May 8, 2025 • 38 mins
While “Studebaker” is rarely the first name one thinks of when discussing motorsports, the company had a strong yet brief presence at the Indianapolis 500 in the early 1930s. Studebaker laid the groundwork with the introduction of the President’s inline eight-cylinder engine in early 1928. The advent of the Indianapolis 500’s 1930 rule changes opened the door for production-based entries, and the President’s rugged eight powered a pair of private entries. These Studebaker-engined specials showed promise and led to the development of Studebaker’s corporate team. This program will detail the origins and evolution of Studebaker-powered racers beginning in 1930 with a special emphasis on the company’s factory-backed campaigns in 1932 and 1933. Additional focus will also be placed on the technical development of the Studebaker racers as well as the post-Studebaker disposition of the team cars and their present-day status.
Sources include Studebaker’s corporate archives and image collection at the Studebaker National Museum plus period publications and race accounts. Additional data is drawn from secondary sources profiling the Studebaker team plus owner research compiled during their stewardship of the cars.
Andrew Beckman has been with the Studebaker National Museum since 1999 and currently serves as Archivist. He previously worked at the Sheboygan County Historical Society in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and the Wade House State Historic Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin. Mr. Beckman hails from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and holds a BA in History from the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay. In 2004, he completed the Modern Archives Institute at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. In 2009, he earned his mid-level certificate in Collections Preservation from the Campbell Center for Historic Preservation Studies in Mount Carroll, Illinois. Mr. Beckman is the author of The Studebaker National Museum: Over a Century on Wheels, and Studebaker’s Last Dance: The Avanti, and is a columnist for the Studebaker Drivers Club magazine, Turning Wheels. In addition to his duties at the Studebaker National Museum, Mr. Beckman is a member and Past President of the Society of Automotive Historians. He also serves as a commentator for The Henry Ford Museum’s Motor Muster and Old Car Fest.
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00:00 Studebaker's Early Motorsports Involvement 01:27 Andrew Beckman's Background 02:51 Studebaker's Racing Philosophy 04:32 Studebaker's Early Racing History 09:50 The President 8 and Racing Innovations 13:19 Studebaker at the Indianapolis 500 17:00 The 1932 and 1933 Racing Campaigns 20:50 The Elusive Studebaker Straight 8 Block 21:01 Studebaker's Racing Legacy 22:29 The 1933 Indianapolis 500 23:14 Privateers and Unique Entries 25:14 Studebaker's Financial Struggles 25:30 The End of Factory-Backed Racing 26:16 Studebaker's Continued Influence 27:03 The Last of the Studebaker Racers 28:55 Restoration and Legacy 32:05 Q&A Session 35:54 Sponsors and Closing Remarks====================
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Brake Fix's History of Motorsportsseries is brought to you in part
by the International Motor RacingResearch Center, as well as the
Society of Automotive Historians,the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.
Studebaker at Indianapolis.
(00:20):
While Studebaker is rarely the firstname one thinks of when discussing
motorsports, the company had astrong yet brief presence at the
Indianapolis 500 in the early 1930s.
Studebaker laid the groundwork withthe introduction of the President's
inline 8 cylinder engine in early 1928.
The advent of the Indianapolis500's 1930 rule changes opened the
(00:41):
door for production based entries,and the president's rugged eight
powered a pair of private entries.
These Studebaker engine specials showedpromise and led to the development
of Studebaker's corporate team.
This presentation will detail the originsand evolution of Studebaker powered
race cars beginning in 1930, with aspecial emphasis on the company's factory
backed campaigns in 1932 and 1933.
(01:02):
Additional focus will be placed on thetechnical development of Studebaker
race cars, as well as the postStudebaker disposition of the team
cars and their present day status.
Sources include Studebaker's corporatearchives and image collection at
the Studebaker National Museum, plusperiod publications and race accounts.
Additional data is drawn from secondarysources profiling the Studebaker
(01:22):
team, plus owner research compiledduring their stewardship of the cars.
Andrew Beckman has been with theStudebaker National Museum since 1999
and currently serves as archivist.
He previously worked at the SheboyganCounty Historical Society in Sheboygan,
Wisconsin and the Wade House StateHistoric Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin.
Mr.
Beckman hails from Manitowoc, Wisconsinand holds a BA in History from the
(01:45):
University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
In 2004, he completed the Modern ArchivesInstitute at the National Archives and
Records Administration in Washington, D.
C.
In 2009, he earned his mid levelcertificate in Collections and
Preservation from the CampbellCenter for Historic Preservation
Studies in Mount Carolina, Illinois.
Andrew Beckman is the author of theStudebaker National Museum, Over a
(02:06):
Century on Wheels, and Studebaker'sLast Dance, the Avanti, and is a
columnist for the Studebaker DriversClub Magazine, Turning Wheels.
In addition to his duties at theStudebaker National Museum, Mr.
Beckman is a member of and pastpresident of the Society of Automotive
Historians, and he serves as acommentator for the Henry Ford Museum's
Motor, Muster, and Old Car Fest.
So we will begin our final afternoonsession with Andrew, who's going
(02:30):
to be discussing Studebaker atthe Speedway, so please welcome.
Andrew Beckman.
Thank you for having me today.
It's my first time out here at theconference in general and also my
first time to this part of New York.
It's absolutely beautifulto answer Kip's question.
He asked me beforehand.
Yes, Studebaker did raceat the Indianapolis 500.
So you're gonna have to stayfor the whole thing now.
I'm sorry.
(02:51):
We're merely conducting an exactingtest of our cars stated a Studebaker
executive on a fine spring day in 1933.
The executive was Studebaker'schief engineer, Barney Roos.
He was standing at the IndianapolisMotor Speedway in front of the
team of Studebaker race cars.
His full quote was, as was ourpolicy last year, Studebaker is not
trying to win the Indianapolis race.
We are merely conducting anexacting test of our cars.
(03:14):
He went on to say he had a bridgeto sell you in Brooklyn and he
also had some land in Floridayou might be interested as well.
For if anyone believes thatanyone entering a race is not
trying to win, well, certainlywouldn't lend them any money.
Now, Studebaker is, I realize, notthe first name that comes to mind
when you speak of motorsports.
In fact, it's not even the first namethat comes to mind if you speak of
motorsports from South Bend, Indiana.
(03:35):
Thank you, Ryan Newman, for that.
But Studebaker, for its 114 yearsof vehicle manufacturing, had
a very limited but very intenseperiod of motorsports competition.
Now this is somewhat of a surprise.
You would think maybe the Studebakerbrothers, the company's founders,
had something against motorsports.
No, this was not the case.
In fact, Henry and ClemensStudebaker were avid horsemen.
(03:55):
J.
M., all the brothers, loveda fast race or so the day.
In fact, in 1881, J.
M.
had just acquired a new mount,and he felt that his horse was
faster than his brother Clem's.
His brothers are wont to do.
They took exception to this thesis, andthey decided the only logical thing to
do was to settle this on Lafayette Streetin front of the Studebaker administration
building in South Bend, Indiana.
(04:15):
Unfortunately, they passed by a localtown marshal who immediately cited
them for speeding and forced them toappear before the chief magistrate,
who was also the mayor of South Bend.
Despite a full throated defenseof their actions, they were fined
2 in course costs and furthermoreagreed never to do it again.
Again, if you believe that, well, Iwouldn't put too much stock in that.
As Studebaker transitioned tothe automobile age, the early
(04:36):
Studebaker automobile history isnot one of just building automobiles
out of the Studebaker factory.
They were essentially marketing carsproduced by other upstart companies.
After all, Studebakerhad the name recognition.
They'd been around since the 1850s.
They were the worldwide leaderof horse drawn equipment.
The new EMF models forEverett Metzger Flanders.
That was the larger of the two models inthe Flanders 20, given for its horsepower.
(04:56):
Those as well as some Garford modelsand even one of their electrics competed
regularly in local contests throughoutthe early part of the 20th century.
The EMF in Flanders down all competingcars in the first sanctioned race meet of
the season on Montgomery, Alabama's track.
And of course pointing you to where youcould go out and buy one of these new race
proven Flanders 20 and EMF 30 automobiles.
Yet despite this early flurry of activity,Studebaker really stepped back from
(05:20):
encouraging their cars in competition.
Studebaker was really more playing offtheir name, again, their reputation.
You could go to your Studebaker dealer,you were going to get a solidly built
car, you would pay a little more forit, they certainly weren't competing
with Henry Ford in the low price field,but you could count on getting a solid,
middle priced car from Studebaker.
And indeed, theirreputation spoke for itself.
We have a 1919 Big Six in thecollection that logged 475, 000 miles.
(05:42):
Not as a company test vehicle, butas a privately owned automobile.
And Studebaker felt this wasnoteworthy, hence they bought it back
for inclusion in their collection.
The first appearance of Studebakerat the Speedway was in 1924.
This deserves a bit of an asterisk here.
The Studebaker Special No.
8, driven by Earl Cooper,actually placed second that year.
And I will point out the Studebakercomponents on this car right now.
(06:03):
That would be the decal on the sidehere, and also the radiator badge.
This is a Miller engine,Miller chassis body.
If you're familiar at all with, uh,Indianapolis race cars, the rules formula
for that time, these were all veryspecialized, high performance vehicles.
And let's face it, Studebaker's 40horsepower, light six engine was probably
not going to cut it on the field that day.
And Studebaker at this periodtoo was in a bit of a crossroads.
(06:23):
They had, at one time, the topengineering team in the industry with
Owen Skelton, Carl Breer, and Fred Zeder.
They worked for Studebakerin the late teens.
They developed Studebaker'spopular Big Six model.
But they had a falling out withcompany executive Albert Erskine.
He was actually the president at the time.
And they packed their bagsand headed off to Chrysler.
And did very well for Mr.
Chrysler and his new corporation,which debuted in 1924.
(06:45):
Studebaker also had a problem in theearly 20s of, really, one of marketing.
There was a survey done of the industryat some point and it figured out
Studebaker had one of the narrowestprice margins in the industry.
That is, from their leastexpensive automobile to their
most expensive automobile.
Erskine realized this, but he alsorealized Studebaker needed more capacity.
They needed larger factories.
So starting in the late teens up tothe mid twenties, he was trying to
(07:06):
overhaul Studebaker's plant complex.
