Here a very short report of the 1913 Sweepstakes on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by MoToR. It must have been written in the very eary days of June as it is merely a short and tight summary of not even the race, but more a description of the drivers and the cars. MoToR’s sense for humor is reflected in the one composite portrait of the 1913 driver, incorporating the charcteristics of many of the actual race contendes. When I first saw this picture, I thought it was some kind of a spitting image of Niki Lauda; which never would have been possible of course in those days. But then again, some coincidence, ain’t it!.
Text and jpegs by courtesy of hathitrust.org www.hathitrust.org, compiled by motorracinghistory.com
MoToR, Vol. XX, June 1913
The International Sweepstakes
Conditions and Entries that Contributed to Make This Year’s Event the Most Notable Track Race Ever Held in America
AMERICA has just one classic motor-car track race and that is the 500-mile sweepstakes contested each Memorial Day on the great brick speedway at Indianapolis. In the two previous races held here, records have fallen and the huge Sunbeam crowds in attendance have Peugeot been furnished with “excitement-de-luxe,” but those who journeyed to the Hoosier capital this year witnessed a contest transcending any ever before held on an American track.
In the first place the race this year was more truly international in character than previous contests. The entry of an English Sunbeam and two French Peugeots, brought into the field the two racing machines par excellence of England and the continent. Motordom will not soon forget the magnificent qualities displayed by the Peugeot which, under the guidance of Boillot, won last year’s sensational Grand Prix, nor will it forget the marvelously consistent running of the three Sunbeams, which finished next in order to the victorious car. Nor should we forget that one of the very Peugeots which competed in the sweepstakes recently broke, at Brooklands, the record for the hour, traveling more than 106 miles in that space of time.
This race also marked the re-entry of the Italian Isotta-Fraschini cars in the American racing field. Three machines of this make were entered. Other foreigners to try their luck were a German Mercedes with a Silent-Knight engine, and another Mercedes with the conventional power plant.
To meet this foreign invasion, we had the pick of the American speed specialists. Three Mercers and three Stutzs headed the home contingent, which included three Masons, a Nyberg, a Keeton, a Hender- son, a Fox Special, an Amel, a Schacht, a Smada, and a Special-Knight.
The foreign cars were driven by the very pick of the European drivers. Goux who drove the Peugeot in its hour record run at Brooklands drove the car at Indianapolis and with him was Zucarrelli, hero of many notable battles on track and road. Guyot who brought the Sunbeam, bears a reputation second to none abroad as a skillful driver. And then two of the Isotta-Fraschini cars were driven by no less persons than Harry Grant and „Teddy” Tetzlaff, while the Mercedes pilot was Pilette, a Belgian amateur of distinguished reputation on the road. To uphold the honor of America against such a galaxy of talent as these foreigners, permanent and temporary, it was evident long before the race that De Palma, Bragg, Wishart, Burman, Knipper and their colleagues in the American cars would have to emulate the driving of Jehu.
The Man Behind the Wheel at Indianapolis – A Composite Portrait
IN the picture shown above these words, we have the man who furnishes the brains and skill, which will, in all human probability, determine the issue in the great race. In spite of the presence of considerable foreign talent, the composite portrait, gives us a distinctly Yankee face. Into the making of this portrait, have gone likenesses of the following drivers, the names of whose cars are also given.
Guyot, Sunbeam – Bragg, Mercer – Adams, Smada – Goux, Peugeot – Wishart, Mercer – Liesaw, Amel – Zucarrelli, Peugeot – H. Endicott, Nyberg – Jenkins, Schacht – Grant, Isotta-Fraschini – Burman, Keeton – B. Endicott, Case – Tetzlaff, Isotta-Fraschini – Knipper, Henderson – Clark, Tulsa – Pilette, Mercedes-Knight – Wilcox Fox Special – Disbrow, Case – Pennebaker, Special-Knight – Nikrent, Case – Mulford, Mercedes – Anderson, Stutz – Merz, Stutz – Herr, Stutz – Haupt, Mason – De Palma, Mercer
