Pics: Studebakers @ Indpls 500 Pace Car Reunion

[BobPalma]

Today (Saturday, May 21) was Pole Day of qualifications at The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in preparation for the May 29 Indianapolis 500 mile race.

Held in conjunction with Pole Day was an event they staged called the Pace Car Reunion. Legitimate Indianapolis 500 Pace Cars, Indianapolis 500 Festival Cars, and Pace Car Clones were invited to submit an application to be in the event. Those chosen were sent credentials to park in a special area today along Hulman Blvd on the 500 infield.

Two of Studebaker's Pace Car years were represented: 1929 and 1952.

The first is James Heinsohn and his gorgeous 1929 President Pace Car, pictured here with ever-present <GGG> SDC/ASC member Rex Miltenberger, left:



Second is Wisconsin SDCer Don Samuelson and yours truly with his 1952 Commander. Don's wife Mary was also on site. The Commander is pretty cool, having an overdrive transmission. (While I was there, a passer-by approached Don and asked if it had the supercharged engine!)

[2R5]

Cool pics Bob.....that 29 looks like the one Ray Martin restored years ago .....you wouldn't believe what it looked like when Ray got it .
Love those '52s

[Chris Pile]

Both are gorgeous!

[mbstude]

Very cool... Too bad Stan Harlozinski (sp?) from South Bend couldn't be there with his freshly restored '62 Pace Car.

[BobPalma]

Very cool... Too bad Stan Harlozinski (sp?) from South Bend couldn't be there with his freshly restored '62 Pace Car.

I, too, wondered about that, Matthew, and was disappointed that we had no 1962 Daytona "Pace Car" on the field, in that SDC has several clones and one authentic 1962 Festival Car accounted for.

I know several people who had other make "Pace Cars" there, but am not sure how they found out about the event. I know you had to submit an application on line with photos and be approved, but do not know how you "found out " about the event to begin with. (None of my cars are pace car clones or anything, so I wouldn't have had occassion to pay attention to the procedure.)

Here is another picture from yesterday's event; two authentic 1971 Indianapolis 500 Festival Cars owned by friends Larry Kennedy(R) and Jim Beall(L). I'm in the middle. Ironically, I briefly owned both of these cars in 1989/1990 when I was buying and selling collector cars for Unique Motorcars Ltd. in Rockford IL.

The car on the right is a 318 Torqueflite Festival Car that was assigned to the owner of Kennedy Tank in Indianapolis, who supplied tanks for fuel and such for the race. Yes, it is still owned by a Kennedy, today, but there's no known family relationship.

The car on the left is a 340 Magnum Torqueflite Festival Car that was assigned to Bernard McGinty, owner of the now-defunct McGinty Dodge on Indianapolis' south side.

Both cars were delivered by McGinty Dodge to retail customers in the Indianapolis area after the 1971 Indianapolis 500. (The actual 1971 Pace Car that crashed into the photographer's stand was also displayed yesterday, but is not in this picture.) BP

[DieselJim]

Stan had to attend a conference in Las Vegas. He would have liked to been there. Jim

[DEEPNHOCK]

While not Stude related, here is a nice article about an original Stutz running in the pace car parade....

http://tinyurl.com/Stutz-Indy-Pacecar-Parade-2011

(see link for complete article)
Local man takes Indy-built car for a lap at famous speedway




Rance Burger/Lake Sun

John Kelsey’s Stutz Bearcat is part of the Antique Car Museum in Camdenton.