And when that was in place, he thoughtabout reinvigorating the model lineup.
I had mentioned the Light6 previously and the Big 6.
Their middle priced modelwas called the Special 6.
Let's face it, from a marketingstandpoint, these are not
very stimulating names.
Their marketing partnergot it in gear in 1927.
The Big 6 became the commander andcertain models became the president.
(07:26):
The Special 6 became the dictator.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
That's a talk for another time.
The Commander, however, andparticularly the Commander Roadster
with the three musketeers designedBig Six engine, it was noted for
being an incredibly reliable engine.
In terms of its engineeringstyle, robust would be your words.
Someone had said that Studebaker'sengineering philosophy was there's no
substitute for cast iron, and if you can'tcast a glance at one of these engines,
(07:49):
you'd be hard pressed to dispel that.
Developed a massive amount of torque.
It could churn along all day, Studebaker.
Actually gave it fullpressure lubrication in 1924.
And with that, they saw, well, wehave this very rugged automobile.
Let's go out and do some testing with it.
We'll do some racing.
Again, these were more privateevents, not necessarily sanctioned by
Studebaker, but certainly not exactlydiscouraged by the company heads either.
This is at the Amatol Speedwayin Atlantic City, New Jersey.
(08:12):
And we see a couple ofcommanders right there.
And of course, I wouldn't be showing youthis picture if they did not win the race.
And again, the carsheld together very well.
You got a very rugged, a very solidautomobile with the Commander Big Six.
They sent three more commandersback to Atlantic City in 1928.
And the orders were to complete 25,000 miles as quickly as possible.
The commander you see right therein front, the roadster, completed
(08:35):
that task in 23, 000 minutes.
Now, 23, 000 minutes is a bit of atricky concept to wrap your head around.
Anyone good at math in here?
How long is 23, 000 minutes?
Put it in days.
Anyone?
Anyone?
I see Luke furrowing his brow.
I gotta tell you, the grade schoolersI give tours to figure this out a
whole lot faster than you guys dohere, but, uh, it comes out to 16 days.
So for 16 days, day and night,these commanders lapped, Rain or
(08:58):
shine, through mid and darkness,and it was not running time.
The clock started when they startedthe first mile, and it stopped
when they completed the 25, 000s.
It was a new record, and in fact,Studebaker proudly proclaimed, Nothing
on Earth has gone so far, so fast.
Now as part of Albert Erskine's grandplans for the company, marketing the
product as one end, he had to do somethingabout expanding Studebaker's price reach.
(09:19):
So with that, he acquired the PierceArrow Corporation in the late 1920s,
I believe it was early 1928, togive Studebaker a luxury brand.
He wanted to introduce a lowpriced model called the Erskine.
Modestly named, one might say, butthe Erskine VI, it had an incredibly
handsome car designed by Ray Dietrich.
Unfortunately, it had that fatal flawin the automobile industry of being
both overpriced and underpowered.
And the Erskine was not a success inthe market, especially when this new
(09:42):
product from Chrysler and Plymouth andFord's Model A came on the scene later.
The Erskine really never had a chance,and unfortunately, it disappeared from
the landscape just a few years later.
On the other end of the line,however, was Studer's President 8.
The President, as I mentioned, initiallystarted as a upscale model of the
Big 6 when they renamed that line.
But for 1928, the all new modelF A President came out, and with
(10:04):
it came a fresh engine design.
313 cubic inch inline eight cylinderengine, fresh off the drawing boards
from new chief engineer Delmer G.
Barney Roos.
Mr.
Roos had previously done stints Marmon.
He had a good engineering mind, and hewas The chief engineer that Studebaker
was looking for at the right time.
The President 8 was really a hotperformer for the day, and kind of
(10:24):
very out of character for Studebaker'ssteady yet solid reputation.
And they immediately realized theyhad a pretty hot car on their hands.
Back they went to the Amatol Speedwaywith a quartet of presidents.
This time the goal was 30, 000 miles,in which the roads through up front
there completed in 26, 000 minutes.
So that's about 19 days.
Again, Studebaker was doing things thatno other automaker was equal to able.
(10:47):
I believe Hudson went out and dida similar test, but they counted
driving time instead of actuallycontinuous running clock last time.
And you got to think Studebakerwas really on to something here.
Erskine, in his mind, I think he waslooking at going kind of the General
Motors route, a car for every personpurpose, really expanding into the luxury
market, and expanded Studebaker's reachand awareness, trying to really rebrand
Studebaker from that old horse drawnair manufacturer to someone who's really
(11:09):
bringing you some exciting automobiles.
Now the Studebaker President 8 might havesounded like an ideal power plant for
the Indianapolis 500, and fortunatelythe rules at the time were such that
that engine simply did not qualify.
They had a maximum displacementof 91 cubic inches.
And again, we hear the names Millerand Duesenberg bandied about a lot
during talk of the 500 at that time.
Thankfully, there were no restrictionson displacement for the pace cars, and
(11:30):
Studebaker was selected to serve as thepace car for the 1929 race, and also
supplied a trio of official cars as well.
And here we see the Pace car,you know, festooned as one would
be, so there's no mistaking, thisis most definitely the Pace car.
Anyone identify this?
I know an Indianapolis figure,a name that will sound familiar,
and you'll probably go, Oh, yeah.
Anyone?
(11:51):
Well, that would be Harry Hartz.
And sitting behind the wheel is, if youget this one, I'll give you 5 right now.
Miss Anita Page, a star of the screen,an actress, and she was actually appeared
in an Academy Award winning movie, TheBroadway Melody, available on Netflix,
check it out tonight back at the hotel.
Now, back when I was in high school, someguy tooled around town in his Chevy Monte
(12:13):
Carlo pace car replica, and apparently,I'm not sure if it came with the jacket
and the hat and, you know, everythingelse, or if he stopped at the pro shop
on his way out, but, I mean, there wasno mistake in that car driving around
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and of course,I'm sure a lot of you remember the
pace car replicas from the later 60s,early 70s, uh, at our Concord and South
Bend, we had one of the I think it wasearly 70s Oldsmobile pace car replicas.
(12:33):
This is not a new concept.
I came to learn when I wasputting this talk together.
Studebaker commissioned 30 replicasof the 1929 Indianapolis 500 President
Roadster powered by the 115 horsepowerStudebaker President 8 motor.
This car possesses the speed andendurance so strikingly demonstrated
by its record breaking performanceof 30, 000 miles in 26, 326 minutes.
They weren't wasting a beaton promoting that achievement.
(12:55):
One of these cars still survivestoday, believe it or not.
It was found, it had been repaintedseveral times, and the seller had
actually promoted, Oh, you know, thisis one of the Pace cars, replicas,
and the guy who bought it was like,Yeah, sure, right, you know, you're
trying to boost the price a little bit.
Then as he's stripping thepaint, he found the unique paint
scheme that was only supplied.
On those 30 cars, so it's good toknow one of those is still with us.
Well, ahead of the 1929 race, there was anannouncement for rules changes for 1930.
(13:19):
In particular, displacementwas up to 366 cubic inches.
Minimum weight was established,I believe it was 1, 750 pounds.
The riding mechanic came backand a few other choices to really
open the door for stock enginedvehicles at the Indianapolis 500.
And as you might imagine, some people werelooking at Studebaker's new President 8.
They said, this might be a prettygood idea to look into this as well.
(13:40):
Now, this period at the 500, the early,the so called junk formula period, this
was very much like open mic night atthe Indianapolis 500 for a couple years
with all the different manufacturers.
In 1930, you had Buick, Stutz, Oakland,Chrysler, this along with a couple of
Maseratis, Mercedes Benz chassis car.
Literally, the quote unquote junk formulawhere, you know, run what you brung.
(14:02):
Looking through the picturesbefore putting this together, and
there's the picture of the Stutz.
And it literally looks like a guy wentand got a Stutz Roadster, took the
fenders, the splash aprons, running boardsoff, and painted a number on the side,
and he was able to qualify and race.
The Studebaker entries for that year,a quintet of Studebaker engineers
got together, said, hey, we canbuild an Indianapolis 500 race car.
They called it the Rompthie Special.
(14:24):
That may sound like an odd name.
Well, it was the first initial ofthe last names of the engineers,
and they added an E on the end tomake it at least pronounceable.
But we see J.
C.
McDonald, that's the M inRompthy, as the driver.
And William Richards, the R in theRompthy, as the riding mechanic.
And another name, a privateer,if you will, that was Russell
Snowberger in the Russell 8.
And he also competed with his, PaulRice's riding mechanic, and they
(14:47):
qualified for the 1930 Indianapolis 500,one of the many stock blockers there.
And here we see a Russell 8 motor.
Studebaker's present enginewas given the usual massaging.
You see the magneto downthere, four carburetor intake,
raised compression ratio.
The standard hot rodding features to geta little more output out of the engine.
So how did they do?
Well, the Rompton qualified 13th.
It finished 13th.
(15:07):
And the Russell 8 qualified 7thand finished 8th, the top finish
of the stock block entries.
Billy Arnold was actually thewinner that year, having the
lead from start to finish.
But to give you an idea of howthe race was going, the first
year of the junk formula, In 1929,your slowest, fastest qualifying
speed was about 18 miles an hour.
18 miles an hour spread on there.
But you'll see the stockblockers are trying to figure
(15:28):
things out as the years go on.
So fast forward to 1941, we've got theRussell 8 coming back, the Rompsey Special
has been renamed the Richards Specialbecause William Richards bought out his
partners and set out to campaign again.
And there's a newentrant, the Hunt Special.
This was really a Studebaker,if I could say Skunk Works
Project, an off books project.
Studebaker was kind of eyeing up the 500,but they weren't 100 percent sure they
(15:50):
wanted to go in and have a grand failure.
Looking ahead at what Ford V8s and theMiller component there a few years later,
trying to get those cars to work well.
Studebaker wanted to hedge their bets,so they commissioned George Hunt,
their director of testing, to createa Studebaker powered car for the 500.
Instead of a home built special,they contracted Herman Ringling
from Indianapolis to supply thebody and chassis, and then they used
(16:11):
the Studebaker President engine.
Which, conveniently, was up to ninemain bearings for the 1931 model year.
