14 replies to this topic

[MPea3]

On AMA's Hallf of Fame website they have a nice bio on Ralph Hepburn. Other than the picture, which shows a young Hepburn (instead of the well known face smiling out from under a helmet while sitting in the Novi), one thing caught my eye.

"Hepburn was the president of the American Society of Professional Automobile Racers, which lobbied for improved race purses."

I've never heard of this organization. I did a Google search, but found no other mention. Has anyone ever heard of it or know anything about it? Might this be one of the first forms of some sort of driver's organiation?

I'd also like to know if much info exists about his accident in turn 3 attempting to qualify in 1948. In some ways the connection with the Novi seems to have almost made it a folk hero story, but one thing has always bothered me. The few descriptions I've read talk about his backing off coming into turn 3, so as to pull all the way through the corner, as was normal for front wheel drive. As the story goes however, when the front end washed out, he could be heard to apply full power, and went nose first into the wall.

That's always bothered me. Full power to correct a push in front wheel drive? I can see doing that with RWD to rotate the car, but did Hepburn, 2 years from having last driven the Novi and in an undoubtedly panic situation, make a critical mistake by reacting in the way which was normal for him from 35 years of racing bikes and cars?

[Don Capps]

I will get my notes and write a few lines later on ASPAR, if that is okay.

[Henri Greuter]

Originally posted by MPea3
On AMA's Hallf of Fame website they have a nice bio on Ralph Hepburn. Other than the picture, which shows a young Hepburn (instead of the well known face smiling out from under a helmet while sitting in the Novi), one thing caught my eye.

"Hepburn was the president of the American Society of Professional Automobile Racers, which lobbied for improved race purses."

I've never heard of this organization. I did a Google search, but found no other mention. Has anyone ever heard of it or know anything about it? Might this be one of the first forms of some sort of driver's organiation?

I'd also like to know if much info exists about his accident in turn 3 attempting to qualify in 1948. In some ways the connection with the Novi seems to have almost made it a folk hero story, but one thing has always bothered me. The few descriptions I've read talk about his backing off coming into turn 3, so as to pull all the way through the corner, as was normal for front wheel drive. As the story goes however, when the front end washed out, he could be heard to apply full power, and went nose first into the wall.

That's always bothered me. Full power to correct a push in front wheel drive? I can see doing that with RWD to rotate the car, but did Hepburn, 2 years from having last driven the Novi and in an undoubtedly panic situation, make a critical mistake by reacting in the way which was normal for him from 35 years of racing bikes and cars?

MPea3,

Welcome in the mysterious world of the Novi legend.

I am not so much into the ASPAR matters so I leave that subject to Don and Look forward to see what he brings up. No doubt I will learn from this too. (Don't forget to include the Joe Lencki quotes Don!)

Then: the Novi & Hepburn.
I am not permitted to go into details. About anybody elso on this forum who knows them too can but I can't because of obligations and commitments I made.
There are however a few things I can tell which won't bring me into problems if I tell them.

Hepburn's car had been driven first by Cliff Bergere, who had an accident with it. Novi team management believed Bergere (a Hollywood stuntman from profession) was showboating, Bergere claimed his car manlfunctioned. He claimed there was something with the brakes but chief engineer Winfield told him that was impossible due to the construction of the car. The debate is still out if owner Welch said "You're fired " first before Bergere said "I quit".
This happened the day before pole day.

The thought behind FWD was indeed that, if the car stepped out with the rear end overtaking the front end, apply more power and traction to straighten the car out. Have the overtaken front end make up speed again to get ahead of the tail. It seemed to work with less powerful FWD's than the Novi, at least in the late 20's and 30's. I know of few other FWD's posessing more than 350 hp, the Novi had over 500 hp.

In 1946 Hepburn had set the then current qualifying records at Indy in the Novi, had to sit out 1947, but was still available in '48. Somehoe, the Novi team felt it made sence to get him in the car again and they got him, much to `Hep's delight. After trying the car as set up by Bergere, he requested to have the car back into the configuration as he had driven it in 1946. His wish was forfilled, despite engineer Bud winfield pointing out that several new details in the setup were better and more promising. Hep however wanted to have the car back in the trim he knew it after all because he knew for sure how to drive the car quick then.

About the accident itself, why Hepburn lost control is never put beyound doubt. Stories goe that he was too eager to show he still had it and was capable to tame the Novi. Taking too much risks too early without familiarizing himself decently after two years of not driving the car.
He ended up on the inside apron and lost grip, unfortunately when his tires finally had regained traction, he was heading straight for the wall and just at that moment he floored it.
The Novi was difficult to steer since it had no front differential, (image that! an FWD with a locked front end at high speed through a turn). So when Hepburn floored it, the car headed straight into the wall.

