March TW Mystery Man: No longer a mystery!

[BobPalma]

(EDIT: I left this "up," but the mystery has been solved. See Post #4, courtesy of Dick Quinn.)

'Nothing like a good mystery in Studebaker-land, right?

Well, the Mystery Man on Page 34 of the March 2012 Turning Wheels remains a mystery.

As hinted in Post #12 to the following topic (which will warm your day if you haven't read it, by the way), I decided to pose the Page 34 "500" identity question to the #1 Authority on all things Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the company's fascinating historian, Donald C. Davidson.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/showthread.php?59406-Military-Terms-cross-reference-lt-GGG-gt

The result of that meeting is summarized in this letter I sent him today, in which a copy of the photo was included for his later and more thorough inspection:


February 24, 2012


Donald C. Davidson, Historian
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation
P.O. Box 24518
Speedway IN 46224

Dear Mr. Davidson,

Oops, I guess that would be persons nowadays!)



If you are later able to identify that man, those of us in The Studebaker Drivers Club would greatly appreciate having your report. You could shoot me a quick e-mail at this address: bobcaripalma@hotmail.com

Again, thank you so much for your time Thursday morning.

Sincerely,

Bob Palma
Technical Editor
Turning Wheels

I communicated with Andy Beckman at The Studebaker National Museum after meeting with Mr. Davidson; Andy confirmed they haven't been able to identify the man up there, either.

Who needs Agatha Christie when you have real-life mysteries to solve? Stay tuned. BP

[StudeDave57]

Bob- I'd love to help <GGG> but I have not seen the photo.
My TW is waiting for me when I get home. (I hope)

Any chance you could add it to this thread?

[Son O Lark]

Anyone else notice the boo-boo concerning the race cars?

[Studebaker Wheel]

Looks like James Bere President of Borg Warner to me. What do I win?

[BobPalma]

Looks like James Bere President of Borg Warner to me. What do I win?

Well, you have the satisfaction of knowing you figured it out when Donald Davidson had not! I'd say that's an impressive "win" in and of itself.

(And how, might we ask, did you figure it out, Dick? If it was a "hunch" you pursued, I'd say it was a good one.)

Cool beans. BP

[SN-60]

To: Son O Lark,----------------- The text refers to Studebaker Spl. #22 as #18 ?

[Studebaker Wheel]

Well, you have the satisfaction of knowing you figured it out when Donald Davidson had not! I'd say that's an impressive "win" in and of itself.

(And how, might we ask, did you figure it out, Dick? If it was a "hunch" you pursued, I'd say it was a good one.)

Cool beans. BP

I thought of three possible options 1.) Joe Cloutier VP of the Indy 500 in 1962 (2.) Bob Wilke owner and builder of the winning car “Leader Card Roadster,” or (3.) Bere the president of Borg Warner. From there it was just a matter of finding the right picture. Of course I knew that the winner was always given a miniature replica of the Borg Warner trophy so that fit. If he had been presenting it to Ward in the photo that would have made it easier. I guess you could call it deductive reasoning along with a little background knowledge.

[Peanut]

And that's why Mr. Quinn makes the big bucks!

[BobPalma]

Good detective work, Richard; thanks.

More amusement:

While talking with Donald Davidson about the picture, I allowed that I had tried to do a little research of my own and located pictures of A. J. Watson to see if it might be him. Donald Davidson immediately chuckled and said, "Oh, no; it wouldn't have been A.J. Watson; he never wore a suit!"

He then asked if it might be a local Studebaker dealer. I recalled for him the physical attributes of the three active Indianapolis Studebaker dealers at the time (Charlie Stuart, Roy Gale, Virgil Snider) and the one dealer who had just gone out of business, Bob Phillips. When I told Mr. Davidson that I was 17 at the time, you could tell he was kind of impressed that a youngster of 17 would have bothered to note those details about each dealer. (It wasn't difficult, though; each was considerably different than the Mystery Man de jour.)

I guess he understood, though, because by age 17, he had absorbed much Indianapolis 500 lore...and I'll bet he knew more about the 500 at age 17 than I knew about Studebakers at age 17! <GGG> BP