chicago.
31:06
The story is, it was the most crowded garage you ever saw, but
31:10
there was the Studebaker body.
31:11
Collector Mike Cleary from California acquired the body with aid of a
31:14
Studebaker President Parts car and a lot of fabrication skills.
31:17
Mike is a very skilled engineer.
31:19
They were able to create the new No.
31:20
18 car.
31:21
As for the original chassis of No.
31:22
18, that car went down to South Africa.
31:25
And it was actually raced up into the 1950s, at which point it was disassembled,
31:29
broken down, and used for spares.
31:31
The story I heard was the engine was actually used to power a
31:33
Studebaker President Hearst from the early 1920s after that.
31:36
And we have boots on the ground in South Africa.
31:38
They're still trying to track down any remnants of this car, but I'm afraid
31:41
that one is lost to the mists of time.
31:43
And lastly, the Kill Osborne Special, it was sat in a garage in South Bend,
31:47
Indiana for a number of years until the guys who had it said, you know, this
31:51
isn't really practical as a race car.
31:52
We're going to make a home built roadster out of it using 1950 ish Studebaker parts.
31:58
The car still survives today.
32:00
No one really knows where it is.
32:01
We suspect it might be in the South Bend area, but we'll save
32:04
that for talk some other time.
32:05
And with that, I will be happy to field any questions.
32:08
That logo that was from the Skyway comes the style?
32:13
From the Speedway comes their stamina, from the Skyway comes their style.
32:16
Is that a Chicago Skyway bridge reference?
32:19
No, it was referring to aviation, just the byways and skyways of America.
32:22
Oh, so it's an aviation reference.
32:23
Yeah, because they actually had the little, uh, airplane going up.
32:26
And that was really, Studebaker was hung up on the whole Skyway moniker.
32:29
In fact, they introduced a trim level in 1941, the Skyway series of cars.
32:33
They really, uh, Really?
32:34
We're pushing that hard.
32:35
Oh, very good.
32:36
Thank you.
32:36
The mantra for a long time, since the thirties actually was went on Sunday,
32:40
sell on Monday, did Studebaker get in to racing in order to help sell production
32:45
cars and if so, and, and obviously they were in it for a fair length of
32:49
time, but they went into receivership.
32:51
So.
32:52
It didn't really seem to help, but it was a very ambitious effort.
32:55
I'm just wondering if it correlated to trying to sell production cars.
32:58
I feel bad that I didn't include graphs in here, because it would
33:01
actually be very depressing.
33:02
Did the success in 1932 with the third place finish help
33:05
the president model for 1933?
33:07
Nope.
33:08
33 was the worst sales year and the depression had a lot to do with that,
33:11
trying to sell their luxury model.
33:14
Did it help them buy time with the receivership to show their viability?
33:17
You can't really measure that, but the fact that there was
33:19
interest, there was helpability.
33:21
The sales were one part of it.
33:23
Studebaker President Albert Erskine also, his business practices had
33:27
a lot to do with receivership.
33:28
You know what happens to your capital reserves when you pay out a dividend
33:31
and yours you don't show profit?
33:32
They go away very quickly.
33:34
In 1932 or 33, he paid out 506 percent of net profits in dividends.
33:38
And that's what happens when you pay out dividends when you show a loss.
33:42
He was convinced prosperity was just around the corner.
33:44
It's not.
33:45
And Studebaker suffered the consequences.
33:47
And it's really, Studebaker could have folded up the tent in 1933.
33:50
That could have happened very easily, but they managed to convince the bankruptcy
33:53
judge that their best course of action to satisfying their creditors was And
33:58
they hung on for another 20, 30 years.
33:59
Do you know what the last race car to be powered by a Studebaker was?
34:02
We'll have to define your terms a little bit here, but go ahead.
34:04
Okay, in 1965, the Canadian Grand Prix, for the most part, David Hobbs drove
34:09
a Lola T70 powered by a Studebaker.
34:11
He qualified second.
34:12
It was entered by, uh, Harold Young Racing, I believe, the Canadian team.
34:16
I did not know that.
34:17
Mr.
34:17
Hobbs was just down at the Chattanooga Concours.
34:19
I wish I could have discussed that with you.
34:20
No, no.
34:21
So you went through years rapidly there.
34:24
Which year did they take the pole?
34:26
1931.
34:27
Alright, 31.
34:28
Then was it the following year they had multiple cars, but nothing
34:33
more than 7th or 8th position?
34:35
In 31, Russell Snowberger took the pole.
34:38
He was a privateer.
34:39
He did not work for Studebaker, but it was the Russell 8 with the present engine.
34:42
The team in 32, they had their best finish 3rd, the number 22 car, I believe.
34:47
Cliff Ger was behind the wheel of that car and in 33 they were moving
34:52
a little back in the qualifying, but they also, they hung in 33 was one of
34:55
the most traumatic races the Speedway ever saw, just with the carnage.
34:58
And I wanna say there was only 14 or 16 cars running at the end of
35:02
the race, but all the Studebaker team was able to finish race.
35:05
They never really had any terrible mechanical difficulties.
35:08
But yeah, when that's, when they say seven places, actually six through
35:11
12 in 1933 were all Studebaker power.
35:14
So why the drop off?
35:16
Because of the carnage of the race?
35:18
I mean, they Well, I mean, racing If I remember the qualifying speeds or
35:22
whatever, they seem to suddenly drop down.
35:25
The qualifying, they actually picked up a couple miles an hour
35:27
qualifying from 30 to 33 with the new bodies and the new engines.
35:31
But relative to the competition?
35:32
Relative to the competition, yeah.
35:33
You started to see some of the more specialized You know, the Miller
35:36
Duesenberg engine cars of that ilk were starting to spread the gap.
35:40
And, like I said, when the Offenhauser came online in 35, you
35:44
could really see the handwriting on the wall for the stock locks.
35:46
That was fascinating.
35:47
Thanks, Hender.
35:48
Appreciate it.
35:48
Yes, they did race at Indy, Kip.
35:50
Yes, they did, I guess.
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And remember, without you, none of this would be possible.