The Birth of Modern
Racing
By
Stephen M, AutoPuzzles Contributing Writer and Multiple
Name-That-Car Puzzle
Winner.
The inaugural Indianapolis 500 was held on
May 30th, 1911. The brickyard had actually opened two years prior,
but had only held host to much shorter races. The record purse of
$27,550 for the first 500 miler drew 46 competitors, among them Ray
Harroun in a single-seater Marmon Wasp. Without a riding mechanic to
serve as a spotter, Harroun relied on a cowl-mounted “rear view
mirror”, a feature that would become ubiquitous on race cars and
street cars alike. Harroun held off second place finisher Ralph
Mulford to claim the $10,000 first-place prize.
Or so the
record says. Mulford contended that he had lapped Harroun while the
Marmon was changing a flat tire, and filed a protest. Harroun’s
victory was upheld.
The 1912 Indy 500 saw neither Harroun nor
his Wasp. The rules now required a riding mechanic, obsolescing the
single seat Marmon; and Harroun had immediately retired after his
1911 win. The race was won by Joe Dawson in a National, at an
average speed of 78.72 mph. Our friend Mulford finished 10th out of
24 starters, and was the last car running…by a good margin. Race
rules required contestants to finish out the full 500 miles to
receive prize money, regardless of their position when Dawson took
the checker. With no running cars behind him, Mulford took his sweet
time, allegedly stopping once for fried chicken and ice cream, and
again to change to softer shocks. Just under 9 hours after he
started, Mulford finished with an average speed of 56.3 miles per
hour. Not surprisingly, Mulford still holds the record for slowest
finishing speed.
In 1913 the maximum engine displacement
dropped from 600 cubic inches to 450, in part to attract more
European competitors. Peugeot responded with a pair of factory cars
sporting four valve engines and a tremendous power advantage. In the
90 degree race day heat, Peugeot driver Jules Goux preserves his
tires by coasting through turns, then blasting by competitors on the
straights. He keeps himself cool by taking on champagne at each of
six pit stops, and coasts to victory 13 minutes ahead of the second
place finisher, the largest margin of victory to date.
So why
is this article about Indy’s early history entitled “The birth of
modern racing”? In the first three years, Indy witnessed:
A
disputed finish
A safety innovation that found its way to
passenger cars
A rules change that outlawed the previous year’s
winner
A bit of gamesmanship from a backmarker
A displacement
reduction to limit speed and enlarge the field
Utter domination
of privateers by a factory team, and
Allegations of substance
abuse
So there you have it.
Oh, and for the record,
just a few years later Indy saw the first race finish spoiled by
team rules.
* This article draws heavily from "Indianapolis
500 Chronicles" by Rick Popely, an excellent and detailed history of
the brickyard.