Wouldn't they have loved tohave nine main bearings in 1930?
Well, they added that for1931, and continued to raid the
rest of the Studebaker partsbins for the remaining parts.
The brakes came from the StudebakerDictator and Studebaker 6 models.
The rear axle came from a 29 President.
(16:31):
And other odds and ends,gauges and whatnot, were
sourced from other parts bins.
The big news?
Russell 8 took the pole in 1931.
Now, the Duesenberg and Miller guysdidn't just stay home that year and say,
you know, we're not going to sit there.
No, they were there.
Russell 8, with his home builtStudebaker President 8 engine,
took the pole, finished 5th.
Richards, 12th, had some problems.
I believe they had a ruptured fueltank that year and finished 20th.
(16:52):
And the Hunt special, steady yetunspectacular, managed to finish 18th.
Now Studebaker was satisfied.
They were convinced that theycould really make a go of this.
What a go they did for 1932,the company commissioned four
additional Studebaker specials.
They went back to wrigglingand said, we need four more
what you built for us in 1931.
And again, they were outfittedin the Studebaker shops.
(17:12):
This is actually theStudebaker engineering building
in South Bend, Indiana.
See, Tony GoTo will heara little more from him.
In a minute right there, as theStudebaker specials took shape.
Studebaker advertised thesecars as 85 percent stock.
This is also Depression Era II.
They were trying to say, you know,we're being sensible with our
expenditures, but this is, as Mr.
Roos would say, the next year, justan engineering test of our car, for
(17:33):
cars that we're never going to producefor the public anyway, but you get the
point, went on Sunday, sell on Monday.
Certainly that was playinginto their thinking as well.
Here we see the Studebaker teamat the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
And for drivers, they hadquite an impressive roster.
Of course, we mentioned Tony Gulotta.
We see him right there in the 25 car.
Other drivers included Luther Johnson,another Studebaker test driver.
(17:55):
Cliff Berger, who was a Hollywood stuntmanand also was an available free agent.
Peter Kreese was a building contractorby trade who also, as I said, he
took a month off each year so hecould go racing at Indianapolis.
As one does, apparently.
Most of my friends who are buildingcontractors, they go out on their boat
on the lake in northern Wisconsin.
Routing out the quintet was Zeke Meyer,who had experience as an airline mechanic
and had been dabbling in racing, I believehe started racing in Indianapolis in 1926.
(18:20):
Just from a visual standpoint, youknow, you're from Indiana, home of
Studebaker, you buy your ticket togo sit down at the Grandstand, the
500, and you see Studebaker Special,Studebaker Special, Studebaker Special,
Studebaker Special, who's that?
Oh, Duesenberg, and someone else.
Number 18 car sitting in the pits hereand one of my coworkers was looking at
this picture and they said, What's that?
And I said, Well, thatlooks to be the men's room.
(18:40):
My coworker, Joe McCoy, our assistantdirector said, Where's the ladies room?
I did not have a good answer for thatbecause I could not find it anywhere.
So at the start of the race, Studebakerdrivers were really stressed.
It's important to finish the race.
Again, they're not gonna just pull overand do leisurely drives around the track.
There's definitely competition going on.
But they were instructed,try and finish the race.
There's much more value in that.
(19:01):
So, with a very moderate, aggressivestandpoint, and they knew that the
Studebakers would hold together, whereaslet the other cars break themselves.
Ultimately, this strategyproved to be successful.
Studebaker did not win theIndianapolis 500 in any of the years
they competed, I'm sorry to say.
However, they did finish 3rd in1932, which year started 10th,
3rd, and the other teams shook out.
1315, solid showings and all, and alsoa rather lucrative year for Studebaker.
(19:24):
1932, they netted 11, 435 in prize money.
So for not spending a lot on theirspecials, was it a profitable event?
Is any race unprofitable for the company?
But still, I thought that wasa fairly impressive return.
They could have gotten very little,had things gone poorly for them.
So what do you have in store for 1933?
Well, if you aren't changing something,if someone else will and they're
(19:44):
going to catch you, and Studebakerdefinitely had it on their minds that
they needed to up their game for 1933.
What that brought wasnew streamlined bodies.
They used scale models just like these,actually with the aid of the University
of Michigan's wind tunnel, to determinewhat could be a more aerodynamic shape.
And this is where you can tell thecompetitorship is starting to show a
little bit with the Studebaker engineers.
Even though they said their cars were 85percent stock and, oh, everything's the
(20:07):
same as last year, they just upped it, no.
No, they didn't.
Because we have in Studebaker'spart number list here, 92
in Studebaker language meansthe 1933 Speedway President.
Notice the name they applied to theirgrandmother, the Speedway President.
In 1931, they had a Speedwaypackage for the President Roadster
with a little higher output.
Certainly making the mostthey could on this campaign.
(20:28):
These entries, 92 race, these are therace only parts for the 1933 model year.
And you come down here,cylinder, part number 180607.
Those were the race onlyblocks for the 1933 race.
They had a few modifications.
They also had specialheads, special camshafts.
And these were only usedin the 1933 model year.
Indianapolis race cars.
This did not cross overto any production model.
(20:50):
If anyone sees a Studebaker straight8 block that has a casting number,
please call me day or night.
Feel free to stop by the house.
I'll give you the address.
The dog will bark a little bit.
Don't worry about that.
He's friendly.
But there are only two ofthese blocks known to exist.
And we see the new streamlinedbodies here on the Studebaker mounts.
You notice only four orfive cars got the new body.
Studebaker had chosen to sell one of thecars, the 47 car, and it was actually
(21:11):
technically owned by Ab Jenkins.
Another noted racing driverwho had actually done many
campaigns for Studebaker,particularly for endurance racing.
And he was actually slated to be one ofthe drivers for the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
Unfortunately, he found closed coursedriving was not really to his strengths.
He much preferred endurance driving,so eventually he relented the
driver's seat to someone else.
But as such, because Studebakerdid not own the car, they weren't
(21:33):
paying for a free body for Mr.
Jenkins, so only the four carshere got the new coachwork.
So how effective was this?
Well, the Studebaker bodies and the extraengine components bought them an extra
three to five miles an hour of qualifyingspeed, which was fairly significant.
As I mentioned before, the rest ofthe field was upping their game.
Spread from 1931, 16 miles anhour from fastest to slowest.
For 1932, it was six miles an hour.
(21:54):
For 1933, it was nine miles an hour.
Now, compare this to the last year ofthe very exclusive 91 cubic inch formula.
That was about a, uh, 18 milean hour top to bottom speed.
So you were seeing a lot more competitiveracing from the junk formula, really
achieving what they had hoped for.
And this shot, of course, infront of Indy's iconic Gota.
And representation of the PierceAero connection here, too.
(22:15):
We see in the back one of thePierce Aero silver Aero show cars.
Piercero built these forthe 1933 Auto Show Circuit.
They only built five.
These were actually built in Studebaker'sExperimental Body Shop in South Bend,
and, uh, one made it down to the Speedwayfor publicity purchases at that time.
So, the start of the race again.
Studebaker was going through acautious race, but there were also
some additional entrants at theStudebaker Contingent that year.
(22:36):
A number of privateers joined the fray.
We'll talk about them in a minute.
Pictures you see, I've seen many ofthese, and I always assume the numbers
on the grill were just airbrushedin by the photographers after the
fact for identification purposes.
It's like, oh no, they put those onthe day of, and he had, here, look
at this picture, and it was a pictureof the number 34 car, and yeah, it
must have been placed on hastily withtape or paint or something like that.
(22:56):
They literally painted thenumber on the front of the car.
So here we go for 1933.
This is the Studebaker roster right here.
We see the wriggling chassis cars.
You get the StudebakerSpecial, the factory teams.
Russell Snowberger was backwith a new chassis, Russell 8.
And you had some other, uh,interesting cars in here as well.
The Art Rose Special,driven by Dave Evans.
(23:17):
That was a front wheel drive automobile.
And it was actually powered byStudebaker's smaller straight eight
engine, the 250 cubic inch unit thatwas used in the 1929 Commander and
up through the 1942 President line.
I gotta call out this one here.
Yes, this was a Duesenberg chassisedrace car with a Studebaker engine, which
is not something I ever thought I'd sayin my life, and I'm gonna say it again.
The chassis was Duesenberg,the engine was Studebaker.
(23:38):
Doc McKenzie piloted that to an18th place finish after 192 laps.
And we had three guys who were unableto qualify, Brady and Nardi, Allegheny
Metal, and the Snell brothers.
And I felt bad for Mr.
Speed Gardner, because he has an awesomeracing nickname, and he failed to
qualify two years in the Studebaker cars.
So, I don't know if he went back tohis given name after that or not.
The team best finisher for the Studebakerteam was the number 34 Studebaker Special.
(24:01):
It came in 7th.
We saw one of the privateersactually came in 6th.
And you look at the finish here,we had 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
were all Studebaker powered.
From the starting standpoint, just over20 percent of the Studebaker powered from
the factory teams and the privateers.
The bodies were great.
There was a minor flaw, however.
(24:22):
The streamlining was so good, thecockpits were like Dutch ovens.
And the drivers were coming in saying,I can't go on anymore, it's too hot.
And supposedly, one story circulatedthat they used a fire axe to actually
chop holes into the car to getsome ventilation into the cockpit.
That was not the case.
As you can see here, I don'tsee any evidence of axe
trauma anywhere on the car.
And this was rebunked later by someof the other engineers saying, I
(24:42):
No, no, we use more conventionalmethods to keep the drivers cool.
Studebaker, of course, wasted noproblems advertising their success.
From the Speedway comes the stamina.
From the Skyway comes their style.
They created this wonderfullogo of the circling car on the
racetrack and an airplane flying.
Seven of the first twelve winnersat Indianapolis were Studebakers.
How did you have seven winners at a race?
No, you won third place.
(25:02):
You won seventh place.
You won twelfth place.
It's all in the copywriting, really.
Studebaker promoted that far and wide thattheir cars had been so successful that
Indianapolis and U2 could buy a Studebakerwith that racing predigreed engine.
Unfortunately, Studebaker had enteredreceivership in March of 1933.
The company was broke, plain and simple.
The only reason they continued atthe Indianapolis race was they were
(25:23):
able to convince the creditors thisis essentially bought and paid for.
