Highlighting the different money-backing sources for the entire Sweepstakes Purse was one of the most obvious elements for this race. Enabling lots of suppliers for the automotive industry to provide prize money, made this contest of course wide more interesting for different manufacturers to participate in the race. And although this one was named „International“, it would not take long before the Indianapolis 500 really became international.
Text and jpegs by courtesy of hathitrust.org www.hathitrust.org, compiled by motorracinghistory.com
THE AUTOMOBILE. Vol. XXIV, No. 15, April 13, 1911
May 30 — International Sweepstakes
Eyes of Automobile World Focused on Indianapolis
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will see the opening of racing for 1911 on May 30, when the 500-mile International Sweepstakes Race will take place. The event is for Class E, calling for 600 inches or less piston displacement, with a weight limit of 2,300 pounds minimum. The Speedway management offers $25,000 in cash prizes to be divided among the first ten machines finishing the long drive. From information available, there are indications of 38 entries as being assured, with promise of a considerable augmentation of this field. The first car was entered by the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Company, of Racine, Wis.
THREE Case cars in all have been entered by the concern, all of the machines to be alike in construction – of the four-cylinder 318 piston displacement variety. Two Simplex machines have been entered, one by the Simplex Automobile Company and one by Ralph Beardsley. The Inter-State Auto Company has one Inter-State car entered; the National Motor Vehicle Company three cars; the Jackson Auto Company three Jacksons; the Nordyke and Marmon Company two Marmons; the Pope Manufacturing Company two Pope-Hartfords; the Westcott Motor Car Company one Westcott; the Stutz Auto Parts Company one Stutz; Spencer E. Wishart one Mercedes; the F. A. L. Motor Car Company two Fals; Fred. W. Belcher one Knox; Wadsworth Warren two Buicks; the American Locomotive Company one Alco; Edward A. Hearne one Benz or Fiat; the McFarlan Motor Company two McFarlans; David L. Bruce-Brown one Fiat; Dr. W. H. Chambers one Lozier; the Frayer Rickenbacher Columbus Buggy Company one Firestone Columbus; Teddy Tetzlaff one Lozier and the Lozier Motor Company one Lozier; Herbert H. Lytle one Apperson; the Mercer Auto Company two Mercers.
Since the entries do not close until May 1, it is likely that the entry list will reach in the neighborhood of fifty machines. Quite a number of special prizes have been offered by different accessory concerns in addition to the $25,000 in cash to be given by the Speedway management. First prize is to be $10,000; second $5,000; third $3,000; fourth $2,000; fifth $1,500; sixth $1,000; seventh $800; eighth $700; ninth $600, and tenth, $500.
One of the largest special offers to the winners of the first four places has been made by the Findeisen & Kropf Manufacturing Company, of Chicago. This company offers $3,000 with the condition imposed that the winning car be equipped with the Rayfield carbureter. The special purse to be divided four ways – $2,000 to the winner, $500 to second, $300 to third and $200 to fourth.
In addition to the „Rayfield Carbureter Purse“ the following offers have been made: Wheeler & Schebler, Indianapolis, $2,500 to the winner, providing the car is equipped with the Schebler carbureter; the Remy Electric Company, of Anderson, Ind., $1,000 to the winner, provided the car is equipped with Remy ignition; the Columbus Lubricants Oil Company offers a „Monogram Oil Purse“ of $1,000 divided four ways – $500, $250, $150 and $100 – providing this brand of oil is used in the race.
The attitude taken by the accessory companies in giving these special prizes is that the winning car in a race as long as 500 miles has an excellent chance to demonstrate the merits of particular goods, and that while they do not believe that a driver should be persuaded to use any certain accessory through the offer of money that goes with it, they feel that any maker of an accessory which has proven merits is justified in paying a driver extra money providing he demonstrates the value of that particular accessory.
Every minute detail for the all-day battle of cylinders has been arranged and the international event is to be given under the sanction of the Contest Board and has been given the fullest measure of approval by the Manufacturers‘ Contest Association. Special permission has been granted by the Contest Board that in case of rain on Memorial Day the race may be postponed until the following Saturday, June 3.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has made an offer to an English insurance company as a safeguard against rain. It has agreed to pay $10,000 for a policy worth $100,000 in case it rains sufficiently on May 30 to be forced to postpone the race. This is the first time in the history of automobile racing that such a proposition against rain has been considered as a factor in a race meet, but the magnitude of the venture prompted the Speedway management to consider the probable loss in event the weather is unfavorable.
