I'm trying to find the original article but considering the census has him born in December, maybe it's a transcript problem so I beleive it's December both times.

Howett doesn't qualify under my criteria for inclusion.

Actially, there are a few errors in that link to Cariens.

He was buried at West Branch, Iowa, not Michigan.

But, it's a lead. Do any of the Motorsport Memorial guys have access to Illinois births pre-1900?

And...Richie, I just returned from a fruitful local library trip that will clarify a couple of entries. Watch for a couple of e-mails with a couple of scans. One is simply amazing and fascinating.

Cost me 40 cents to print them

According to The New York Times, Frank Farmer was 35 when he died August 28 in 1932, dying on the way to the General Hospital in Perth Amboy (NJ). I wouldn't put too much trust into a snippet like that, but if true he would have been born in 1896 or '97.

Bob Christie passed away Monday, RIP

Last time, I said Now we concentrate on making sure ALL the dates match the right people..

That's the focus still & work is going on for this (more also in the other thread I've posted in tonight).

This is actually 2 updates in one - exciting times ahead for WATN/ORC, me thinks. A better positioning on Google, more "behind the scenes" work & coming very shortly, more interviews... the first being Basil van Rooyen, who kindly agreed to such a request after contacting me. More on that soon....

I am sure Allen will correct me if I've forgotten anything, but I have a new, direct email on the site & I have also changed the introduction as a tribute to Tony Marsh & a number of others.

Plenty more to come -from both Allen & myself, so stay tuned!

As for the updates this time - well;


2009 WATN Updates
Andre, Apicella, Aguas, Bentley, T Bell, Berton, Bernoldi, Caceres, Campos, Duno, Dallara, Gascoyne, Guerreri, M Halliday, Herbert, Iida, Kerr, Kristensen, B & J Lazier, Moreno, Morbidelli, Meneghello, Nielsen, N Phillippe, Pantano, Perera, Pizzonia, Preston, B Rice, Raikkonen, Servia, Rod. Sperafico, Tyler, Tracy, J Villeneuve Jr, Wirth, Wurz

General WATN Updates
G Ball, Boling, Dudot, Heylen, Mass, Pirro, Tansy, Thicksten, Van Rooyen, Walter

Changed Info
Buxton - more precise deathplace, date & birthdetails.
Cariens - birth & death details
Klenk - birthdate & deathplace
A Owen - death & birth details
L Allen - removed details
C Baumann, Dudley, May - birthdetails
Boling, Bost, McVey - all details

New Info
Thiele - deathdate

New
Antinucci

Died
Arundell, Christie, Kladis, Kuhn, Maggs, Marsh, Munday, L Rice, Walter (9... pretty brutal amount lost recently) :

Other
Again spellings sorted out and all current GP driver totals, as well as the Indy 500 updated & refreshed & all drivers new to that added to that category.

Thanks
Rewind, Dan Owen, Dan Axelsson, Peter Morley, Rick Kelly, Jim Thurman, Steve Wilkinson, WGD 7606, Michael Ferner & Basil van Rooyen!

As mentioned above, Basil van Rooyen agreed to an interview - in the end, it was far more extensive, thorough & refreshingly honest than I imagined - he is an excellent subject. He has been extremely helpful - the interview is here - http://www.oldracingcars.info/interviews/basil_vanrooyen/

For numerous reasons, these have been the first interviews on WATN for 3 years & that's far too long. I intend to make up for lost time by producing quite a few, but after the length of Basil's, I'm going to have at least a few days break!!

Hope people enjoy it...

Well, 6 months on & that list is pretty much dwindling, thankfully.

Hope this isn't too late for Michael to see this on TNF (If the Mods have acted, can someone PM me & I'll email MF) but was Harvey M Kleopfer, Barney Kloepfer.... yes.

One, none of the two likely Kloepfer's in California have any racing link and more importantly, secondly, in the Californian Voting Registation Index from 1926-1944, a Barney Kleopfer appears - listed either as a manager or garage manager.

