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Winners of Races for Championship Cars, 1909-1919
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Driver of the Decade:
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Ralph DePalma
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21 Victories
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Car of the Decade:
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Duesenberg
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24 Victories
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Indianapolis. This postcard carries a postmark of July 21, 1911, so the racing scene is almost certainly from 1909 or 1910. The sign at the left in the photograph says: "Drivers Are Warned Against Driving Wrong Way on Track or Turning Around." The view is of the northwest turn, today's Turn 4.
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Postcard, 1911
Poster, 1909
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The Wheeler-Schebler Trophy, now in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, was awarded to Leigh Lynch in 1909 and Ray Harroun in 1910 for victories at the speedway. It stands more than 6 feet high.
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| 1909 |
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| George Robertson |
| National Champion |
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Long Island, N. Y., Oct. 30, 1909 (Postcard)
The course for the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup race
See Entire Map
| 1910 |
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| Ray Harroun |
| National Champion |
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Savannah, Ga., Nov. 27, 1911. Ralph Mulford wins the 300-mile Vanderbilt Cup Race in a Lozier. Postcard.
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| 1911 |
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| Ralph Mulford |
| National Champion |
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Photo by Thomas Burnside from the Fall 1963 issue of Automobile Quarterly
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Ray Harroun's Marmon Wasp photographed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Advertisement in Country Life in America Magazine, 1911
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1911. Front-row starters included Ralph DePalma (2), Harry Endicott (3) and Johnny Aitken (4). Pole-sitter Lewis Strang is obscured.
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photo
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Second row starters included Louis Disbrow (5), Joe Jagersberger (8) and Will Jones (9).
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1911.
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Library of Congress
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Ralph DePalma and mechanic Tom Alley in the Mercedes that won 250-mile and 300-mile races at Elgin, Ill, Aug. 30 and 31, 1912.
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Barney Oldfield driving a Fiat to 4th place in a 400-miler. Milwaukee, Oct. 5, 1912
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| 1912 |
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| Ralph DePalma |
| National Champion |
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For The Milwaukee Journal's account of the 1912 Vanderbilt Cup race, click here.
Indianapolis, May 30, 1912. The winner, Joe Dawson, drove car No. 8, a National, and started from the 7th position. The front row of five cars is hidden behind the group in this photo.
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Same picture, colorized for a postcard mailed in 1914.
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The 1913 Stutz team at Indianapolis. Charles Merz, left, finished 3d; Gil Anderson, center, 12th, and Don Herr, right, 26th.
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1913. Charles Merz in a Stutz leads Spencer Wishart in a Mercer. Wishart finished second, Merz third. The colors are those imagined by the postcard artist (the Stutz was actually white, with red numbers).
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| 1913 |
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| Earl Cooper |
| National Champion |
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Corona, Calif., Sept. 9, 1913.
Above, the cars line up, and below, the pace lap. The front-row cars were driven by Barney Oldfield (No. 1), Felix Magone (No. 2) and Tony Jannette (No. 3).
The race was won by Earl Cooper in a Stutz (No. 8).
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Photo by Thomas Burnside from the Fall 1963 issue of Automobile Quarterly
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The Duesenberg driven to victory by Eddie Rickenbacher in the 300-mile race at Sioux City, Iowa, on July 4, 1914. Photographed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
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Photo from "Rickenbacher: An Autobiography"
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Ralph DePalma, winner of the 300-miler at Santa Monica, Calif., Feb. 26, 1914.
There is no date on this photo, but it is either the race on Feb. 26, or the one on Feb. 28, 1914, a 400-miler in which DePalma finished fourth.
Below, the scene today, Ocean Avenue at Idaho Avenue (photo courtesy of Patrick Early).
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Santa Monica, Calif., Feb. 28, 1914. Marquis and his riding mechanic were hospitalized for months, but they survived.
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Corona, Calif., Nov. 26, 1914: Eddie Pullen wins the 300-miler in a Mercer.
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From The New York Herald, Dec. 13, 1914. Car No. 4 is the race winner, Eddie Pullen, and No. 9 is Harry Grant, who placed 13th.
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Advertising placard distributed by Dixon's Graphite Automobile Lubricants, 1914.
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Santa Monica, Feb. 26, 1914. Eddie Pullen crashes during the 300-mile race. Two days later, he won the 400 miler at Santa Monica driving the same car.
