The 1915 Indianapolis 500 – History almost repeating itself.
Europe was at war but the racing world at the USA continued. Several of the most recent European Grand Prix cars had been shipped over in time to the USA. Among them a few of the Peugeot’s and Mercedes’s that had fought out the heroical Grand Prix the France the year before.
The race became almost a repeat of 1912. Again Ralph DePalma was leading the race while driving a Mercedes and again with the finish in sight, the engine let go. But this time Ralph managed to coax the stricken Mercedes to the finish line and win the race, still with a new speed record of just under 90 mph. This year, it looked like the overhead valve engines were to make their breakthrough and the Stutz cars made very promising appearances. Due to the war in Europe, hardly any European magazine reported on American and on European races.