His wife is Laura & the last time he appears in 1944, ties in with the fact that he died in 1943. So to check Laura Kleopfer in the 1930 census... she is married to Harvey M.

Therefore, I have no doubt in my mind, especially with very little KLOEPFER evidence, that Harvey M is our man.

Just a few more to check (including some discussed here), it's getting there....

Finally had the chance to check this.

I think the 1974 is wrong, and I fully back the 1914. I got this plain wrong, apologies.

There is a family tree by some family members on Ancestry & it reveals that William Francis Linn (son of those mentioned above) was born in 1911, in New Trier, Illinois. Consdiering what else I searched by (and that was quite a lot), I can't see anyone else that fits within that time line, so it does indeed looks like 1911-1978 to me. (7th Feb 1911 d. Feb 1978)

While you are at it, Richie, you can add a new name to “Where Are They Now?”.

It has been revealed that Peter Staechelin actually practised for the 1951 Swiss GP.

I have been shown a photograph which has recently been published in the second volume of the new Cimarosti book "Swiss Made Grand Prix". Obviously Staechelin crashed his Ferrari # 50 and was a non-starter. Although he wasn’t hurt that was - according to his son - the end of his racing career. You will find his life dates there.

This info should be useful for Allen Brown’s examination of the 1951 season, too.

I can't speak for Allen, but would have thought that if Staechelin didn't "arrive" for the official qualifiying sessions he would be classified as 'DNA'

Reinhard, I agree with David. He comes under the same "bracket" as the late Ricardo Londono & Jorge de Bagration.

The only reason some are allowed under the Indianapolis 500 who come near the same status is records for most of the pre-1960 is no-one seems to have any clue whether they are qualifiers or entrants. One day, I, or others, might be able to sort that. However I know the above two & Staechelin come under the "did not attempt qualifying" criteria.

Nonetheless, it's very interesting to know.

Are you sure that back in 1951 there was a distinction between "free practice" and "qualifying session"?
Obviously Staechelin and his car arrived at the meeting and obviously he drove his car on the circuit until he crashed it.

No, I'm not sure of the rules that applied to the 1951 Swiss Grand Prix
However, the man's name does not appear on any published lists of pre-race lap-times

Hmmm.....

What about Joaquin Palacio at the 1951 Spanish GP? It seems about the same context as Staechelin?

I have no problem putting him in WATN as it only takes up about 30 seconds of my time, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of hard evidence, as far as I can make out, of him actually making a genuine qualifying attempt?

Are the only reasons supporting his appearance at the 1951 Grand Prix because 1) a photo suugests he might of and 2) his son says he was? Normally, I am happy to accept word of mouth from a family or direct source, but Ken Kavanagh getting confused about racing in the 1958 Argentine GP is a case in point as to why I am a little more careful these days.

However, I must admit Staechlin has more going for him then the likes of Ralph Holmes, who I am seriously doubting has anything to do with the Indianapolis 500.


To be fair, I have little reason to doubt Reinhard. I have just discovered that there might be another F3000 non-qualifier not accounted for, so these things happen. I'd love to pinpoint that some of those Indy non-qualifiers were actual non-qualifiers and not just entrants, but these things aren't clear & so I keep them on until I can 100% prove they were not eligible. And even then it's still not clear.


I think my main question is thus; Is Staechelin like de Bagration & Londono, or is he like de Riu & Trimmer, for example? If it's the latter, he's in.

Hi Richard!

Maybe solve the Staechelin, de Bagration, Londoño problem by just adding all the “DNA” GP drivers from Paul Sheldon’s black books to your list? Allen, Bickel, Celidonio and so on.

Sure, maybe 50 new names to add, but perhaps also a new little challenge finding their data.