Whatever our plans were, thiswill be good publicity that
we're still trying to go on.
But when Studebaker enteredreceivership, that meant the end of
the factory backed racing program.
The cars were sold off.
Company memo, this was issuedon August 28th of 1933.
Serial numbers 50 weresold off at 1, 000 a piece.
(25:44):
And verified with, these is actually fromthe 34 car, the engine number and the
serial number that correspond with memo.
But Sudebaker was still not done racing.
They were happy to enterthe power plant business.
The smaller Commander 8, used inthe Art Rose Special, they were
willing to supply those to racersat the mere cost of 750 a piece.
And with that, you got A fullydressed race engine ready to go.
(26:05):
See, when I say fully dressed,you've got the carburetors.
Four carburetor intake, the magnetos.
By the way, these are the same magnetosthat some Bugatti race cars use.
Which, amazingly, the interchangeabilityhas not brought down their price
at all, on the current market.
Since we're back in 34, and it wasall privateers from here on out.
As I mentioned, the Art Rose Specialwith his front wheel drive, that's
the Schrader Special for 1934.
The Russell 8, again, RussellSnowberger really had the secret
(26:27):
sauce for getting performance.
He actually finished far better thanany of the Studebaker team drivers.
Luke and I were talking about this before.
We never figured out whyhe didn't hook on a team.
Well, maybe he was just makingmore money being by himself than
he was actually under the employof the Studebaker Corporation.
Studebaker power continuedin 1935 and 1936.
But by 1935, a new name was startingto appear in the Indianapolis 500
(26:49):
leaderboard, and that was Offenhauser.
And you can wonder, what wouldhave happened had Studebaker
not entered receivership?
Well, I think the, how the racingwas going, I don't know how much
longer they could have been a player.
I mean, even without factorysupport, they continued to go
as long as, we'll see, 1939.
I'm in here, but this is 1937.
This is actually the original 22 carfrom 1933 that had been sold off.
It was a Sobonite plastic special in1937, and the last of the Studebaker
(27:12):
cars to campaign at the 500.
Another privateer, Joel Thorne Special.
This was Schrader Specialwe just saw previously.
Unfortunately was out of the mixafter an accident during qualifying.
This car still survives today.
Unfortunately still with thedamage to the front wheel drive
componentry which we found out doesnot interchange with an L29 cord.
So he's figuring out how to repair that.
The Greenfield Service Special.
(27:33):
In 1937, this started life asthe American Twist Drill Special.
And this was a Perseverance Award.
He tried to qualify three, fouryears in a row, did not make it.
Finally was able to punch throughand has the distinction of being the
last Studebaker powered entry to runat the 500 in 1939, finished 24th.
But not the last attemptat Indianapolis to qualify.
The Kiel Osborne Special of 1947.
(27:56):
This was put together bytwo Studebaker engineers.
The body was designed by Virgil Exner, whoat that time was in Studebaker styling.
And again, went back to the 250 cubicinch President, now the Studebaker
President, engine to power the car.
Unfortunately, the car did notqualify, despite two years of attempts.
They just did not have enoughdevelopment time and resources to
proceed and make it successful.
(28:17):
As for the Sobonite PlasticSpecial, we just saw Virgil Exner.
Bought this car from Studebaker,turned it into a sports car.
Virgil Exner Jr.
is still with us and livesin South Bend, Indiana.
He remembers going out tomeets all across East Side.
We were driving an absurd amountof speed on the new Pennsylvania
Turnpike with this car.
People were amazed that we gotfrom one side of the Turnpike to
the other as fast as we could.
(28:37):
The SCCA guys did not want to letthem in because they said that's a
race car, that's not a sports car.
Eventually they relented, probablypointing out they'd driven all
the way from South Bend, Indiana.
Studebaker bought this car backon at least two or three occasions
because it appeared at the 1952Indianapolis 500 when Studebaker paced
the event, and we'll have more on thedisposition of that car in a moment.
And here we see Studebaker in 1962,they bought the 22 car back, as I
(29:01):
mentioned, for the second or thirdtime with orders to restore it and
also have it functional at its Racingcapable speeds from 1932, so they could
show off that at the Indianapolis 500.
Joining him was the freshlyrestored 34 Special from the
Brooks Stevens Collection.
As Studebaker was showing offtheir brand new sports model.
They did have some difficulty gettingthe 22 car back together because as
(29:21):
strange as this may sound, when theywent to rebuild the engine, no one had
any bearings for the big President 8.
This was the Studebaker factory.
They took to sending telegrams todealers all over the United States.
Does anyone have a set of bearingsfor a 33 President engine?
They eventually found that becausethe Pierce Arrow Straight 8 was
also designed by Barney Roos and isidentical in many formats with critical
measurements of Studebaker, thatengine was used in fire trucks until,
(29:44):
I think, right around World War II.
They actually found they were able toadapt some Pierce engine bearings and
be able to get the car going again.
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
And here we get into the nebulouspart of what constitutes a car.
The running joke with theStudebaker Specials is, of the
five were built, eight remain.
We'll get to that in a minute here.
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
This is currently out at the PriceMuseum of Speed in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(30:04):
Number 34, Studebaker special.
It, too, suffered the indignityof a roadster body applied to it.
The original body sat outside agarage in Chicago for many years.
It was actually advertised, I believeit was in Car Classics magazine.
And the 34 car was acquired byBrooks Stevens in the late 1950s.
It was sitting on a used carlot in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Brooks knew what they had, so he gotit and commissioned a restoration.
(30:27):
He actually had the backsection of the body rebuilt from
scratch, just from photographs.
And they were nearly done, andsomeone calls and says, Hey,
we have the original body.
Do you want it?
How much?
I heard that I think it was 25.
Nope.
Don't want it.
Don't need it.
That body is actually out in California aspart of another Studebaker Tribute Racer.
Or is it not a Tribute Racer becauseit has part of the original body?
That's a debate for another time.
(30:47):
The 22 car is down at the IndianapolisMotor Speedway Museum, currently on loan
to us at Studebaker National Museum.
Now here's where it gets a little foggy.
The 18 car, still with us, you seeit right here, this is actually out
from the vintage races in California.
The body, grill, and someaftermarket frame rails were
found in a garage in Chicago.
The story is, it was the mostcrowded garage you ever saw, but
(31:10):
there was the Studebaker body.
Collector Mike Cleary from Californiaacquired the body with aid of a
Studebaker President Parts carand a lot of fabrication skills.
Mike is a very skilled engineer.
They were able to create the new No.
18 car.
As for the original chassis of No.
18, that car went down to South Africa.
And it was actually raced up into the1950s, at which point it was disassembled,
broken down, and used for spares.
(31:31):
The story I heard was the enginewas actually used to power a
Studebaker President Hearstfrom the early 1920s after that.
And we have boots on theground in South Africa.
They're still trying to track down anyremnants of this car, but I'm afraid
that one is lost to the mists of time.
And lastly, the Kill Osborne Special,it was sat in a garage in South Bend,
Indiana for a number of years until theguys who had it said, you know, this
isn't really practical as a race car.
(31:52):
We're going to make a home built roadsterout of it using 1950 ish Studebaker parts.
The car still survives today.
No one really knows where it is.
We suspect it might be in theSouth Bend area, but we'll save
that for talk some other time.
And with that, I will behappy to field any questions.
That logo that was fromthe Skyway comes the style?
(32:13):
From the Speedway comes their stamina,from the Skyway comes their style.
Is that a Chicago Skyway bridge reference?
No, it was referring to aviation, justthe byways and skyways of America.
Oh, so it's an aviation reference.
Yeah, because they actually hadthe little, uh, airplane going up.
And that was really, Studebaker washung up on the whole Skyway moniker.
In fact, they introduced a trim levelin 1941, the Skyway series of cars.
(32:33):
They really, uh, Really?
We're pushing that hard.
Oh, very good.
Thank you.
The mantra for a long time, since thethirties actually was went on Sunday,
sell on Monday, did Studebaker get in toracing in order to help sell production
cars and if so, and, and obviouslythey were in it for a fair length of
time, but they went into receivership.
So.
It didn't really seem to help, butit was a very ambitious effort.
(32:55):
I'm just wondering if it correlatedto trying to sell production cars.
I feel bad that I didn't includegraphs in here, because it would
actually be very depressing.
Did the success in 1932 withthe third place finish help
the president model for 1933?
Nope.
33 was the worst sales year and thedepression had a lot to do with that,
trying to sell their luxury model.
Did it help them buy time with thereceivership to show their viability?
(33:17):
You can't really measure that,but the fact that there was
interest, there was helpability.
The sales were one part of it.
Studebaker President Albert Erskinealso, his business practices had
a lot to do with receivership.
You know what happens to your capitalreserves when you pay out a dividend
and yours you don't show profit?
They go away very quickly.
In 1932 or 33, he paid out 506percent of net profits in dividends.
(33:38):
And that's what happens when you payout dividends when you show a loss.
He was convinced prosperitywas just around the corner.
It's not.
And Studebaker suffered the consequences.
And it's really, Studebaker couldhave folded up the tent in 1933.
That could have happened very easily, butthey managed to convince the bankruptcy
judge that their best course of actionto satisfying their creditors was And
they hung on for another 20, 30 years.
(33:59):
Do you know what the last race carto be powered by a Studebaker was?
We'll have to define your termsa little bit here, but go ahead.
Okay, in 1965, the Canadian Grand Prix,for the most part, David Hobbs drove
a Lola T70 powered by a Studebaker.
He qualified second.
It was entered by, uh, Harold YoungRacing, I believe, the Canadian team.
I did not know that.
Mr.
Hobbs was just down atthe Chattanooga Concours.
(34:19):
I wish I could havediscussed that with you.
No, no.
So you went through years rapidly there.
Which year did they take the pole?
1931.
Alright, 31.
Then was it the following yearthey had multiple cars, but nothing
more than 7th or 8th position?
In 31, Russell Snowberger took the pole.
He was a privateer.
He did not work for Studebaker, but itwas the Russell 8 with the present engine.
(34:42):
The team in 32, they had their bestfinish 3rd, the number 22 car, I believe.
