1934 Tripoli mystery

One of the very few US American excursions into European style Grand Prix racing in the thirties was made in the spring of 1934, with two cars crossing the pond to compete at Tripoli. One of those is well documented, the 1932 4wd Miller which stayed on to race at the AVUS three weeks later, but the other one is not so clear.

To lay out the scene a little bit, the cars were owned by a team doing business under the name of "California Racers, Inc.". I am not 100 percent sure about all the people involved, but I believe the main figures here were brothers Frank and Al Scully, and drivers Peter de Paolo and Lou Moore. One or both of the Scullys as well as Moore had been involved with Henry W. Maley in a 1933 enterprise, running a two-man Duesenberg (one of the type 122 chassis "widened" in 1930) with a Miller engine at Indy and on various dirt track events. This car is supposed to have been fitted with one of the very few original Miller 255 engines, i.e. those that were built before Miller's business went belly-up in April of that year (several were finshed later by Brisko, Offenhauser etc.).

"California Racers, Inc." had entered two cars for the 1934 Indy, the #2 "Foreman Axle Special" and the #27 "Miller Special". #2 appeared at the track and was driven by Moore to a 3rd place finish. It had a Miller 255 engine and was a new chassis, apparently built by Clyde Adams, with Offenhauser transmission, a "Scully" front axle, Foreman rear axle and Duesenberg (!) steering gear, wheel base was 100", weight 1950 lbs. Pretty much a standard two-man car for the time. #27 did not appear, and from its specifications it is clear that it was the 4wd Miller, which was still in Germany at the time of the Hoosier race.

Mark Dees in his "Miller Dynasty" shows a picture of the 1934 Foreman Axle, stating that "this is the car Moore used to place seventh in the Tripolis Grand Prix that year". Unfortunately, he doesn't expand on the post-Indy history of this particular car as it was replaced the following year by another new "Foreman Axle Special" with slightly different specs but apparently the same engine. The 1934 car was possibly wrecked in the fatal accident of Joe Russo at Langhorne in June of that year, or possibly in a qualifying accident at Syracuse in September, when driven by Kelly Petillo. I cannot find a trace of it beyond that (possible) appearance.

Now (finally, I hear you say) to the "real" mystery: The "other" Tripoli car is described in the "Black Books" as a Duesenberg chassis, and from here this info appears to have made it to several secondary sources. Furthermore, Sheldon has the engines of the two cars exchanged, but that is just a minor complication which may be true or just one of those mistakes that creep in every once in a while. The point about which I am really confused is the possibility of the car being actually the old Maley Duesenberg. That car, it may be added here, has a singularly interesting history of its own, if I'm not mistaken: as far as I can determine it was the car used by Billy Winn in 1935 to win the Springfield and Syracuse National Championship affairs and, after being sold to Chet Gardner later that year, ran in a couple more 500s in 1936/7. It also helps to explain why Winn apparently got hold of one of the original Miller 255 engines for his single-seater, which he certainly could not have afforded in 1933!

The point is: I have nothing on the Duesenberg for the year 1934 except for this possible Tripoli appearance! It may be that the car was owned by "California Racers, Inc.", but there is actually no evidence for that. It appears much more conclusive for the car to have stayed in the US midwest to end up with Billy Winn, rather than taking a route via California and North Africa! On the other hand, it may well be that it was used by the Californians as a back-up car at Tripoli, and maybe even at Syracuse!

In conclusion, I have very little in the way of original info from the 1934 Tripoli event, so maybe another TNFer can help me out here. Maybe even with a picture of the #24 at Tripoli, as it would then be very easy to determine which car it was.

= a long-winded way to ask "Does anyone have a picture of #24 at Tripoli in 1934, or more definite information on the car"?

You have "Wall Smacker" by Peter de Paolo? The cars are described as Millers - "one a conventional rear-drive with a 4 cylinder engine and the other a four wheel drive with a V8 Miller engine". The Moore 4-cyl went back to the States for the 500, de Paolo's 4wd stayed behind for a crack at the Avus, the engine went voom and Red Snyder shipped it back to the States "by slow freight".

Thanks, eXIV, and no, I don't have the book. Sounds like it wasn't the Duesenberg, then, and the engines appear to have been in their conventional places, too.