'40 Champion Pace Car item now w/photos

[BobPalma]

...and a great book offer.

The Sports Pages of this morning's Indianapolis Star are neccessarily loaded with regretfully-tendered reports about local Butler University's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament loss to UConn last evening.

However, there was an unexpected bright spot within the doom and gloom: A half-page advertisement for a new pictorial book being published by The Indianapolis Star: 100 YEARS, 500 MILES. The half-page advertisement for that book in today's paper features two large pictures from their archives, supposedly a sample of what the book contains. One of the two "black & whites" I had never seen before: What appears to be a parade lap on either the south end of the backstretch or the north end of the main stretch, with the 1940 Studebaker Champion Pace Car running alongside, rather than in front of, Row One.

I wandered all over The Star's website this morning, trying to find the advertisement so I could post it, but I just can't find it. (I mean, you'd think you could find an advertisement for one of their own products on the newspaper's website, wouldn't you? <GGG>)

Anyway, this new book is being printed and is due to start shipping April 29. It sounds really nice and is offered at a 25% pre-publication discount through this website: (Is that Gary Ash in his car in the sample photo on the website's opening page? <GGG>)

http://www.pedimentbooks.com/100-years-of-the-indy-500

I believe I'll order one as it sounds like a nice pictorial tome.

I do wish I could post today's advertisement with the 1940 Champion Pace Car and will do so if I can figure it out. Or if anyone else wants to wander around The Indianapolis Star's website, the picture is in the half-page advertisement on Page D4 of the Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Indianapolis Star. BP

[Corvanti]

i'd love to see it! got a scanner?

[Studebaker Wheel]

Until Bob is able to get us the newspaper image maybe these will do. The Champion was painted Ruby Red. It was awarded to the winner Wilbur Shaw who also won in 1937 and '39 and was second in '38. He was a native Hoosier and later became President of the Indy 500 track. He was killed in an airplane crash in Indiana in 1954, just shy of his 52nd birthday. He is shown in both of the photos above.

[jclary]

Thank you, Richard. I had not finished reading Bob's initial post when the thought occurred that if you saw the thread...some pictures from your vast collection would appear! Great shots!

[BobPalma]

I have already mailed the actual advertisement from today's paper to Dick Quinn as I do not have a scanner. It went out in today's mail before any of this was posted, so he should get it Thursday.

If his scanner is working, he'll be able to scan it and repost if he is so inclined...but remember, it is newsprint so it won't be real sharp. (I had just sent it to him because I know he'd like the photo and wondered if he had ever seen it. I had not.)

Also, a second track photo in the ad is of a burly fellow with a cigar, possibly in an earlier pace car, although it is cropped so tightly it's hard to tell. I should know who that is, but can't place him. Likely, Dick will recognize that person and be able to enlighten us...or at least initiate a quiz to jog everyone's memory. (I think Dick is good at identifying really old people because he knew so many of them personally in grade school.) BP

[BobPalma]

Historical trivia: You'll note the business Gulling Automotive in the storefront off the rear of the Champion in this photo. That enterprise is still going strong in Indianapolis 70 years later, although it morphed into Gulling Small Engines, a purveyor of all things the name suggests. I was there several years ago to get a new short block for our Troy-Bilt tiller when it up and threw a rod for no apparent reason. BP

[Studebaker Wheel]

I have already mailed the actual advertisement from today's paper to Dick Quinn as I do not have a scanner. It went out in today's mail before any of this was posted, so he should get it Thursday.

If his scanner is working, he'll be able to scan it and repost if he is so inclined...but remember, it is newsprint so it won't be real sharp. (I had just sent it to him because I know he'd like the photo and wondered if he had ever seen it. I had not.)

Also, a second track photo in the ad is of a burly fellow with a cigar, possibly in an earlier pace car, although it is cropped so tightly it's hard to tell. I should know who that is, but can't place him. Likely, Dick will recognize that person and be able to enlighten us...or at least initiate a quiz to jog everyone's memory. (I think Dick is good at identifying really old people because he knew so many of them personally in grade school.) BP

Burly fellow with a cigar?? Sounds like Barney Oldfield to me!! Although when I knew him back in grade school he was a fresh faced kid.

[Studebaker Wheel]

This look like the guy? This is from 1914 the year he finished 5th at Indy. He was also the first person to average 100 m.p.h. for one lap at Indy.

[BobPalma]

'Could be, Dick; I no longer have the photo to reference because it is on its way to you!

However, judging from the cars, I'd say the photo in the mail might be as many as ten years newer than the above image, so there would be some "age enhancement."

See what you think in Thursday's (or Friday's) mail. Bob

[BobPalma]

The advertisement was repeated in the Wednesday, April 6 Indianapolis Star Sports Pages. They reduced the size to one-half of the previous day by eliminating the picture of the guy with the cigar....so the big picture with the 1940 Champion Pace Car was the only big picture in the ad!

I dare say this is the first time in more than 70 years that two consecutive issues of The Indianapolis Star featured a good photograph that includes the 1940 Studebaker Champion Pace Car! BP

[(S)]

Also, one of the ONLY cars that was not a convertable, or "T" top model .......

[BobPalma]

Also, one of the ONLY cars that was not a convertable, or "T" top model .......

Uh-oh. Now we are going to see a Dick-Quinn-Photoshopped 1940 Champion convertible.

And Matthew Burnette will probably photoshop a picture of Linda Vaughn, Miss Hurst Shifter, sitting on the top boot of Dick's endeavor!

You never know where a forum topic is going to go around here. <GGG> BP

[Studebaker Wheel]

I recomposed the information from the ad to better fit our format. I checked the archives and find i and have a photo taken at about the same time with the pace car pulling off the track but from a different angle. According to the information in the Studebaker Spotlight (employee paper) the Champion lead the cars down the straightaway at 95 mph! Are you listening Chris??



And regarding my speculation on the cigar chomping figure it was correct, Barney Oldfield (compare with photo in previous post). Incidentally Studebaker engineer Delmar Roos who was responsible for developing Studebakers straight eight engines in the late 20s was an ardent fan of Oldfield, so much so that he was known as "Barney" Roos from the time he was a young man. Incidentally Studebaker by 1930 was the largest maker of eight cylinder engines in the world.

[Corvanti]

if the '40 was going 95mph, i'd like to see under the hood.

[BobPalma]

Thanks for the post, Dick; 'glad you were able to scan and get the advertisement "up" so well.

Ironically, that advertisement has now appeared four consecutive days, beginning Tuesday, April 5, in The Indianapolis Star. I'm not about to drive to downtown to check their archives, but I'm willing to bet the 1940 Champion Pace Car may not have appeared in four consecutive days of The Indianapolis Star even in May or June 1940! 'Quite an accomplishment 71 years after the fact.

I, too, wonder how they hotted up the little 164 engine, much less a later 169/170, to propel the car 95 mph. 'Must've had the secret Delmar "Barney" Roos high-compression cylinder head! <GGG>

Dick: Care to hazard a guess as to what kind of car Barney Oldfield is sitting in, in the later picture? I sure don't know. BP