Best wishes,

I do not think that would be a good idea. What about the people who were rumoured to be entered? Where would it stop? And who appointed the Black Books as the ultimate arbiter? Richard has drawn the line in a sensible place - a driver has to have participated in a World Championship event to get onto the list. If he didn't appear in official practice, then he doesn't get in. A driver who may have been present, or whose car may have been present, or even one who practiced the day before the event (Neve?) doesn't count.

Then why is Karl Oppitzhauser in your list?

Allen has covered it for me, but that would also mean about 500 (at least) Indianapolis 500 entrants. I can tell you now, I'm over-run enough without 550 names to add & that "new little challenge" would probably mean I'll give up the whole thing to be quite frank.

If you want to see if these 50 did qualify (and it's already been proven most didn't) & find their biographical details if they did, then you're welcome & I'll add anyone who should be in to the database. But de Bagration, Londono etc.. no.


As it happens, I am going over the Indianapolis 500 non-qualifiers to try & establish that they were there, so the whole thing is as uniform as possible. So, that's a fair bit of work to be added onto an increasingly large pile.

And then should I include all the Aurora F1 entrants, and so on, and so on, and so on. I have to have a cutting off point & I am sticking to it. Otherwise, there's 20,000 names on there & it's too much!


I thought somebody provided evidence that Oppitzhauser did indeed attempt to qualify. Having (very quickly) reviewed it, I'll remove him. (Unless someone can re-provide evidence he didn't qualify)

If Rewind (or anyone) could give more background as to why Staechelin is proved to have been in qualifying, then I'm happy to enter him. I can't just go on a photo (which might have been captioned wrong) or the pride of a son.

Organiser's choice I suppose as to whether to differentiate between 'official' and 'unofficial' sessions back then. Some definitely did though - see uechtel's piece on Mauritz von Strachwitz' MSM-Lancia in his 'Phoenix from the Ashes' series over at 8W, especially regarding the 1953 German GP (with photo ) http://forix.autosport.com/8w/df2-ebwg.html

MY FIRENZA WAS AN ORIGINAL CHEVY DEALER TEAM CAR WHICH BASIL RACED UNTIL I BOUGHT THE CAR AND TOOK IT BACK TO RHODESIA I ENJOYED YOUR INTERVIEW WITH BASIL REG DICK MAWSON

He seems to have turned up, as there's pics of a March looking suspiciously like it had the number 40 on it with someone said to be Oppitzhauser in the car, but according to Dr L's March book Bernie told the organizers that he couldn't take part.

No probs, Dick, glad you enjoyed it.

Oppitzhauser will be removed. We've had a longer check & was only an entrant. He can keep his moment of glory for a little longer Not that I'm complaining, it means less work

I don't disbelieve Rewind about Staechelin, I'd better make that clear. Believe you me, if someone does research properly, it's him. But I'm a little confused as to the criteria of making that leap to non-qualifier status, unless I've got something wrong. However, the feeling I have at the moment is giving Staechelin the benefit of the doubt due to the more relaxed structure of practice. Unfortunately any entry about Staechelin is not going to be too enjoyable due to the airline he ran having a fatal & large air accident in Nicosia.

Yep, Rateus, poor old von Strachwitz was plain unlucky....

With regard to an old post of mine i.e. September 23, 2008 on this very thread and two others on the same date: I have quite unexpectedly found the reference as to Dave Evans' real name! According to MOTOR AGE, April 19, 1928, page 12, Dave Evens real name is David Sloat.

I was quite surprized to come across this today as I was not looking for it.!

Hi John Glenn,
How interesting - as mentioned in those posts, DE (or DS) is definitely correct dates-wise, but did he ever refer to himself as Sloat and did it mention why he changed? I wonder if the E in D. E. Evans is actually David Evans Sloat???

Can of worms, Richard!
There must be countless examples of cars doing untimed laps in the day - they won't appear in official documentation and would have been unreported by the press. You'll never know about all of them...

Indeed. Found one the other day - in the 1936 Eifelrennen. See picture top left on page 59 of Weguelin's "ERA" and try to work out who's following Bira - and when! I'm pretty sure I know the who, and probably the when - but definitely not the why (although I can guess!)

