Crazy Indy 500 stories: Quiz

Oof -- ya got me so far on this one. Found some things that three of them have in common, but not all five.

All righty, then. Here's the next question:

What distinction do Al Unser Sr., Raul Boesel, Scott Pruett, Dominic Dobson, and Stan Wattles have in common?

I'm glad to know that someone is working on this one. Here's a little help for you: They are the last five drivers to accomplish this.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 05 March 2014 - 15:21.

Did they lead a lap in their last ever 500?

So, not the ONLY ones?

[i.e. there are more than those five drivers who have the same thing in common?]

yes you are right

 

Chitwood: Cherokee

Witherill: Navajo

 

It's your turn.

Point of order.  Chitwood was not an American Indian.  He was billed as such to generate some interest - q.v. the "Frenchman" Leon Duray.  The idea was that of CSRA promoter Norm Witte, who also accidentally gave George Chitwood a new first name of Joie.

All righty, then. Here's the next question:

What distinction do Al Unser Sr., Raul Boesel, Scott Pruett, Dominic Dobson, and Stan Wattles have in common?

 they all failed to run  the Indy 500 the same year   after a qualifying attermpt?  (note wasn't boesel bumped for another driver?)

they all failed to run  the Indy 500 the same year   after a qualifying attermpt?

This is a bit too recent stuff for my liking, as Stan Wattles is a driver I barely even know, so I googled for help... found out Wattles and Boesel drove a Riley & Scott... Dobson drove a Galmer once, and Pruett the Truesports, and of course Senior had the only Lola in the field in 1978... are we perhaps looking for the last five drivers to have started the '500' in a car make that no other driver started in that year?

Edited by Michael Ferner, 08 March 2014 - 18:21.

 Unser had the only Penske in the field in 1986.

Someone needs to tell Dany Sullivan and Rick Mears. Unless you meant Penske - Williams.

Edited by RStock, 08 March 2014 - 20:13.

I'm not good at quadruple negatives, but all I really know is that his 1970 win would have easily qualified him for membership, but the guy from Champion retired or died before Al could be officially inducted and the club just sort of petered out.

Not sure about the other club reference though? A 150mph club or something?

Yes, that's correct! Unser had the only Penske in the field in 1986, and, perhaps surprisingly, only four other drivers since then have represented a unique chassis manufacturer. Just four years earlier, we had one Longhorn, one Chaparral, one Lightning, and one Interscope in the same race.

Your turn to pose a question.

Do you know in which race the most different cars (not from the same chassis builder) drove?

Do you know in which race the most different cars (not from the same chassis builder) drove?

Marlboro Club? Well, if there is one, I have never heard of it. Anyway, the cigar was definitely not meant as a hint, but thinking about it, there is a (somewhat tenuous) connection! Yet, I don't want to confuse you any further, or send you on a wild goose chase; your plucky efforts deserve better. You solved the first part of the question (the one I personally considered the more difficult one!) already, so here's a clue: "that other club" was not really devised as a replacement for the Champion 100 MPH Club, in fact it already existed for several years when the first one was abandoned, and the "most prominent member" of that other club at that time would remain so until replaced by Al Unser on the very last lap of the 1987 Indy 500!.

Howdy Wilcox 1911
Frank Elliott, Harry Hartz, Bennett Hill 1923
Tony Gulotta 1927
George Connor 1935
Rodger Ward 1952
A.J. Foyt 1964
Eddie Cheever Jr. 1992
Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan 2002
 

Edited by E.B., 10 March 2014 - 15:08.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 10 March 2014 - 16:56.

Thanks guys! So up to me now... Well, honestly, although I'm not the biggest fan of the conception of asking the question in the manner that use to be in this thread -- not only asking about the matter (i.e. name the first driver to complete the Indianapolis International Motor Sweepstakes on Dunlop tyres), but also enquiring to reconstruct the shape of this matter (like in all cases in this thread) -- I still would like to be consistent to the previous authors of the questions here (and eventually to match the title of this thread in all the aspects)...