Cliff Ger was behind the wheel ofthat car and in 33 they were moving
a little back in the qualifying, butthey also, they hung in 33 was one of
the most traumatic races the Speedwayever saw, just with the carnage.
And I wanna say there was only 14or 16 cars running at the end of
(35:02):
the race, but all the Studebakerteam was able to finish race.
They never really had anyterrible mechanical difficulties.
But yeah, when that's, when they sayseven places, actually six through
12 in 1933 were all Studebaker power.
So why the drop off?
Because of the carnage of the race?
I mean, they Well, I mean, racing IfI remember the qualifying speeds or
whatever, they seem to suddenly drop down.
(35:25):
The qualifying, they actuallypicked up a couple miles an hour
qualifying from 30 to 33 with thenew bodies and the new engines.
But relative to the competition?
Relative to the competition, yeah.
You started to see some of the morespecialized You know, the Miller
Duesenberg engine cars of that ilkwere starting to spread the gap.
And, like I said, when theOffenhauser came online in 35, you
could really see the handwritingon the wall for the stock locks.
(35:46):
That was fascinating.
Thanks, Hender.
Appreciate it.
Yes, they did race at Indy, Kip.
Yes, they did, I guess.
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(36:08):
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Studebaker at Indianapolis.
(00:20):
While Studebaker is rarely the firstname one thinks of when discussing
motorsports, the company had astrong yet brief presence at the
Indianapolis 500 in the early 1930s.
Studebaker laid the groundwork withthe introduction of the President's
inline 8 cylinder engine in early 1928.
The advent of the Indianapolis500's 1930 rule changes opened the
(00:41):
door for production based entries,and the president's rugged eight
powered a pair of private entries.
These Studebaker engine specials showedpromise and led to the development
of Studebaker's corporate team.
This presentation will detail the originsand evolution of Studebaker powered
race cars beginning in 1930, with aspecial emphasis on the company's factory
backed campaigns in 1932 and 1933.
(01:02):
Additional focus will be placed on thetechnical development of Studebaker
race cars, as well as the postStudebaker disposition of the team
cars and their present day status.
Sources include Studebaker's corporatearchives and image collection at
the Studebaker National Museum, plusperiod publications and race accounts.
Additional data is drawn from secondarysources profiling the Studebaker
(01:22):
team, plus owner research compiledduring their stewardship of the cars.
Andrew Beckman has been with theStudebaker National Museum since 1999
and currently serves as archivist.
He previously worked at the SheboyganCounty Historical Society in Sheboygan,
Wisconsin and the Wade House StateHistoric Site in Greenbush, Wisconsin.
Mr.
Beckman hails from Manitowoc, Wisconsinand holds a BA in History from the
(01:45):
University of Wisconsin Green Bay.
In 2004, he completed the Modern ArchivesInstitute at the National Archives and
Records Administration in Washington, D.
C.
In 2009, he earned his mid levelcertificate in Collections and
Preservation from the CampbellCenter for Historic Preservation
Studies in Mount Carolina, Illinois.
Andrew Beckman is the author of theStudebaker National Museum, Over a
(02:06):
Century on Wheels, and Studebaker'sLast Dance, the Avanti, and is a
columnist for the Studebaker DriversClub Magazine, Turning Wheels.
In addition to his duties at theStudebaker National Museum, Mr.
Beckman is a member of and pastpresident of the Society of Automotive
Historians, and he serves as acommentator for the Henry Ford Museum's
Motor, Muster, and Old Car Fest.
So we will begin our final afternoonsession with Andrew, who's going
(02:30):
to be discussing Studebaker atthe Speedway, so please welcome.
Andrew Beckman.
Thank you for having me today.
It's my first time out here at theconference in general and also my
first time to this part of New York.
It's absolutely beautifulto answer Kip's question.
He asked me beforehand.
Yes, Studebaker did raceat the Indianapolis 500.
So you're gonna have to stayfor the whole thing now.
I'm sorry.
(02:51):
We're merely conducting an exactingtest of our cars stated a Studebaker
executive on a fine spring day in 1933.
The executive was Studebaker'schief engineer, Barney Roos.
He was standing at the IndianapolisMotor Speedway in front of the
team of Studebaker race cars.
His full quote was, as was ourpolicy last year, Studebaker is not
trying to win the Indianapolis race.
We are merely conducting anexacting test of our cars.
(03:14):
He went on to say he had a bridgeto sell you in Brooklyn and he
also had some land in Floridayou might be interested as well.
For if anyone believes thatanyone entering a race is not
trying to win, well, certainlywouldn't lend them any money.
Now, Studebaker is, I realize, notthe first name that comes to mind
when you speak of motorsports.
In fact, it's not even the first namethat comes to mind if you speak of
motorsports from South Bend, Indiana.
(03:35):
Thank you, Ryan Newman, for that.
But Studebaker, for its 114 yearsof vehicle manufacturing, had
a very limited but very intenseperiod of motorsports competition.
Now this is somewhat of a surprise.
You would think maybe the Studebakerbrothers, the company's founders,
had something against motorsports.
No, this was not the case.
In fact, Henry and ClemensStudebaker were avid horsemen.
(03:55):
J.
M., all the brothers, loveda fast race or so the day.
In fact, in 1881, J.
M.
had just acquired a new mount,and he felt that his horse was
faster than his brother Clem's.
His brothers are wont to do.
They took exception to this thesis, andthey decided the only logical thing to
do was to settle this on Lafayette Streetin front of the Studebaker administration
building in South Bend, Indiana.
(04:15):
Unfortunately, they passed by a localtown marshal who immediately cited
them for speeding and forced them toappear before the chief magistrate,
who was also the mayor of South Bend.
Despite a full throated defenseof their actions, they were fined
2 in course costs and furthermoreagreed never to do it again.
Again, if you believe that, well, Iwouldn't put too much stock in that.
As Studebaker transitioned tothe automobile age, the early
(04:36):
Studebaker automobile history isnot one of just building automobiles
out of the Studebaker factory.
They were essentially marketing carsproduced by other upstart companies.
After all, Studebakerhad the name recognition.
They'd been around since the 1850s.
They were the worldwide leaderof horse drawn equipment.
The new EMF models forEverett Metzger Flanders.
That was the larger of the two models inthe Flanders 20, given for its horsepower.
(04:56):
Those as well as some Garford modelsand even one of their electrics competed
regularly in local contests throughoutthe early part of the 20th century.
The EMF in Flanders down all competingcars in the first sanctioned race meet of
the season on Montgomery, Alabama's track.
And of course pointing you to where youcould go out and buy one of these new race
proven Flanders 20 and EMF 30 automobiles.
Yet despite this early flurry of activity,Studebaker really stepped back from
(05:20):
encouraging their cars in competition.
Studebaker was really more playing offtheir name, again, their reputation.
You could go to your Studebaker dealer,you were going to get a solidly built
car, you would pay a little more forit, they certainly weren't competing
with Henry Ford in the low price field,but you could count on getting a solid,
middle priced car from Studebaker.
And indeed, theirreputation spoke for itself.
We have a 1919 Big Six in thecollection that logged 475, 000 miles.
(05:42):
Not as a company test vehicle, butas a privately owned automobile.
And Studebaker felt this wasnoteworthy, hence they bought it back
for inclusion in their collection.
The first appearance of Studebakerat the Speedway was in 1924.
This deserves a bit of an asterisk here.
The Studebaker Special No.
8, driven by Earl Cooper,actually placed second that year.
And I will point out the Studebakercomponents on this car right now.
(06:03):
That would be the decal on the sidehere, and also the radiator badge.
This is a Miller engine,Miller chassis body.
If you're familiar at all with, uh,Indianapolis race cars, the rules formula
for that time, these were all veryspecialized, high performance vehicles.
And let's face it, Studebaker's 40horsepower, light six engine was probably
not going to cut it on the field that day.
And Studebaker at this periodtoo was in a bit of a crossroads.
(06:23):
They had, at one time, the topengineering team in the industry with
Owen Skelton, Carl Breer, and Fred Zeder.
They worked for Studebakerin the late teens.
They developed Studebaker'spopular Big Six model.
But they had a falling out withcompany executive Albert Erskine.
He was actually the president at the time.
And they packed their bagsand headed off to Chrysler.
And did very well for Mr.
Chrysler and his new corporation,which debuted in 1924.
(06:45):
Studebaker also had a problem in theearly 20s of, really, one of marketing.
There was a survey done of the industryat some point and it figured out
Studebaker had one of the narrowestprice margins in the industry.
That is, from their leastexpensive automobile to their
most expensive automobile.
Erskine realized this, but he alsorealized Studebaker needed more capacity.
They needed larger factories.
So starting in the late teens up tothe mid twenties, he was trying to
(07:06):
overhaul Studebaker's plant complex.
And when that was in place, he thoughtabout reinvigorating the model lineup.
I had mentioned the Light6 previously and the Big 6.
Their middle priced modelwas called the Special 6.
Let's face it, from a marketingstandpoint, these are not
very stimulating names.
Their marketing partnergot it in gear in 1927.
The Big 6 became the commander andcertain models became the president.
(07:26):
The Special 6 became the dictator.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
That's a talk for another time.
The Commander, however, andparticularly the Commander Roadster
with the three musketeers designedBig Six engine, it was noted for
being an incredibly reliable engine.
In terms of its engineeringstyle, robust would be your words.
Someone had said that Studebaker'sengineering philosophy was there's no
substitute for cast iron, and if you can'tcast a glance at one of these engines,
(07:49):
you'd be hard pressed to dispel that.
Developed a massive amount of torque.
It could churn along all day, Studebaker.
Actually gave it fullpressure lubrication in 1924.
And with that, they saw, well, wehave this very rugged automobile.
Let's go out and do some testing with it.
We'll do some racing.
Again, these were more privateevents, not necessarily sanctioned by
Studebaker, but certainly not exactlydiscouraged by the company heads either.
This is at the Amatol Speedwayin Atlantic City, New Jersey.
(08:12):
And we see a couple ofcommanders right there.
And of course, I wouldn't be showing youthis picture if they did not win the race.
And again, the carsheld together very well.
You got a very rugged, a very solidautomobile with the Commander Big Six.
They sent three more commandersback to Atlantic City in 1928.
And the orders were to complete 25,000 miles as quickly as possible.