You must have a better magnifying glass than mine

or I could take that feeling back


So I await more confirmation re. Herr Staechelin from anyone.

Tonight I'll try & crack on those DNQ's for Indy & see if they did attempt to qualify if at all possible.

Hi, Latest update is up after a busy few months - the update is up later than I wanted to, but I've been working hard on making sure we have the correct people both from a person point of view & a "were they definitely there?" point of view. Anyway, it's all nearly there with the 1st & all done with the 2nd, so as follows:

PS New things to be added soon.........

2009/10 WATN
Alonso, Bourdais, Badoer, Briatore, Buemi, B Bell, Coloni, de Ferran, Fisichella, Gascoyne, Kox, Herbert, Leinders, Liuzzi, Massa, Matsuura, Mansell, Migeot, Morbidelli, Perera, N Piquet Jr, N Phillippe, Power, Symonds, Servia, Tagliani, Vettel, Webber, N Wirth, Willis

General WATN
Attwood, J Brabham, J Bailey, Buick, Dave Coyne, Campbell-Jones, D Firestone, A Gordon, Gaze, D Hunt, J MacDonald, Magill, Nuckey, Prappas, Rathmann J, Roth, Surtees, Sauce, M Schumacher, Van Rooyen, Vita, Zoellner

Changed Info
C Burton's details wrong - removed all dates, new birthplace,
Couceiro, Liuzzi- changed date of birth
Houck, Le Cocq - corrected date of death
Houser, Marquette, O'Rourke, Rounds, Sall, Sauce - new birthplace
HartsFELD - changed birth & death details & spelling of name
Le Cain, S Palmer - date & place of birth
Linn, Newman, Tower (not NEUMAN note..) - place & date of birth & death/WATN
T Marsh - place of death
T Phillips details wrong - removed date of birth/amended to partial/WATN
Zoellner - change of spelling

New Info
Beaujon - date & place of birth
R Bell - date & place of birth, WATN
M Galvin, Whitmarsh -birthplace
Osella & Nardozzi - rough dates of birth
Wonderlich - full death & birth details

New
Alguersauri, K Anderson, J Booth, Bourque, R Carter, Delno, De Hart, Fernandes, Grosjean, B Hill, G Morris, W Pankratz, Trice, Windsor

Removed
F.L. Adams, S Ball, Burke, Beardsley (never turned up & not sure he should even be counted as an entrant), W Campbell, Delling, Herb Hill, S Hudson, Oppitzhauser, Pens, Paul, S Price, Russing, Slade, Skelly, O Smith, Stine, Whitesides

Died
Gardner F, Karch

Other
All current GP driver totals updated
Al Smith NQ in 1967, not 1965 which I had.

Thanks
Michael Smith, Stuart Edwards (Edison Lighthouse fame), John Blazier, Bob Bell, Allen Brown, Dan Axelsson, Rewind, David Holland, John Campbell-Jones, Brian Pratt, Deb Baker, Jim Thurman, Basil van Rooyen, Jim Buick, Andy Yates, Al Blizt, Raymond Oswin, Derek Hill, Letty Nuckey, Brian Shanebrook, Roscoe H Rann, Gergely Gabris, Anthony Hayes

For those updating records;