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Feb. 27, 1915: The start of the American Grand Prize Race, a 400-miler that was part of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Identifiable are Earl Cooper, No. 8, Stutz, who finished 30th; Glover Ruckstell, No. 6, Mercer, 18th; Claude Newhouse, No. 15, Delage, 10th; William Taylor, No. 29, Alco, 15th; Caleb Bragg, No. 14, Californian, 26th; Jim Parsons, No. 24, Parsons, 23rd; and Louis Nikrent, No. 10, Mercer, 6th. The race was won by Dario Resta in a Peugeot.
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Chicago, June 26, 1915. The 500-miler is underway. Starters near the rear included Joe Cooper in a Sebring (23) and Tom Orr in a Maxwell (27). Photo is from the July 1, 1915, issue of Motor Age magazine.
Read the article.
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From "Speedway Photos " by Bob Sheldon
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Dario Resta, winner in Chicago
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International Film Service
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Ceremonial last nail at Chicago Speedway, June 14, 1915
Photo from Auburn University Archives
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Eddie Rickenbacher in a Maxwell at Chicago Speedway, June 26, 1915
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Library of Congress
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Dario Resta wins in Chicago, June 26, 1915
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| 1915 |
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| Bruce Craig Collection |
| Earl Cooper |
| National Champion |
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The race was rained out and run the following Saturday, June 26.
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Published in The New York Times, June 13, 1915
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The front row at the start of the 1915 Indianapolis 500. No. 1 was Howard Wilcox in a Stutz, No. 2 was the winner, Ralph DePalma in a Mercedes, and No. 3 was Dario Resta, who finished second in his Peugeot. This "photo" has been heavily enhanced by an artist. The car numbers are exaggerated, the Peugeot is out of proportion for its position on the track, the dust clouds are probably fake.
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The races referred to on this souvenir stamp were in San Francisco in February, 1915, and in Chicago, June, 1915.
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From the Independent, Oct. 18, 1915
Earl Cooper wins the 300-miler at Elgin, Ill., Aug. 20, 1915
From the Long Island Automotive Museum and the cover of Automobile Quarterly, 1st Quarter, 1976
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Cincinnati, Ohio, Sept. 4, 1916. John Aitken, third row, inside, won the 300 miler.
Postcard showing the July 26, 1915, Chicago race and promoting the 1916 event.
| 1916 |
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| Dario Resta |
| National Champion |
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Photo coutesy of Bill Spink Collins
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Johnny Aitken wins the 100-miler at Sheepshead Bay, Oct. 28, 1916
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Chicago, June 11, 1916. Dario Resta, 2d from left, won. The front row included Ralph DePalma, on the pole, Eddie Rickenbacher, next to him, then Resta, and on the outside, Joseph Christiaens.
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Santa Monica, Calif., Nov. 16, 1916. Dario Resta, car No. 1, a Peugeot,was the winner of the 300-mile event. Eddie Pullen, car No. 4, a Mercer, finished eighth.
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Ascot, 1916. Jimmy Murphy, second from left, visits with Bill Weightman (necktie, cap, at rear of car), driver of the No. 2 Duesenberg. The car had mechanical problems in the race and finished 10th. Murphy did not drive in a championship race until 1919.
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| 1917 |
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| Earl Cooper |
| National Champion |
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Sheepshead Bay, Sept. 22, 1917. Taken from a glass slide (below), the photo shows close competition during the 100 mile race won by Louis Chevrolet. Identifiable from their car numbers are Pete Henderson (8), the first car; Ira Vail (14) and Ralph Mulford (9).
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Ralph Mulford, national champion in 1911 and 1918. Date of photo uncertain.
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Ralph DePalma (4) leads Ralph Mulford (2) and Joe Boyer, Sheepshead Bay, 1919
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| 1919 |
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| Howard Wilcox |
| National Champion |
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Aug. 23, 1919: Tommy Milton wins the 300-mile Elgin Road Race in a Duesenberg.
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Automobile Quarterly
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Jimmy Murphy, left, riding mechanic for Tommy Milton, 1919.
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Indianapolis, May 30, 1919. Starting on the front row were Rene Thomas (31), Howard Wilcox (3) who won the race, Albert Guyot (32) and Ralph DePalma (4).
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