The commander you see right therein front, the roadster, completed
(08:35):
that task in 23, 000 minutes.
Now, 23, 000 minutes is a bit of atricky concept to wrap your head around.
Anyone good at math in here?
How long is 23, 000 minutes?
Put it in days.
Anyone?
Anyone?
I see Luke furrowing his brow.
I gotta tell you, the grade schoolersI give tours to figure this out a
whole lot faster than you guys dohere, but, uh, it comes out to 16 days.
So for 16 days, day and night,these commanders lapped, Rain or
(08:58):
shine, through mid and darkness,and it was not running time.
The clock started when they startedthe first mile, and it stopped
when they completed the 25, 000s.
It was a new record, and in fact,Studebaker proudly proclaimed, Nothing
on Earth has gone so far, so fast.
Now as part of Albert Erskine's grandplans for the company, marketing the
product as one end, he had to do somethingabout expanding Studebaker's price reach.
(09:19):
So with that, he acquired the PierceArrow Corporation in the late 1920s,
I believe it was early 1928, togive Studebaker a luxury brand.
He wanted to introduce a lowpriced model called the Erskine.
Modestly named, one might say, butthe Erskine VI, it had an incredibly
handsome car designed by Ray Dietrich.
Unfortunately, it had that fatal flawin the automobile industry of being
both overpriced and underpowered.
And the Erskine was not a success inthe market, especially when this new
(09:42):
product from Chrysler and Plymouth andFord's Model A came on the scene later.
The Erskine really never had a chance,and unfortunately, it disappeared from
the landscape just a few years later.
On the other end of the line,however, was Studer's President 8.
The President, as I mentioned, initiallystarted as a upscale model of the
Big 6 when they renamed that line.
But for 1928, the all new modelF A President came out, and with
(10:04):
it came a fresh engine design.
313 cubic inch inline eight cylinderengine, fresh off the drawing boards
from new chief engineer Delmer G.
Barney Roos.
Mr.
Roos had previously done stints Marmon.
He had a good engineering mind, and hewas The chief engineer that Studebaker
was looking for at the right time.
The President 8 was really a hotperformer for the day, and kind of
(10:24):
very out of character for Studebaker'ssteady yet solid reputation.
And they immediately realized theyhad a pretty hot car on their hands.
Back they went to the Amatol Speedwaywith a quartet of presidents.
This time the goal was 30, 000 miles,in which the roads through up front
there completed in 26, 000 minutes.
So that's about 19 days.
Again, Studebaker was doing things thatno other automaker was equal to able.
(10:47):
I believe Hudson went out and dida similar test, but they counted
driving time instead of actuallycontinuous running clock last time.
And you got to think Studebakerwas really on to something here.
Erskine, in his mind, I think he waslooking at going kind of the General
Motors route, a car for every personpurpose, really expanding into the luxury
market, and expanded Studebaker's reachand awareness, trying to really rebrand
Studebaker from that old horse drawnair manufacturer to someone who's really
(11:09):
bringing you some exciting automobiles.
Now the Studebaker President 8 might havesounded like an ideal power plant for
the Indianapolis 500, and fortunatelythe rules at the time were such that
that engine simply did not qualify.
They had a maximum displacementof 91 cubic inches.
And again, we hear the names Millerand Duesenberg bandied about a lot
during talk of the 500 at that time.
Thankfully, there were no restrictionson displacement for the pace cars, and
(11:30):
Studebaker was selected to serve as thepace car for the 1929 race, and also
supplied a trio of official cars as well.
And here we see the Pace car,you know, festooned as one would
be, so there's no mistaking, thisis most definitely the Pace car.
Anyone identify this?
I know an Indianapolis figure,a name that will sound familiar,
and you'll probably go, Oh, yeah.
Anyone?
(11:51):
Well, that would be Harry Hartz.
And sitting behind the wheel is, if youget this one, I'll give you 5 right now.
Miss Anita Page, a star of the screen,an actress, and she was actually appeared
in an Academy Award winning movie, TheBroadway Melody, available on Netflix,
check it out tonight back at the hotel.
Now, back when I was in high school, someguy tooled around town in his Chevy Monte
(12:13):
Carlo pace car replica, and apparently,I'm not sure if it came with the jacket
and the hat and, you know, everythingelse, or if he stopped at the pro shop
on his way out, but, I mean, there wasno mistake in that car driving around
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and of course,I'm sure a lot of you remember the
pace car replicas from the later 60s,early 70s, uh, at our Concord and South
Bend, we had one of the I think it wasearly 70s Oldsmobile pace car replicas.
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This is not a new concept.
I came to learn when I wasputting this talk together.
Studebaker commissioned 30 replicasof the 1929 Indianapolis 500 President
Roadster powered by the 115 horsepowerStudebaker President 8 motor.
This car possesses the speed andendurance so strikingly demonstrated
by its record breaking performanceof 30, 000 miles in 26, 326 minutes.
They weren't wasting a beaton promoting that achievement.
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One of these cars still survivestoday, believe it or not.
It was found, it had been repaintedseveral times, and the seller had
actually promoted, Oh, you know, thisis one of the Pace cars, replicas,
and the guy who bought it was like,Yeah, sure, right, you know, you're
trying to boost the price a little bit.
Then as he's stripping thepaint, he found the unique paint
scheme that was only supplied.
On those 30 cars, so it's good toknow one of those is still with us.
Well, ahead of the 1929 race, there was anannouncement for rules changes for 1930.
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In particular, displacementwas up to 366 cubic inches.
Minimum weight was established,I believe it was 1, 750 pounds.
The riding mechanic came backand a few other choices to really
open the door for stock enginedvehicles at the Indianapolis 500.
And as you might imagine, some people werelooking at Studebaker's new President 8.
They said, this might be a prettygood idea to look into this as well.
(13:40):
Now, this period at the 500, the early,the so called junk formula period, this
was very much like open mic night atthe Indianapolis 500 for a couple years
with all the different manufacturers.
In 1930, you had Buick, Stutz, Oakland,Chrysler, this along with a couple of
Maseratis, Mercedes Benz chassis car.
Literally, the quote unquote junk formulawhere, you know, run what you brung.
(14:02):
Looking through the picturesbefore putting this together, and
there's the picture of the Stutz.
And it literally looks like a guy wentand got a Stutz Roadster, took the
fenders, the splash aprons, running boardsoff, and painted a number on the side,
and he was able to qualify and race.
The Studebaker entries for that year,a quintet of Studebaker engineers
got together, said, hey, we canbuild an Indianapolis 500 race car.
They called it the Rompthie Special.
(14:24):
That may sound like an odd name.
Well, it was the first initial ofthe last names of the engineers,
and they added an E on the end tomake it at least pronounceable.
But we see J.
C.
McDonald, that's the M inRompthy, as the driver.
And William Richards, the R in theRompthy, as the riding mechanic.
And another name, a privateer,if you will, that was Russell
Snowberger in the Russell 8.
And he also competed with his, PaulRice's riding mechanic, and they
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qualified for the 1930 Indianapolis 500,one of the many stock blockers there.
And here we see a Russell 8 motor.
Studebaker's present enginewas given the usual massaging.
You see the magneto downthere, four carburetor intake,
raised compression ratio.
The standard hot rodding features to geta little more output out of the engine.
So how did they do?
Well, the Rompton qualified 13th.
It finished 13th.
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And the Russell 8 qualified 7thand finished 8th, the top finish
of the stock block entries.
Billy Arnold was actually thewinner that year, having the
lead from start to finish.
But to give you an idea of howthe race was going, the first
year of the junk formula, In 1929,your slowest, fastest qualifying
speed was about 18 miles an hour.
18 miles an hour spread on there.
But you'll see the stockblockers are trying to figure
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things out as the years go on.
So fast forward to 1941, we've got theRussell 8 coming back, the Rompsey Special
has been renamed the Richards Specialbecause William Richards bought out his
partners and set out to campaign again.
And there's a newentrant, the Hunt Special.
This was really a Studebaker,if I could say Skunk Works
Project, an off books project.
Studebaker was kind of eyeing up the 500,but they weren't 100 percent sure they
(15:50):
wanted to go in and have a grand failure.
Looking ahead at what Ford V8s and theMiller component there a few years later,
trying to get those cars to work well.
Studebaker wanted to hedge their bets,so they commissioned George Hunt,
their director of testing, to createa Studebaker powered car for the 500.
Instead of a home built special,they contracted Herman Ringling
from Indianapolis to supply thebody and chassis, and then they used
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the Studebaker President engine.
Which, conveniently, was up to ninemain bearings for the 1931 model year.
Wouldn't they have loved tohave nine main bearings in 1930?
Well, they added that for1931, and continued to raid the
rest of the Studebaker partsbins for the remaining parts.
The brakes came from the StudebakerDictator and Studebaker 6 models.
The rear axle came from a 29 President.
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And other odds and ends,gauges and whatnot, were
sourced from other parts bins.
The big news?
Russell 8 took the pole in 1931.
Now, the Duesenberg and Miller guysdidn't just stay home that year and say,
you know, we're not going to sit there.
No, they were there.
Russell 8, with his home builtStudebaker President 8 engine,
took the pole, finished 5th.
Richards, 12th, had some problems.
I believe they had a ruptured fueltank that year and finished 20th.
(16:52):
And the Hunt special, steady yetunspectacular, managed to finish 18th.
Now Studebaker was satisfied.
They were convinced that theycould really make a go of this.
What a go they did for 1932,the company commissioned four
additional Studebaker specials.
They went back to wrigglingand said, we need four more
what you built for us in 1931.
And again, they were outfittedin the Studebaker shops.
(17:12):
This is actually theStudebaker engineering building
in South Bend, Indiana.
See, Tony GoTo will heara little more from him.
In a minute right there, as theStudebaker specials took shape.
Studebaker advertised thesecars as 85 percent stock.
This is also Depression Era II.
They were trying to say, you know,we're being sensible with our
expenditures, but this is, as Mr.
Roos would say, the next year, justan engineering test of our car, for
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cars that we're never going to producefor the public anyway, but you get the
point, went on Sunday, sell on Monday.
Certainly that was playinginto their thinking as well.
Here we see the Studebaker teamat the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
And for drivers, they hadquite an impressive roster.