Remove C Burton details
Bob Bell (Rial) b. 4 Jul 1953
Beaujon b. 4 Sep 1950
Gerald Brisko b. 1924 d. 25 June 1950, car crash in Chicago, ILL (Not on WATN, but listed on Champ Car Stats)
Le Cain - 28 Jun 1887, Roxbury, Massachusetts
Linn b. 07 Feb 1911, New Trier, Illinois d. Feb 1978
Gaston Morris b. 1880
Butch Morley d. 25 Feb 2004, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Not on WATN, but listed on Champ Car Stats)
Liuzzi - 6th Aug 1981
Roy NeWman - b. 30 May 1922, New Albany, Indiana d. Jul 1970
Sterling Price - DNA/DNQ - b. 26 Dec 1889, Oakland, California d???
Phillips now b c.1958/59, remove old info...
Romine - Noah Albert Romine b. 1 May 1890, Indianapolis, Indiana, d??? (Not on WATN, but listed on Champ Car Stats)
Palmer S - b. 31 Oct 1901, Denver, Colorado
Tower - Edward J Towers b. 24/2/1888, Newarkm NJ d. Nov 1985, West Orange, NJ (Last 1911 survivor)
Wonderlich - Gerald W. Wonderlich b. 25 Aug 1889, Bloomfield, Ill d. 13 Apr 1937, Bloomfield, Illinois

Hi Richie, great job as always!

Just had a look and thought you/Allen should know the index letters on the site are only working for the Indy500 file - clicking on a letter in any other file takes you to the Indy500 page.

I'm sure it's a quick fix, and look forward to full service being resumed soon

Yes, it was a quick fix!

A year, and 4 and a bit months on.. it's been solved.

It IS the Joe Thomas, of Washington birth & multiple Indianapolis fame.

I don't know I can copy an image of an article on here... but I have saved a copy of the article on my computer.-

Thomas later moved to Hammond. In the Chicago Tribune, Jan 22 1927, Joe Thomas told the police in Hammond, Indiana how he was held virtually a prisoner for four months and compelled to work as the accomplice to a gang of extortioners & blackmailers. Thomas, who holds dirt track records across the country, has also participated in several of the speedway classics in Indianapolis.

The article later goes on to confirm that he & his wife lived in Robertsdale, a suburb of Hammond & it's a pretty gruesome tale where he was threatened to either work or die, his wife being threatened, being blackmailed simply because he decided to help a lady with a car.

That confirms that Joe Thomas of Hammond, Indiana is the same JT who raced at Indy.
It would also explain why he made a comeback, as quite simply, he may've been in financial ruin after all this & hoped the comeback would lead to better things & past glories...

What an amazing story...
Anyone who wants a copy of the article (it's in PDF format), let me know.

So, only ONE Joe Thomas, and secondly, one less mystery for me to solve!

How come that you altered Vitantonio Liuzzi’s year of birth from 1980 to 1981? Four years ago David Holland confirmed that 1980 was the correct year. If I understand correctly what he wrote then it was Liuzzi who told him so.

What makes you think the spelling of Heinz Zöllner’s surname should be „Zoellner”?

Rewind,
Liuzzi, I have no doubt is a fudger, but he is now contradicting what he said to DH2. DH2's partner in crime, David Hayhoe also queried this & Liuzzi said to him, and to everyone else, that is now saying he was born, not in Bari, but in Locorotondo on the 6 August 1981 - http://www.liuzzi.com/

However, I believe 1980 to be correct, however as you recently did with Pedro Couceiro I see, changed the date of birth on the basis of a personal website, and so, for now I have to go by Mr. Liuzzi himself.

Give it a few years when he's not in F1 & watch him suddenly get a year older...

Zollner's name IS Zöllner. But as I've said repeatedly before, I do not have the facilities to add little makrs on peoples names. I am under the impression that Zoellner shows up the same as Zöllner ins earches, hence the change.

PS - As you are German, you might have more luck than me in trying to finally get his date & place of birth:
http://www.grips-id.de/contact.php

I emailed him, but nothing back. Maybe it would be better coming from a countryman?

Any help would be good, likewise anything you can do with Oswald Karch. What is the situation with German death indexes?

My understanding is that either Zöllner or Zoellner is correct; what isn't correct is Zollner.

For example, Reinhold Jöst has a team called Joest Racing (even in the German language version of the site).

EDIT: As a better example, Zöllner's email address is heinz.zoellner@gri.....de!

