Sigur Whitaker Articles

Sigur Whitaker is an acclaimed auto racing history book author. First Super Speedway and Sigur are collaborating with this platform for her articles. You can receive her articles directly by subscribing to her e-mail newsletter. If you would like to be added to my subscriber list, please let her know at sigurwhitakerbooks881@gmail.com.

Carl Fisher and His Power Boat

By Sigur Whitaker

The Zig-Zag Club

By Sigur Whitaker
 
The Zig-Zag Cycling Club was a predecessor of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Without the friendship and experience gained as members of the cycling group, it is possible that the Speedway might not have been built.
 

Harry Stutz

By Sigur Whitaker
(Part 1)

Racing Politics 1916

Racing Poilitics, 1916
By Sigur Whitaker
Toward the end of the 1916 racing season, race team owners and drivers met with A.A.A. Contest Board officials at their offices in New York City. The purpose was to discuss rule changes for the 1917 racing season.
 

Carl Fisher and the Omni Severin Hotel

By Sigur Whitaker
 
Carl Fisher just couldn't sit still.
 

Before Carl Fisher began building luxury hotels on Miami Beach, he and Jim Allison were investors in the Severin Hotel, a luxury hotel in Indianapolis. It continues to operate as the Omni Severin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
 

Stark & Wetzel Trophy

By Sigur Whitaker
 
The Stark & Wetzel Trophy
 
In May 1952, Indianapolis-based Stark, Wetzel and Company announced they would donate a trophy to honor the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year. The award came with a $500 cash bonus plus a year’s supply of Stark & Wetzel meat. The trophy was 40 inches high made of wood on a marble base topped by a metal 500 with a race car in the middle of the first “0”.
 

The Rookie Test

By Sigur Whitaker
The Rookie Test

When the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in August 1909,  there were five fatalities. This resulted in the track being repaved with brick.  Four deaths during the 1935 Month of May also brought a change to the Speedway--the  implementation of the Rookie Orientation Test.
 

Penske Buys Michigan International

By Sigur Whitaker
 
As early as 1972, Penske toyed with the idea of buying a racetrack. The Ontario Motor Speedway, patterned after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, opened in August 1970 at a cost of over $25 million. With a significant debt load, the track was unsustainable. By the end of 1972, the bondholders were looking for someone to turn it around. Penske was on the shortlist to head an ownership group, but he turned it down.
 

Frank Lockhart

By Sigur Whitaker.
 

"Umbrella" Mike

By Sigur Whitaker.
 
One of the most colorful characters at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was “Umbrella” Mike Boyle. Boyle was the powerful force behind Chicago’s International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He also started Boyle Valve Company, a supplier of auto parts.