Of course, we mentioned Tony Gulotta.
We see him right there in the 25 car.
Other drivers included Luther Johnson,another Studebaker test driver.
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Cliff Berger, who was a Hollywood stuntmanand also was an available free agent.
Peter Kreese was a building contractorby trade who also, as I said, he
took a month off each year so hecould go racing at Indianapolis.
As one does, apparently.
Most of my friends who are buildingcontractors, they go out on their boat
on the lake in northern Wisconsin.
Routing out the quintet was Zeke Meyer,who had experience as an airline mechanic
and had been dabbling in racing, I believehe started racing in Indianapolis in 1926.
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Just from a visual standpoint, youknow, you're from Indiana, home of
Studebaker, you buy your ticket togo sit down at the Grandstand, the
500, and you see Studebaker Special,Studebaker Special, Studebaker Special,
Studebaker Special, who's that?
Oh, Duesenberg, and someone else.
Number 18 car sitting in the pits hereand one of my coworkers was looking at
this picture and they said, What's that?
And I said, Well, thatlooks to be the men's room.
(18:40):
My coworker, Joe McCoy, our assistantdirector said, Where's the ladies room?
I did not have a good answer for thatbecause I could not find it anywhere.
So at the start of the race, Studebakerdrivers were really stressed.
It's important to finish the race.
Again, they're not gonna just pull overand do leisurely drives around the track.
There's definitely competition going on.
But they were instructed,try and finish the race.
There's much more value in that.
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So, with a very moderate, aggressivestandpoint, and they knew that the
Studebakers would hold together, whereaslet the other cars break themselves.
Ultimately, this strategyproved to be successful.
Studebaker did not win theIndianapolis 500 in any of the years
they competed, I'm sorry to say.
However, they did finish 3rd in1932, which year started 10th,
3rd, and the other teams shook out.
1315, solid showings and all, and alsoa rather lucrative year for Studebaker.
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1932, they netted 11, 435 in prize money.
So for not spending a lot on theirspecials, was it a profitable event?
Is any race unprofitable for the company?
But still, I thought that wasa fairly impressive return.
They could have gotten very little,had things gone poorly for them.
So what do you have in store for 1933?
Well, if you aren't changing something,if someone else will and they're
(19:44):
going to catch you, and Studebakerdefinitely had it on their minds that
they needed to up their game for 1933.
What that brought wasnew streamlined bodies.
They used scale models just like these,actually with the aid of the University
of Michigan's wind tunnel, to determinewhat could be a more aerodynamic shape.
And this is where you can tell thecompetitorship is starting to show a
little bit with the Studebaker engineers.
Even though they said their cars were 85percent stock and, oh, everything's the
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same as last year, they just upped it, no.
No, they didn't.
Because we have in Studebaker'spart number list here, 92
in Studebaker language meansthe 1933 Speedway President.
Notice the name they applied to theirgrandmother, the Speedway President.
In 1931, they had a Speedwaypackage for the President Roadster
with a little higher output.
Certainly making the mostthey could on this campaign.
(20:28):
These entries, 92 race, these are therace only parts for the 1933 model year.
And you come down here,cylinder, part number 180607.
Those were the race onlyblocks for the 1933 race.
They had a few modifications.
They also had specialheads, special camshafts.
And these were only usedin the 1933 model year.
Indianapolis race cars.
This did not cross overto any production model.
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If anyone sees a Studebaker straight8 block that has a casting number,
please call me day or night.
Feel free to stop by the house.
I'll give you the address.
The dog will bark a little bit.
Don't worry about that.
He's friendly.
But there are only two ofthese blocks known to exist.
And we see the new streamlinedbodies here on the Studebaker mounts.
You notice only four orfive cars got the new body.
Studebaker had chosen to sell one of thecars, the 47 car, and it was actually
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technically owned by Ab Jenkins.
Another noted racing driverwho had actually done many
campaigns for Studebaker,particularly for endurance racing.
And he was actually slated to be one ofthe drivers for the 1932 Indianapolis 500.
Unfortunately, he found closed coursedriving was not really to his strengths.
He much preferred endurance driving,so eventually he relented the
driver's seat to someone else.
But as such, because Studebakerdid not own the car, they weren't
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paying for a free body for Mr.
Jenkins, so only the four carshere got the new coachwork.
So how effective was this?
Well, the Studebaker bodies and the extraengine components bought them an extra
three to five miles an hour of qualifyingspeed, which was fairly significant.
As I mentioned before, the rest ofthe field was upping their game.
Spread from 1931, 16 miles anhour from fastest to slowest.
For 1932, it was six miles an hour.
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For 1933, it was nine miles an hour.
Now, compare this to the last year ofthe very exclusive 91 cubic inch formula.
That was about a, uh, 18 milean hour top to bottom speed.
So you were seeing a lot more competitiveracing from the junk formula, really
achieving what they had hoped for.
And this shot, of course, infront of Indy's iconic Gota.
And representation of the PierceAero connection here, too.
(22:15):
We see in the back one of thePierce Aero silver Aero show cars.
Piercero built these forthe 1933 Auto Show Circuit.
They only built five.
These were actually built in Studebaker'sExperimental Body Shop in South Bend,
and, uh, one made it down to the Speedwayfor publicity purchases at that time.
So, the start of the race again.
Studebaker was going through acautious race, but there were also
some additional entrants at theStudebaker Contingent that year.
(22:36):
A number of privateers joined the fray.
We'll talk about them in a minute.
Pictures you see, I've seen many ofthese, and I always assume the numbers
on the grill were just airbrushedin by the photographers after the
fact for identification purposes.
It's like, oh no, they put those onthe day of, and he had, here, look
at this picture, and it was a pictureof the number 34 car, and yeah, it
must have been placed on hastily withtape or paint or something like that.
(22:56):
They literally painted thenumber on the front of the car.
So here we go for 1933.
This is the Studebaker roster right here.
We see the wriggling chassis cars.
You get the StudebakerSpecial, the factory teams.
Russell Snowberger was backwith a new chassis, Russell 8.
And you had some other, uh,interesting cars in here as well.
The Art Rose Special,driven by Dave Evans.
(23:17):
That was a front wheel drive automobile.
And it was actually powered byStudebaker's smaller straight eight
engine, the 250 cubic inch unit thatwas used in the 1929 Commander and
up through the 1942 President line.
I gotta call out this one here.
Yes, this was a Duesenberg chassisedrace car with a Studebaker engine, which
is not something I ever thought I'd sayin my life, and I'm gonna say it again.
The chassis was Duesenberg,the engine was Studebaker.
(23:38):
Doc McKenzie piloted that to an18th place finish after 192 laps.
And we had three guys who were unableto qualify, Brady and Nardi, Allegheny
Metal, and the Snell brothers.
And I felt bad for Mr.
Speed Gardner, because he has an awesomeracing nickname, and he failed to
qualify two years in the Studebaker cars.
So, I don't know if he went back tohis given name after that or not.
The team best finisher for the Studebakerteam was the number 34 Studebaker Special.
(24:01):
It came in 7th.
We saw one of the privateersactually came in 6th.
And you look at the finish here,we had 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
were all Studebaker powered.
From the starting standpoint, just over20 percent of the Studebaker powered from
the factory teams and the privateers.
The bodies were great.
There was a minor flaw, however.
(24:22):
The streamlining was so good, thecockpits were like Dutch ovens.
And the drivers were coming in saying,I can't go on anymore, it's too hot.
And supposedly, one story circulatedthat they used a fire axe to actually
chop holes into the car to getsome ventilation into the cockpit.
That was not the case.
As you can see here, I don'tsee any evidence of axe
trauma anywhere on the car.
And this was rebunked later by someof the other engineers saying, I
(24:42):
No, no, we use more conventionalmethods to keep the drivers cool.
Studebaker, of course, wasted noproblems advertising their success.
From the Speedway comes the stamina.
From the Skyway comes their style.
They created this wonderfullogo of the circling car on the
racetrack and an airplane flying.
Seven of the first twelve winnersat Indianapolis were Studebakers.
How did you have seven winners at a race?
No, you won third place.
(25:02):
You won seventh place.
You won twelfth place.
It's all in the copywriting, really.
Studebaker promoted that far and wide thattheir cars had been so successful that
Indianapolis and U2 could buy a Studebakerwith that racing predigreed engine.
Unfortunately, Studebaker had enteredreceivership in March of 1933.
The company was broke, plain and simple.
The only reason they continued atthe Indianapolis race was they were
(25:23):
able to convince the creditors thisis essentially bought and paid for.
Whatever our plans were, thiswill be good publicity that
we're still trying to go on.
But when Studebaker enteredreceivership, that meant the end of
the factory backed racing program.
The cars were sold off.
Company memo, this was issuedon August 28th of 1933.
Serial numbers 50 weresold off at 1, 000 a piece.
(25:44):
And verified with, these is actually fromthe 34 car, the engine number and the
serial number that correspond with memo.
But Sudebaker was still not done racing.
They were happy to enterthe power plant business.
The smaller Commander 8, used inthe Art Rose Special, they were
willing to supply those to racersat the mere cost of 750 a piece.
And with that, you got A fullydressed race engine ready to go.
(26:05):
See, when I say fully dressed,you've got the carburetors.
Four carburetor intake, the magnetos.
By the way, these are the same magnetosthat some Bugatti race cars use.
Which, amazingly, the interchangeabilityhas not brought down their price
at all, on the current market.
Since we're back in 34, and it wasall privateers from here on out.
As I mentioned, the Art Rose Specialwith his front wheel drive, that's
the Schrader Special for 1934.
The Russell 8, again, RussellSnowberger really had the secret
(26:27):
sauce for getting performance.
He actually finished far better thanany of the Studebaker team drivers.
Luke and I were talking about this before.
We never figured out whyhe didn't hook on a team.
Well, maybe he was just makingmore money being by himself than
he was actually under the employof the Studebaker Corporation.
Studebaker power continuedin 1935 and 1936.
But by 1935, a new name was startingto appear in the Indianapolis 500
(26:49):
leaderboard, and that was Offenhauser.
And you can wonder, what wouldhave happened had Studebaker
not entered receivership?
Well, I think the, how the racingwas going, I don't know how much
longer they could have been a player.
I mean, even without factorysupport, they continued to go
as long as, we'll see, 1939.