I'm already at it.
I don't know of any German death indexes. In Germany we have "Datenschutz".
From the editors of the "Mannheimer Morgen" newspaper I learned that a man called Oswald Karch was to be buried at the Oggersheim cemetery on 05 February 2009. But I was told there was no obituary or death notice in that paper.
My e-mail to the editors of the "Die Rheinpfalz" newspaper hasn't yet been answered.

I think it's very likely to be our man isn't it?

Excellent detective work, although its a bit of a shame it has to come down to detective work anyway.
Allen has explained how to do the unlauts etc, so in time, they will be added. Basically, Allen has explained it well - Zollner is not correct, so for the meantime, I have done Zoellner. Thought it was the best way of doing it for the meantime.

Reinhard, no need to chase up Zoellner.
He's sent me a nice email this morning, and he's given a detailed CV about his career & most importantly, his date & place of birth - 6th March 1958, Duisburg.

Another mystery done!

Too late!
This afternoon I sent an e-mail to him and within twelve minutes I got his reply.
He must be wondering.

According to the family’s death notice published by the „Rheinpfalz“ newspaper Oswald Karch passed away on 28 January 2009.

Brilliant work, Reinhard!

There's loads of Indy Mysteries being solved - I enclose the link for one - the death certificate of Harry Endicott, which states all his birth details:

http://seekingmichigan.org/u?/p129401coll7,740598

For those who can't see the link, it's 16th June 1881, and born in Frankfort, Indiana.

There's at least 10 other mysteries solved, but I'll reveal them all (Orr & D'Alene have been posted on here anyway) once I've done a few more searches... probably early December.

Hi,
Quite a big update in some ways, although the actual profiles being updated are relatively small in number. That's because this update has finally gone through everyone who I wasn't sure about & we definitely (or as much as I can make out) the right person on there.
But not only that, I have solved 16 Indy mysteries, including some that had been bothering me for years, so full details below. There's still a few to check, but I don't see many more being done for now...

2009/2010 Updates
Aganathelou, Alguersuari, Gary Anderson, Artam, Barrichello, Beretta, Bigois, Brawn, Button, Franchitti, Fernandez, Fisher, Glock, J Howard, Hornish Jr, Kubica, Larini, Liuzzi, Montoya, Pescarolo, B Rahal, N Rosberg, Raikkonen, Sharp, Speed, Sutil, Sauber, Tredozi, Vasselon, Verdonck, Wurz, Yamashina, Yeley & Zanardi

General WATN Updates
Just for you Ensign, there's some gloriously obscure F3000 drivers covered in this one......

Artzet, Adolff, Bolanos, Barbazza, Chittum, de Riu, Debenedetti, D Halliday, Kojima, Kapitza, Leighton, Lacaze, Merz, Rooney, J Thomas, Toleman, Tower, Zoellner

People whose details are wrong & been removed
Abney (I hadn't done it for some reason before), G Clark (all), Denver (birth), Farmer (birth), Krieger (all & note spelling, birthplace added though), Nichols

Deaths
Karch (full details), Munaron

New
Di Grassi, Senna, Hulkenberg

Other
Russing re-added after information that he did make qualifying...
All GP totals up to date for 2009 season.

