Nice Stude photo & mention: 1930s Indy 500 story

[BobPalma]

To brighten Gary Ash's day, and anybody else who appreciates The Indianapolis 500 of the 1930s:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2...ld/?refer=news

Hemmings' Jim Donnelly is to be congratulated for NOT perpetuating the myth that the so-called "junk formula" was in response to The Wall Street failure / Great Depression that began in October 1929. As Donnelly rightly points out, Speedway owner Eddie Rickenbacker and the AAA Contest Board wanted to return the event to more of its roots to such an extent that plans for how to do that were being made before October 1929. Indeed, the rules were announced and in place in January 1929, nine months before the October 1929 Wall Street crash credited as beginning The Great Depression.

Undoubtedly, those rules helped keep The Indianapolis 500 alive during the early years of The Great Depression, but their implementation predated it.

Nice article! BP

[STEWDI]

Thanks for the background info, Bob.

Gosh, l that Stude pic is great (the Stutz pic is really captivating, too).

[alaipairod]

Yup....Nice that the Pebble Beach Shindig has created a "Junk Formula" class for the surviving cars............!!

[Studebaker Wheel]

Worth noting I think that Studebaker (and much later Ford) were the only manufacturers who were willing to lay their reputation on the line by entering a factory backed team.* Of course by 1932 Studebaker held just about every stock car record for speed and endurance that was on the books. The other car companies did not wish to risk failure and possibly public ridicule should their efforts end in failure (Ford in 1935).

A few other facts to consider:

In the 1932 contest 70 cars were entered, only 40 would qualify. All the Studebakers qualified easily.

Cliff Bergere qualified at 102.662 faster than any pole sitting car since the event began.

Only 16 cars completed the entire 500 miles.

The Studebakers that went out of the race did so because of issues with the wheels borrowed from another team. None of the 5 cars suffered any mechanical breakdowns.

Studebaker powered cars finished 3^rd, 6^th 13^th, 15^th and 16^th.

The cars finishing 1, 2 and 4 were all-out racing machines (Miller powered) costing in excess of $25,000 each.

The Studebaker factory entries were said to be 85% stock and cost approx. $2500 to build.

During the entire event at least three Studebakers were always running in the top 10.

At least two of the Studebaker cars were outfitted for street use after the race and driven thousands of miles visiting dealers and doing promotional work.

Four of the five cars were eventually given new bodies and returned to action for the 1933 race. The 5^thth. The car has been restored. Of course there were many other stock block entries but these were independents that received no factory sponsorship.