I'm in here, but this is 1937.
This is actually the original 22 carfrom 1933 that had been sold off.
It was a Sobonite plastic special in1937, and the last of the Studebaker
(27:12):
cars to campaign at the 500.
Another privateer, Joel Thorne Special.
This was Schrader Specialwe just saw previously.
Unfortunately was out of the mixafter an accident during qualifying.
This car still survives today.
Unfortunately still with thedamage to the front wheel drive
componentry which we found out doesnot interchange with an L29 cord.
So he's figuring out how to repair that.
The Greenfield Service Special.
(27:33):
In 1937, this started life asthe American Twist Drill Special.
And this was a Perseverance Award.
He tried to qualify three, fouryears in a row, did not make it.
Finally was able to punch throughand has the distinction of being the
last Studebaker powered entry to runat the 500 in 1939, finished 24th.
But not the last attemptat Indianapolis to qualify.
The Kiel Osborne Special of 1947.
(27:56):
This was put together bytwo Studebaker engineers.
The body was designed by Virgil Exner, whoat that time was in Studebaker styling.
And again, went back to the 250 cubicinch President, now the Studebaker
President, engine to power the car.
Unfortunately, the car did notqualify, despite two years of attempts.
They just did not have enoughdevelopment time and resources to
proceed and make it successful.
(28:17):
As for the Sobonite PlasticSpecial, we just saw Virgil Exner.
Bought this car from Studebaker,turned it into a sports car.
Virgil Exner Jr.
is still with us and livesin South Bend, Indiana.
He remembers going out tomeets all across East Side.
We were driving an absurd amountof speed on the new Pennsylvania
Turnpike with this car.
People were amazed that we gotfrom one side of the Turnpike to
the other as fast as we could.
(28:37):
The SCCA guys did not want to letthem in because they said that's a
race car, that's not a sports car.
Eventually they relented, probablypointing out they'd driven all
the way from South Bend, Indiana.
Studebaker bought this car backon at least two or three occasions
because it appeared at the 1952Indianapolis 500 when Studebaker paced
the event, and we'll have more on thedisposition of that car in a moment.
And here we see Studebaker in 1962,they bought the 22 car back, as I
(29:01):
mentioned, for the second or thirdtime with orders to restore it and
also have it functional at its Racingcapable speeds from 1932, so they could
show off that at the Indianapolis 500.
Joining him was the freshlyrestored 34 Special from the
Brooks Stevens Collection.
As Studebaker was showing offtheir brand new sports model.
They did have some difficulty gettingthe 22 car back together because as
(29:21):
strange as this may sound, when theywent to rebuild the engine, no one had
any bearings for the big President 8.
This was the Studebaker factory.
They took to sending telegrams todealers all over the United States.
Does anyone have a set of bearingsfor a 33 President engine?
They eventually found that becausethe Pierce Arrow Straight 8 was
also designed by Barney Roos and isidentical in many formats with critical
measurements of Studebaker, thatengine was used in fire trucks until,
(29:44):
I think, right around World War II.
They actually found they were able toadapt some Pierce engine bearings and
be able to get the car going again.
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
And here we get into the nebulouspart of what constitutes a car.
The running joke with theStudebaker Specials is, of the
five were built, eight remain.
We'll get to that in a minute here.
The Hunt Special, 37 car.
This is currently out at the PriceMuseum of Speed in Salt Lake City, Utah.
(30:04):
Number 34, Studebaker special.
It, too, suffered the indignityof a roadster body applied to it.
The original body sat outside agarage in Chicago for many years.
It was actually advertised, I believeit was in Car Classics magazine.
And the 34 car was acquired byBrooks Stevens in the late 1950s.
It was sitting on a used carlot in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Brooks knew what they had, so he gotit and commissioned a restoration.
(30:27):
He actually had the backsection of the body rebuilt from
scratch, just from photographs.
And they were nearly done, andsomeone calls and says, Hey,
we have the original body.
Do you want it?
How much?
I heard that I think it was 25.
Nope.
Don't want it.
Don't need it.
That body is actually out in California aspart of another Studebaker Tribute Racer.
Or is it not a Tribute Racer becauseit has part of the original body?
That's a debate for another time.
(30:47):
The 22 car is down at the IndianapolisMotor Speedway Museum, currently on loan
to us at Studebaker National Museum.
Now here's where it gets a little foggy.
The 18 car, still with us, you seeit right here, this is actually out
from the vintage races in California.
The body, grill, and someaftermarket frame rails were
found in a garage in Chicago.
The story is, it was the mostcrowded garage you ever saw, but
(31:10):
there was the Studebaker body.
Collector Mike Cleary from Californiaacquired the body with aid of a
Studebaker President Parts carand a lot of fabrication skills.
Mike is a very skilled engineer.
They were able to create the new No.
18 car.
As for the original chassis of No.
18, that car went down to South Africa.
And it was actually raced up into the1950s, at which point it was disassembled,
broken down, and used for spares.
(31:31):
The story I heard was the enginewas actually used to power a
Studebaker President Hearstfrom the early 1920s after that.
And we have boots on theground in South Africa.
They're still trying to track down anyremnants of this car, but I'm afraid
that one is lost to the mists of time.
And lastly, the Kill Osborne Special,it was sat in a garage in South Bend,
Indiana for a number of years until theguys who had it said, you know, this
isn't really practical as a race car.
(31:52):
We're going to make a home built roadsterout of it using 1950 ish Studebaker parts.
The car still survives today.
No one really knows where it is.
We suspect it might be in theSouth Bend area, but we'll save
that for talk some other time.
And with that, I will behappy to field any questions.
That logo that was fromthe Skyway comes the style?
(32:13):
From the Speedway comes their stamina,from the Skyway comes their style.
Is that a Chicago Skyway bridge reference?
No, it was referring to aviation, justthe byways and skyways of America.
Oh, so it's an aviation reference.
Yeah, because they actually hadthe little, uh, airplane going up.
And that was really, Studebaker washung up on the whole Skyway moniker.
In fact, they introduced a trim levelin 1941, the Skyway series of cars.
(32:33):
They really, uh, Really?
We're pushing that hard.
Oh, very good.
Thank you.
The mantra for a long time, since thethirties actually was went on Sunday,
sell on Monday, did Studebaker get in toracing in order to help sell production
cars and if so, and, and obviouslythey were in it for a fair length of
time, but they went into receivership.
So.
It didn't really seem to help, butit was a very ambitious effort.
(32:55):
I'm just wondering if it correlatedto trying to sell production cars.
I feel bad that I didn't includegraphs in here, because it would
actually be very depressing.
Did the success in 1932 withthe third place finish help
the president model for 1933?
Nope.
33 was the worst sales year and thedepression had a lot to do with that,
trying to sell their luxury model.
Did it help them buy time with thereceivership to show their viability?
(33:17):
You can't really measure that,but the fact that there was
interest, there was helpability.
The sales were one part of it.
Studebaker President Albert Erskinealso, his business practices had
a lot to do with receivership.
You know what happens to your capitalreserves when you pay out a dividend
and yours you don't show profit?
They go away very quickly.
In 1932 or 33, he paid out 506percent of net profits in dividends.
(33:38):
And that's what happens when you payout dividends when you show a loss.
He was convinced prosperitywas just around the corner.
It's not.
And Studebaker suffered the consequences.
And it's really, Studebaker couldhave folded up the tent in 1933.
That could have happened very easily, butthey managed to convince the bankruptcy
judge that their best course of actionto satisfying their creditors was And
they hung on for another 20, 30 years.
(33:59):
Do you know what the last race carto be powered by a Studebaker was?
We'll have to define your termsa little bit here, but go ahead.
Okay, in 1965, the Canadian Grand Prix,for the most part, David Hobbs drove
a Lola T70 powered by a Studebaker.
He qualified second.
It was entered by, uh, Harold YoungRacing, I believe, the Canadian team.
I did not know that.
Mr.
Hobbs was just down atthe Chattanooga Concours.
(34:19):
I wish I could havediscussed that with you.
No, no.
So you went through years rapidly there.
Which year did they take the pole?
1931.
Alright, 31.
Then was it the following yearthey had multiple cars, but nothing
more than 7th or 8th position?
In 31, Russell Snowberger took the pole.
He was a privateer.
He did not work for Studebaker, but itwas the Russell 8 with the present engine.
(34:42):
The team in 32, they had their bestfinish 3rd, the number 22 car, I believe.
Cliff Ger was behind the wheel ofthat car and in 33 they were moving
a little back in the qualifying, butthey also, they hung in 33 was one of
the most traumatic races the Speedwayever saw, just with the carnage.
And I wanna say there was only 14or 16 cars running at the end of
(35:02):
the race, but all the Studebakerteam was able to finish race.
They never really had anyterrible mechanical difficulties.
But yeah, when that's, when they sayseven places, actually six through
12 in 1933 were all Studebaker power.
So why the drop off?
Because of the carnage of the race?
I mean, they Well, I mean, racing IfI remember the qualifying speeds or
whatever, they seem to suddenly drop down.
(35:25):
The qualifying, they actuallypicked up a couple miles an hour
qualifying from 30 to 33 with thenew bodies and the new engines.
But relative to the competition?
Relative to the competition, yeah.
You started to see some of the morespecialized You know, the Miller
Duesenberg engine cars of that ilkwere starting to spread the gap.
And, like I said, when theOffenhauser came online in 35, you
could really see the handwritingon the wall for the stock locks.
(35:46):
That was fascinating.
Thanks, Hender.
Appreciate it.
Yes, they did race at Indy, Kip.
Yes, they did, I guess.
This episode is brought to youin part by the International
Motor Racing Research Center.
Its charter is to collect,share, and preserve the history
of motorsports, spanningcontinents, eras, and race series.
The center's collection embodiesthe speed, drama, and camaraderie
(36:08):
of amateur and professional motorracing throughout the world.
The Center welcomes serious researchersand casual fans alike to share stories of
race drivers, race series, and race carscaptured on their shelves and walls and
brought to life through a regular calendarof public lectures and special events.
To learn more about the Center, visit www.
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(36:28):
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The SAH actively supports thecompilation and preservation of papers.
Organizational records, print ephemera andimages to safeguard as well as to broaden
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