Thus I propose you to return back in time to the question already asked by E.B.: "Who was apparently 2nd on one occasion (I say apparently because of the seeming lack of accurate record keeping), yet within a few years was regularly claiming in writing to have actually been 1st?" -- and to unveil why may Theodore Dreiser be entirely considered to have a connection with Indy 500 in this regard?

Edited by Michael Ferner, 10 March 2014 - 21:47.

Well done, Michael!

"(Back Home Again in) Indiana" -- 1917 song which since 1946 has been performed annually as part of Indy 500 pre race ceremonies -- derives directly from the song "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away". The latter was written and composed by Paul Dresser (born Johann Paul Dreiser Jr.) -- the older brother of novelist Theodore Dreiser. After Dresser's song had been originally published in October 1897, it became extremely popular, national bestseller and was soon regarded as a number-one hit all over the world, on 14th March 1913 being adopted as the official State of Indiana's song.

Meanwhile "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" became the subject of authorship controversy. Firstly -- between Dreiser brothers, then -- between Theodore Dreiser and Paull-Pioneer Music Corporation, the publisher of "(Back Home Again in) Indiana". A year after the song was published Theodore privately claimed in a letter to Sara Osborne White, his future wife, to have authored the song's lyrics: "Yes, dearie, I wrote the words as I said of 'On the Banks of the Wabash'".

In 1909, three year after the death of his brother, Dreiser when he wrote “My Brother Paul” remembered that “one … delightful summer Sunday (1896, I believe)”, Paul asked him to give him an idea for a song. Responding, Theodore suggested that his brother write something with an American theme: “Take Indiana -- what’s the matter with it -- the Wabash River? It’s as good as any other river, and you were ‘raised’ beside it.” At Paul’s continued urging, Theodore said he “scribbled in the most tentative manner imaginable the first verse and chorus of that song almost as it was published” but left the second verse for Paul to write. Theodore repeated this contention in 1916 in "A Hoosier Holiday" and in 1927 in “Concerning the Author of These Songs”, his introduction to an edition of 57 of Paul’s songs.

Several years later, Dreiser’s assertions resurfaced. In Lewis Gannett of the New York Herald Tribune reviewed William E. Wilson’s book "The Wabash" in which the author repeated Dreiser’s claim of having written the words to the first verse and chorus of Indiana’s state song. Hoosiers rallied to Paul’s side and railed against Dreiser who then expended much time and energy defending himself, never denying his declaration but trying desperately to play down the significance of his asserted collaboration. “No rhymed verses on any topic ever made a song,” Dreiser once remarked. “The song [i.e., "Wabash"] is the singer -- his music [i.e., Paul’s] -- not the words alone, ever. If so, ‘Swanee River’ would be famous today without the music. So would ‘Annie Laurie.’ So would ‘On The Sidewalks of New York’.”

Partly because of his frequent acerbic comments about his native state, many Indianans never felt for Dreiser the kind of affection with which they had embraced Paul -- that warm, funny, local-boy-who-had-made-good, the boy who had loved his Wabash River, his state and the place of his birth. Now his claim to partial authorship of the Indiana state song only made matters worse for Dreiser. People had good reason to doubt Dreiser’s veracity for when reporters had asked Paul about his method of composing, he unfailingly told them that he always wrote his own words and at no time did he ever acknowledge collaborating with his brother.

Theodore had a special interest in stilling this uproar. At that time, he was discussing a proposed film biography of Paul with Hollywood movie studios and certainly would not have wanted his own notoriety to overshadow or diminish the importance of his brother. The movie, in spite of a number of problems, came to fruition in 1942 as "My Gal Sal", starring Victor Mature as Dresser. In connection with the early negotiations and plans for the film, Dreiser promoted a Paul Dresser Day, to be held throughout America on April 22, 1940 -- Paul’s 82nd birthday. Dreiser intended the tribute to focus attention on Paul, giving him the kind of exposure that would return him to national recognition, now three-and-a-half decades after his death; a successful Paul Dresser Day would help guarantee the film. Dreiser’s efforts succeeded except in Terre Haute, where the city of Paul’s birth was “content to listen as [the] nation honors Paul Dresser.”

