The Duesenberg Days

When Tony Hulman purchased a company, his normal style was to keep the existing management in place if they were competent and wanted to stay. Unfortunately, when he purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the track had been shuttered during World War II and had a thin staff before the conflict. Hulman needed to assemble a team to include someone who knew the ins and outs of racing. someone  who was familiar with the operations of IMS, and someone whom he trusted. His team included Wilbur Shaw as president, Pop Myers as Vice President, Joe Cloutier as Treasurer and Leonard Marshall as Secretary. Pop Myers had been associated with IMS since the earliest races. Cloutier and Marshall were both trusted associates from Terre Haute, Hulman’s home base. Cloutier was the secretary/treasurer of Hulman & Company while Marshall was a banker.
 
Determined to run the Indianapolis 500 on Memorial Day, the men had only six months to bring the track back to life. In reality, not many physical changes could take place at the track during the winter. They also faced the question of if there would be an interest in racing. Auto racing had struggled during the Great Depression and most tracks during the 1920s had closed. They also wondered if people would want to see racing with cars that were six, seven or eight years old.
 
Some people including Hulman’s mother believed that the Speedway would become an endless money pit and that Hulman should just tear it down and start over.
 
James Laycock, who was in charge of the Speedway’s media center from 1953 until 1995, described the condition of the track. “There were weeds everywhere. Down by the bridge over the creek between Turns 1 and 2, you couldn’t even see the track because trees had sprouted up.” Laycock wasn’t sure that they could get the track, much less the remainder of the place ready for the Memorial Day race.
 
Shortly after purchasing the track, Hulman had Clarence Cagle, an employee of Hulman & Company, tour the facility with Shaw and Myers. Cagle said of the track, “We unlocked the gate and it fell down. Everything was rotten, there were weeds everywhere. It was a mess.”
 
Cagle and Jack Fortner, who had been the grounds superintendent during the Rickenbacker years, developed a plan to bring the track back to life which was complicated by a shortage of materials used in commercial construction. The most critical need was to return the track to racing condition and to make sure that the grandstands were safe. Renovations to the Speedway were helped by a strike by workers at the nearby Allison Transmission Division of General Motors. Fortner hired striking workers to tear down the stands which couldn’t be saved and to make renovations to those that could. Using hatchets, the men would tap each board and if it was rotten, they would tear it out and replace it with new boards.
 
Shaw called the time leading up to the Indianapolis 500, the “Duesenberg Days.” The long hours reminded him of when he worked for Augie Duesenberg. They would show up around 7:30 a.m. and work until 2 a.m. the next day breaking only for meals. Despite the long days, the track was ready to open even though more work continued to be done until race day.
 
The question remained, would there be interest in the races. There certainly was by those who wanted to race. Fifty entries were received by May 1. The second question was could the cars be put back into racing shape. Despite the strong response, only 25 racers were able to make the qualifying speed of 115 miles per hour during qualifying. As teams clamored for additional qualifying time, Speedway management granted an additional four hours.
 
The question about spectator interest in the race seemed to be answered in the affirmative. On the opening day of qualifications, twenty thousand spectators showed up at the track. The next day, sixty thousand spectators trying to get to the track snarled the roads which in part was caused by the narrow gates which limited access.
 
Hulman still worried if there would be people willing to pay $10 to $15 for a seat in the grandstands. There was particular concern about the old wooden structures. Shaw watered down the wooden grandstands each night for fear they would catch on fire…and if they did, the Speedway would go broke.
 
As race day approached, all signs pointed to strong interest in the race. Hotels throughout the area were filled to capacity and the Indianapolis Speedway Housing Bureau sent visitors to private homes. To help get fans to the Speedway, Indiana Senator Homer Capehart and Representative Louis Ludlow petitioned the Office of Defense Transportation to run a special train from downtown Indianapolis to the Speedway at 15-minute intervals. At the time, train service was limited due to a shortage of coal.
 
Despite all of the positive signs, Hulman remained concerned. Staying with Fred Holliday on the northwest side of town, he was unaware of the massive traffic jam. Sixteenth Street was clogged with people waiting for the gates to open at 6 a.m. all the way to Central Avenue, five miles to the east. As they drove along Kessler Blvd, his heart sank. There wasn’t any traffic.  Finally at one of the intersections, it was so mobbed they couldn’t get across.” He realized there was a massive track jam for two miles surrounding the Speedway. His concern turned from whether people would be interested in the race to whether he would get to the track in time for the start. He later recounted, “Finally we went through a field and tried shootin’ up the shoulder of the road about two miles from the track. ‘Where the hell do you think you’re going?' someone shouted. And then they were all on us. Hulman replied, 'To the races, we got tickets.' The crowd was not mollified as they, too, had tickets. Finally, a policeman came over and Hulman, after telling a policeman that he owned the track was allowed to go ahead.
 
Hulman made it to the track in time for the beginning of the race. He was joined by an estimated 200,000 spectators as George Robson won at an average speed of 114.82 miles per hour. 

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