7 replies to this topic

[Wark611]

Hi everybody,

Could anyone help me understand which car was going to drive mistery man Mike Burch at the 1950 Indy 500?

I thought it was a Geroge Horter's Maserati but then I found infos that it could be a Miller and then I found this:

http://www.conceptca...ve-Special.aspx

That makes me wonder that he was driving an Hoyt Ford?

This article says the car was entered to the 1948 Indy 500 but there's no #84 car on the Memorial Day's race filed in that year. I checked it and the first #84 car entered after WWII is Mike Burch's (then Billy Earl) one, but in 1950 not 1948.

What do you think about it?

Davide

[fines]

The car certainly wasn't a Miller, nor was it a Maserati - it was a true Special, and as such it is a bit "open for nomenclature", if you know what I mean.;) Based on what I know of it, I would call it a Shreve/Ford.

Apparently, it was based on the remains of what was once the 1931 Miller V16, or Miller 303, the chassis of which was basically identical to the Miller 230 which took pole position in 1932 & '33, and won the Indy 500 in the latter year. Shorty Cantlon and Bryan Saulpaugh drove it, but it collected only retirements.

Sometime in late 1932 the V16 engine was pulled, the chassis shortened, a new body built and a 4.2-litre 4-cylinder Miller engine installed; the car was now called a Miller 255, and it was the last ever car built by the original Miller factory. As such, it was driven by Les Spangler (who crashed fatally with it at Indy in '33), Rex Mays, Floyd Roberts and Ray Pixley, and it did a lot better, including 4th and 6th place finishes at Indy. In 1937, it was one of a number of cars that were bought by the infamous Joe Thorne, and disappeared from sight for a time.

It was apparently resurrected by former Duesenberg mechanic and driver Thane Houser, who installed a Ford V8 and entered it as the "Robert Allison Special" for his son, Norm, to drive in 1947 (#69), but it didn't qualify. I have no idea if the car was modified to any degree (other than the engine change) by the Housers, as sources are not clear about that, and it may well be that the car should rather be called a Houser/Ford instead, but the website that you have linked to wants us to believe that it was rebuilt after James Edward "Eddie" Shreve bought it.

Shreve would go on to enter a few more cars at Indy in the late fifties and early sixties, amongst them a Jaguar-engined Mercedes-Benz W163 (oh, shut up with W154/39...)! The V16 Miller, by the way, was "restored" sometime in the early nineties, so we now have two "Historic" cars claiming the same ancestry... nothing's new!

[rateus]

I found this while idly googling at work ;) - it goes into a bit more detail about the modifications made after Shreve bought the car.

http://www.liveaucti...om/item/3978208

One note of caution - both this link and the one above strongly hint that Burch successfully qualified the car before being disqualified on medical grounds. I assume they've 'accidentally' confused rookie tests with actual qualification runs... For more on what those 'medical grounds' might have been:

http://www.trackforu...ight=Mike Burch

BTW, the Hoyt/Shreve/whatever was apparently street legal and registered as such in Michigan at the time of sale (2004) Fancy a quick trip to the shops?

[Richard Jenkins]

For those interested in Mike Burch the man, please see the email below from his daughter - he didn't die in 1955 as often quoted;

My father was Charles "Mike" Burch. He was born on 4/29/1907 and passed away on 7/11/1981 I saw on another site that he is recorded as having been killed in 1955 in an automobile accident. While I believe he was involved in a serious automobile accident in approx. 1950 in which someone was killed, it was not him.

He participated as a steward at the Indy 500 many years as he got older--driving golf carts, etc--probably on the safety team.

We were told that he was a mechanic on the Mauri Rose Blue Crown Special as well. That is something I was trying to verify that information and find that book recently--and that is how I discovered you were searching for information about past 500 participants. We purchased the book in which his name is listed for his last birthday in 1981. He was very happy with that gift. I would love to find another copy for our family--in case you might have any suggestions on what book that might be.

He did participate in auto racing for many years at Art Zipp's Speedrome in Indianapolis in probably the early 50's and beyond. So far as I know he did not participate in the 500 during those years other than attending and/or working on a crew somewhere.

He had 5 children----and worked as an auto mechanic for much of the remainder of his life. He was a kind and giving person and was well loved by just about everyone that met him.

[ensign14]

One mystery solved.

Although how he came to be listed as a 500 entrant is another mystery. Presumably a mistake from someone seeing him associated with the Blue Crown?

[Richard Jenkins]

No, he attempted his rookie test (maybe just trying out the car, who knows?) but wasn't given permission to run.

[Richard Jenkins]

P.S. For those interested, Burch was born in San Antonio, died Indianapolis.

[Richard Jenkins]

Minor update - Burch was from San Antonio, Texas but actually born in the delightfully named Fancy Farm, Kentucky. Working on getting a photo of the man and car if at all possible.