By 1940, a considerable degree of enmity existed between Dreiser and some Terre Hauteans, the latter offended by what they perceived as the novelist’s rank and unwelcome interference in the deliberations of the Paul Dresser Memorial Association in the 1920s, by what they saw as the gratuitous swipes Dreiser had taken at Indiana in "A Hoosier Holiday", and by his novels that some saw as being too risqué, if not downright obscene. For these people, the crowning blow, the unforgiveable sin, was Theodore’s claim to some of “Wabash”. The collective antipathy toward Paul’s younger brother, accumulated over more than two decades, was enough to convince the city to snub Dreiser’s plans to honor the composer of the state song.

As if planning for Paul Dresser Day and negotiations for a film biography were not enough to keep him busy, Dreiser also had to deal with a different sort of problem. "Remember the Night", a 1940 movie starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray, included in its musical score “(Back Home Again in) Indiana”, a song Dreiser viewed as a plagiarism of “Wabash”.

Written in 1917 with music by Indiana-born James Hanley to words by Ballard MacDonald, the song borrows shamelessly from Dresser. In the refrain to “Wabash”, where Paul wrote “Thro’ the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming”, MacDonald penned, “The gleaming candlelight still shining bright thru the sycamores”. Dresser’s “Oh, the moonlight’s fair tonight along the Wabash” became “When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash”. Dresser’s “From the fields there comes the breath of new mown hay” was changed to “The new mown hay sends all its fragrance”. Hanley took the melody from those measures of Paul’s song where the words “Thro’ the sycamores the candle lights are gleaming, On the banks” appear and, with but the change of a single note, took all of that tune to fit MacDonald’s words “When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash”.

By using note values of long, followed by short, durations throughout his song -- precisely those note lengths that pervade Dresser’s songs -- Hanley simulated the entire musical mood of “Wabash”. The complicated state of Paul’s business affairs, including numerous questions about copyright ownership of his songs, and Dreiser’s own developing career didn’t leave the author a great deal of time, as his brother’s executor, to deal with all the intricacies of Paul’s estate; thus he was probably unaware until 1940 that others had expropriated some music and words from “Wabash” for their own use.

Perhaps feeling that the popularity of “Indiana” might overshadow Paul’s state song, possibly temper the recognition Dreiser hoped the movie "My Gal Sal" would bring his brother, and, if he had really collaborated in the creation of “Wabash”, be a blow to his artistic pride, Dreiser pursued the issue of copyright violation with the Paull-Pioneer Music Corporation, then the owners of the copyright to “Wabash”. The president of Paull-Pioneer informed Dreiser that the Maurice Richmond Music Company, owners of the copyright to “Wabash” in 1917, had granted permission to Hanley and MacDonald to use two bars of music from “Wabash" with some change in the lyrics. Not content with this explanation, Dreiser continued to make his case for plagiarism and eventually made his attempts to decide the issue on a lawsuit, but to no avail.

While Dresser’s state song was sung at all sorts of gatherings in Indiana well into the 1940s, “Indiana” has gradually replaced "”Wabash” in the minds, hearts and ears of many younger Hoosiers. Indeed, many people -- Hoosier and non-Indianan alike -- mistakenly believe that Hanley’s is the state song and have never heard “Wabash”. While Stephen Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” is sung before the running of the Kentucky Derby, identified as the state song by those gathered there and by others who watch the event on television, the Indianapolis 500, which represents and identifies Indiana to many outsiders, features right before the start of the race the singing of “Indiana”, rather than the state song.