The track at the Speedway is two and one-half miles of solid brick, ranging in width from forty to sixty feet, and contains practically 4,000,000 bricks. These bricks are of the vitrified variety used in city pavements and covered with cement filler. In order that the exact performance of each and every car entered in the race may be traced from mile to mile, an automatic electrical timing device will be in use, and it will be possible to tell to the hundredth part of a second the exact time it takes for each machine to cover the 500 miles.
In order to give an idea of the magnitude of the Speedway the following facts are worthy of mention:
The complete area of the Speedway is 328 acres and it is located less than four miles from the center of Indianapolis.
There are forty-five buildings, including garages, aerodromes, aviation sheds, etc.
The grand stands and boxes have a seating capacity of 60,000.
There are parking facilities on the grounds for 10,000 automobiles.
The entire grounds will accommodate upward of 200,000.
The turns are banked sixteen feet and have a radius of 1,500 feet.
A cement wall three feet in height by eleven inches in thickness extends around the outer edge of the turns.
The following is a complete list of the entries to date:
Resumé of Entrants as Scheduled:
No. Car. Pis. Dis. Driver Entrant.
1. Case 318. Strang. J. I. Case Co.
2. Simplex. De Palma. Simplex Auto Co.
3. Inter-State. 390. Baldwin. Inter-State Auto Co.
4. National. 447. Aitken. National Motor Vehicle Co.
5. Pope-Hartford. 390. Disbrow. Pope Hartford Co.
6. Pope-Hartford. 390. Fox. Frank P. Fox
7. Westcott. 421. Knight. Westcott Motor Car Co.
8. Case. 318. Jagersburger. J. I. Case Co
9. Case. 318. Larsonneur. J. I. Case Co
10. Stutz. 390. Anderson. Stutz Auto Parts Co.
11. Mercedes. 583. Wishart. Spencer E. Wishart
12. Amplex. 443. Turner. Simplex Motor Car Co.
12. F. A. L. 312. Pearce. Fal Motor Car Co.
14. F. A. L. 312. Gelnaw. Fal Motor Car Co.
15. Knox. 559. Belcher. Fred. W. Belcher
16. Buick. 594. A. Chevrolet. Wadsworth Warren
17. Buick. 594. C. Basle. Wadsworth Warren
18. Benz or Fiat. Hearne Edw. A. Hearne.
19. Alco. 579. Grant. Am. Locomotive Co.
20. National. 447. Merz. National Motor Vehicle Co.
21. National. 589. Wilcox. National Motor Vehicle Co.
22. McFarlan. 248. Clemens. McFarlan Motor Car Co.
23. McFarlan 377. Adams. McFarlan Motor Car Co.
24. Jackson. 355. Ellis. Jackson Auto Co.
25. Jackson, 355. Cobe. Jackson Auto Co.
26. Jackson 432. Delany. Jackson Auto Co.
27. Cutting. Clarke-Carter Auto Co.
28. Fiat. 589. Bruce-Brown. David L. Bruce-Brown
29. Lozier. 545. Van Gorder. Dr. W. H. Chambers
30. Firestone- Frayer,
Columbus. 432. Rickenbacher. Columbus Buggy Co.
31. Marmon. 445. Dawson. Nordyke & Marmon Co.
32. Marmon. 477. Harroun. Nordyke & Marmon Co.
33. Lozier. 545. Mulford. Lozier Motor Co. Car.
34. Lozier. 545. Tetzlaff. Teddy Tetzlaff
35. Apperson. 546. Lytle. Herbert H. Lytle
36. Mercer. 300. Hughes. Mercer Auto Co.
37. Mercer. 300. Bigelow. Mercer Auto Co.
38. Simplex. Beardsley. Ralph Beardsley.
Photo captions.
Fig. 1-A typical start, looking from a point in front of the grandstand, showing the wide sweep of the track.
Fig. 2-The completeness indicated by the presence Corps