Indy Mysteries solved
Calohan (note spelling) - d. 04 Oct 1953, Kansas City, Missouri - Missouri Death Index
Decker b. 23 May 1903 - NY Birth Index
D'Alene d. 1 Dec 1966 - Family records
Endicott b. 16 Jun 1881, Frankfort, Indiana - Michigan Death Index
Greiner b. 28 Apr 1884 - Illinois Birth Index
Gibbons (note spelling - it was a mistake by the draft card) - b. 20 Apr 1883 d. 07 Jan 1960, Wateuska, Illinois for both (and WATN info) - Find-A-Grave
Hannon b. 9 Nov 1908, Clifton Heights (plus WATN info) - family information
Ralph Holmes - my Indy Holy Grail - loads of WATN info - b. 28 Dec 1895, Beaverton, Ontario, Canada, d. 20 May 1988, Lockport, NY (family info)
Wade Morton - d. 22 Feb 1935, Winter Haven, Florida (Florida Death Index)
Orr - b. 27 Aug 1877, Chicago, Illinois d. 11 Dec 1954, Denver, Colorado (numerous - census, find-a-grave, Michigan marriage index)
Pixley b. 1 Feb 1907, Bellingham, Washington (family info)
Romcevich b. 06 Jul 1906 (Find-A-Grave)
J Reynolds b. 19 Nov 1859 (yes, 150 years ago!) - Butte, Montana death index
Stein d. 16 Nov 1956, Akron, Ohio (Akron newspaper & Utah cemetery records) - plus WATN info
Shoaff b. 3 Feb 1897 (family info), d. Mattoon, Illinois (Cole County Cemetery records)
Zale b. 19 Mar 1906 (Article about him)

Other new or changed details
Beeder - month of birth added & change of birthplace
A Duray - change of birthplace (If Marc Ceuelemans is still on the site, Duray WAS Belgian born)
Bob Evans (I) date & place of birth & WATN info (born 19th April 1890)
Galvin F - month of birth added
Harder - date of birth amended - 9th Aug 1892 (same death details as before - again draft card details were mistranscribed)
Knycz - added birthplace
Danny Jones - change of birthdate (11 Jan 1935)
Jenkins J - change of birthplace & WATN info
Lariviere - change of birthplace
Langley - change of deathplace
Mayes - should be MAYS - change of birthplace
Osella - change of birthplace
K Sailer - birthdetails (b. 11 Jun 1897)
Zoellner birthdetails (06 Mar 1958)

Thanks
Heinz Zoellner, Rewind, David McKinney, Ondrej Spacek & Victoria Toleman

LATEST NEWS!!

Phew, you've got the ability to keep me busy, Richie!

Some remarks:

On WATN you still have his year of birth as 1901. Obviously something went wrong with the updating process because there it is written "Last updated 11 Jan 2006". Since then you wrote you have his birthdate as 19 June 1895 (posting from 25 Nov 2006).
Do we have to delete that date, too (and start from zero)?

The city is neither Wateuska nor Wateska but Watseka.

According to the updated entry the date is February, 11th.
Which is the correct one?

Reinhard,
Denver, yes, please - 1901. I'll update the updated bit after a while.
Thanks
Pixley should be Feb 1st, sorry.

An absolutely fantastic site!!!

Hello Mr Jenkins,

I was wondering while in doin your research for the drivers (for example like Jack Tower (1911&1913) )that those guys had been totally forgotten about by the powers at Indy ,or if their existence was remembered and if any ever made returns to the speedway later on in their lives to help later drivers learn what the early days were like?
Same question for the non qualifiers like Overton Snell.

It seems it would be a real pity that if the last survivors from the early days up to ww2 didnt get interviewed to have their memories recorded on how things were back when they drove.

I've watched you gradually fill in most of missing dates so far and am amazed how much has been completed thanks to you and your associates help .Considering how little was saved from that era everyone that has contributed to the effort may not realize how many owe yall a great deal of thanks for doin it.
While it may never be totally 100% complete i suspect anyone just starting out now trying to do a project like this would be sorely pressed to do as much as yall have done.






Paul

Cheers Paul,
I think there will be, out of the 205 mysteries (Indy & non-Indy) that remain, 30-50 that may never be solved, but we can but try.

It's a good point, actually - I think it is something that is happening now a bit more, but Overton Snell's life & passing seemed to somewhat unnoticed. Admitted he was not a front-rank driver in any sense, but he was part of an era that has now gone forever... thankfully they made the most of George Connor & Duke Nalon.

Tower, though, I don't know they really exploited that. I suppose Harroun's memories were used extensively, but Tower outlived Harroun by some way after all. I was surprised, when changing Tower's info, that being the last 1911 survivor AND a WWI war hero meant information on him was/is so thin on the ground....