As a professor of music at Saint Mary’s College, South Bend, Clayton Henderson says, "today one only rarely hears “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” composed by the man many consider to be the only true successor to Foster in the writing of sentimental home songs. Based on musical merits alone, it is difficult to know why Foster’s song has endured while Dresser’s has largely been forgotten. With their bittersweet memories of the past in words colored by the halcyon days of youth, both represent the grand tradition of the sentimental song. The music of each, relatively simple, speaks directly to the heart and possesses that ineffable magic that makes for a superior song.

It is also puzzling why “Indiana” has supplanted “Wabash” as the favorite song about Indiana. Hanley’s song, as it is usually performed, has a jauntiness, a sprightliness that gives it a certain appeal to the ear, but “Wabash” possesses that same buoyant quality when it is sung at a tempo slightly faster than is customary today, but one at which it was often sung at the turn of the century. Perhaps without realizing it, some do hear “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” as it is imbedded in its shadow twin. Nonetheless, its loss from collective memory diminishes the musical treasure of yesteryear, this only a hundred years after this part of that treasure was created.

While writings of George Ade, Booth Tarkington and James Whitcomb Riley -- Hoosiers all -- still help many people fondly recall a time and place past (albeit remembered as through memory’s mist), most have forgotten Paul Dresser, who summoned up through the medium of music a similar place and time of youthful innocence. It is wishful thinking to hope for a revival of those Dresser songs that became high-water marks in American popular culture during the last decade of the 19th century and the early years of our present century, but it would be entirely appropriate and reasonable to suggest that “On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away” as the state song, be sung at public gatherings and other mass events in Indiana. This would be a fitting celebration of the centennial of “Wabash” and might even lead to its restoration in the ears, memories and hearts of more Hoosiers and those of many beyond the state."

As for "(Back Home Again in) Indiana", ironically only after the death of Dreiser in the age of 74 (on 28th December 1945, the day of the 47th anniversary of his wedding with Sara Osborne White) the song has become performed annually at the Indy 500...

Edited by AAA-Eagle, 11 March 2014 - 14:26.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 11 March 2014 - 21:55.

The car's driver is Lou Moore, at least that's what the caption says. I'm pretty sure I saw the car last year at the Indy Museum. I haven't Googled this yet but I think Lou Moore was a multi car entrant for Indy.

The year is 1930, the car a FWD Miller entered by the Coleman Motors Corporation and driven, as Tim C says, by Lou Moore. No idea how Roger Penske fits in, unless he ended up owning Coleman Motors?

For sure he was! And also keep in mind that both L.Moore and R.Penske are the only entrants/owners to achieve three consecutive Indy 500 victories (1947-49 & 2001-03 respectively)! Interesting, but the phenomenon of their extraordinary achievements may have some relationship to the fact that they hadn't been much successful in their driver's careers, so both having clear heads, enough self-discipline and business acumen had nothing to do but to realize their thirst for victory in a bit different status -- not as the drivers, but as the owners...

AAA-Eagle: who or what gave you the idea that Penske and Moore weren't successful drivers?

Michael, I said much successful, which for me means to have a career like the one of, say, Mario Andretti, A.J.Foyt or Emo Fittipaldi -- winning on the very top is all that matters to be really successful -- just as clear as that, nothing more.

Entirely unrelated, and off topic, but everytime I see your signature, I keep wondering what it's all about, and who's JPJ? Not Jean-Pierre Jabouille or Jarier, is it?

Jean-Pierre Jabouille. That's his words about Renault, which were said -- with a certain degree of sadness and unfulfilled expectations -- while remembering the 1980 World Driver's Championship.

Well, Tim C. unexpectedly came in with some inside information, Tim M. did all the legwork, but it was E. B. again who made it count!

Yes, without the Lou Moore ID I'd never have had a clue. I vaguely remember seeing that pic before, but had long forgotten the driver.

What connects the following drivers?

Dave Lewis
Lou Meyer
Rex Mays
Ted Horn
Jimmy Bryan
AJ Foyt (twice)
Mario Andretti
Joe Leonard
Tom Sneva

Edited by Michael Ferner, 13 March 2014 - 22:41.