By Rance Burger



lakenewsonline.com
Posted May 28, 2011 @ 08:00 AM
Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. —
Half a century after Paul Kelsey circled the hallowed oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his son John Kelsey fulfilled a family destiny by making the same lap... in the same car.
As part of the centennial celebration of the Indianapolis 500, John and Janice Kelsey, of Camdenton, were invited to drive their 1914 Stutz Bearcat around the Brickyard. The Kelseys drove one of 250 automobiles in the representation of a century of racing at Indianapolis.
John Kelsey says he wasn’t nervous about driving the 97-year-old race car on May 14.
“The old girl still wants to get up and run once you get her in second gear,” Kelsey said.
Kelsey’s Bearcat is original, down to, “virtually every nut and bolt.” It is thought to be one of the only — if not the only — cars of its kind in existence.
Paul Kelsey bought the Stutz Bearcat in 1951 for $1,250. The previous owner kept the car in storage after he returned home from World War I, at the request of his father. The car sat in storage in Iowa until Paul Kelsey purchased it.
As part of a celebration of Studebaker in 1952, Paul Kelsey drove the car around Indianapolis in 1952. When he received an invitation from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in February, John Kelsey quickly agreed to honor his father’s memory by making the same drive in the Bearcat.
John Kelsey was comfortable enough behind the wheel to reach speeds around 50 mph in the old Stutz, though participants were restricted by a pace car. He confided that his father once received a speeding ticket for going 85 mph in the what was once considered the premier American sportscar.
As they waited to go on the track, the 1912 race car in front of Kelsey’s Stutz in the parade suffered a breakdown when the driver jammed the car’s gears, sending the fan through the hood of the car.
Kelsey shared one of his secrets for driving the machine. He takes off his right shoe in order to feel the small pedals. The one-shoed driving, he says, keeps him from mistakenly pressing the wrong pedal and damaging the car.
Janice Kelsey rode along in the car’s left side passenger seat for the 2.5-mile trip.
“That is scary because it’s high up. I have to have help to get up into the car. When you’re going around those turns you are like this (tilted on the track’s banking). I don’t like that,” Janice laughed.
The trip to Indy marked the first time the car had run since 1969.
John and Janice operate Kelsey Tire out of Camdenton. They are one of the only Goodyear dealers for antique cars in the country. Their property is also home to an antique car museum, though the museum is closed at this time.
The centennial Celebration of Automobiles included a car show and a banquet. The Kelseys enjoyed access to the track, including the famed Gasoline Alley. Racing legends Parnelli Jones, Johnny Rutherford and Danny Sullivan served as car show judges.
“They kept us segregated for the judging. We were with the 1911s through the 1920s.
“We were able to go anywhere we wanted. We met a lot of race drivers — Johnny Rutherford and Al Unser, Jr. We had a great time,” Janice said.

[BobPalma]

While not Stude related, here is a nice article about an original Stutz running in the pace car parade....

http://tinyurl.com/Stutz-Indy-Pacecar-Parade-2011

Yes, Jeffster; I remember looking that car over carefully on Celebration of Cars day. Very nice car with lots of period documentation, including the $1,250 receipt from 1951! Cool beans. BP

[bob40]

Looks like a fun day.

[BobPalma]

Here's an interesting tidbit related to Post #5 in this thread. I recently had occasion to verify (or refute, as it turned out) a certain 1971 Hemi Orange Challenger convertible as being a Festival Car. As I said, it proved otherwise, although it was properly restored with the correct reproduction Pace Car graphics on it. The owner was not representing it as an Official Car, so no misrepresentation was at hand.

Anyway, my friend Larry Kennedy (Reference Post #5, as I said) forwarded to me The Official List of all the 1971 Challenger Pace and Festival Cars by VIN, as they have been known for some time. The list also includes the person to whom the car was assigned during Race Festivities in May 1971, and that person's reason for having a car. Most, of course, were garden-variety Engine Code "G" cars; 318s.

Here's what's interesting: There are exactly 50 cars on the list. Of the 50, the whereabouts/disposition of only 16 are known, and one of the 16 was verified as having been parted out. So only 15 are extant, as far as those folks know. I would have thought it many more, although there surely are some not yet accounted for.

That percentage (15 of 50; 30%) is closer to the percentage (10 of 51; 20%) of confirmed, extant 1957 Golden Hawk 400s than I would have thought. I would have expected a much higher percentage of 1971 Challenger Pace and Festival Cars to be accounted for versus 1957 Golden Hawk 400s, given the realities of many factors. BP

[4961Studebaker]

Found this while sitting in at the dentist office

Smithsonian magazine, had an article and link to photo's of the Race Track. And past drivers

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/One-Hundred-Years-of-the-Indy-500.html?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=printmagazine&utm_campaign=2011-June&utm_content=indy500

Photo's

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/photos/?c=y&articleID=121392704

[jlmccuan]

John Shannahan took some awesome video of all the cars coming in from their parade lap and his ride around in the back seat plus a lot of shot walking around the cars waiting to go out. What a treat. May be the largest Stutz and Marmon assembly ever. Perhaps he would make some copies if somebody wanted.

[BobPalma]

As you may know, Jim; the 2011 Stutz Club National Meet was held this year in Indianapolis during the month of May. As part of the 100th Anniversary of the First 500 Mile Race activities, they had an inordinate number of Stutz (and Indianapolis-built Marmon) cars at and around the track. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, worthy of all the press it received. BP