There have been lots of suggestions as to why Hepburn, 50, was even asked again to drive such a difficult car. But his experience of two years earlier made him a candidate. But there is some consensus among the historians that perhaps Hepburn should not have stepped into that Novi. or, at least, forget the pressure of pole day and take the time to get familiar again with the car and qualify the next weekend, relying on the fact that even from behind in the filed he still stood a good chance to come forward, like he had done in 1946.
A lack of recent racing experience (not racing in '47) has also been mentioned.
But '48 was really pressure cooking time and atmosphere within the Novi team and all that contributed to Hepburn's demise, in addition to the fact that he likely overestimated himself and underestimated his car.
But all that based on his '46 experiences so one can't blame him too hard on that. He was confident about himself, with reasons. Regrettably, some of those reasons I think (but say this with hindsight Hepburn didn't have at that time), were false.


Hope this is of any help and/or interest for you?


Henri Greuter

[MPea3]

Originally posted by Henri Greuter



Hope this is of any help and/or interest for you?

Thank you, this answers many questions for me. It raises another though. Had Hepburn driven a race car since Indy 1946? It's not clear to me whether he just didn't have a ride in '47 or if he was coming out of retirement. Either way it's easy to understand his desire to have the car set back to 1946 setup, fal;ling into the category of being the devil he knew as oppposed to the devil he didn't know.

All of the circumstances seem, in hindsight, to have been the perfect recepie for disaster. What a shame. I guess that's a common thread in many racing tragedies though.

A couple of more questions about the Novi. I've read that the car Hepburn died in was designed by Leo Goosen and built by Frank Curtis. Was this one of Curtis's earliest Indy cars? Also, I've read that the Novi engine was built in Offenhauser's shop. Is this true, and did Goosen also pen the design for the engine?

[Don Capps]

I will simply give folks the Readers' Digest version of ASPAR -- American Society of Professional Automobile Racers -- and the problems it created for the IMS in 1947.....

As is usually the case, the problem ASPAR was created to resolve was the rather skimpy purses being doled out by the promoters in the days immediately following WW2 on the AAA circuit. In negotiations with the promoters of the 100-mile events on the National Championship Trail, ASPAR asked for and received assurances that the drivers would prize monies equaling at least 40% of the gate.

ASPAR then made the same demand of the IMS. Wilbur Shaw gave them, to be polite, the run around. The drivers in ASPAR then let Shaw know that they just might not be there in May of 1947 for the International Sweepstakes. Shaw's tale of woe as to the finances of the IMS falling on deaf ears, Shaw offered to guarantee a purse of $75,000 and an additional $20,000 in lap prize money. This was in the Fall of 1946.

On 15 April 1947, the deadline for entries for the 1947 International Sweepstakes closed. There were only 35 official entries for 33 places on the grid. However, the IMS didn't really blink an eye -- or at least not much at any rate. ASPAR claimed it had another 30 entries it was sitting on -- actually it turned out to be more like 16. ASPAR also lobbied loud and long to the public that the IMS really needed the stars of the race, the drivers.

However, ASPAR had a problem that caused the organization to begin to wilt as soon as qualifying got underway -- the drivers and teams wanted to race, not boycott the event. After Ted Horn earned the pole and the rain ended the weekend with only a handful of cars on the grid, ASPAR members began to rethink their position. The ASPAR leadership basically caved and offered to drop their demands in exchange for being able to participate.

They had a bit of a problem since few were lined up with rides offered by the 35 official entrants -- all 35 would have to agree to allowing other entries to qualify. A deal was struck where no of the ASPAR entrants could bump one of the Official Entrants from the field, if they met the 115 mph minimum qualifying speed. Nor could an ASPAR car participate in the daily qualifying awards -- $1,500 per day -- offered by the IMS.

ASPAR agreed to the first stipulation, but balked at the second. After some very personal diplomacy by Tony Hulman -- he managed to get all the main players of the warring factions (the AAA Contest Board was not pleased, a normal state of affairs for this august body) into the Speedway office without any bloodshed resulting -- and a deal was hammered out. Then the rains returned after only a handful of cars qualified on the second weekend. On 25 May, five days before the race, there were twenty-two (22) openings on the grid. On Moday, three were added, one more on Tuesday, and then on wednesday eleven were added to bring the filed up to 28. The IMS then announced that the field was closed.

However, the ASPAR entrants begged for another extension. At 6pm, they got an additional hour and two more into the field. Ten ASPAR teams were among the thirty starters, with only Rex Mays having much luck in the race.

The first team to break ranks? Joie Chitwood.....

There is relatively little discussion on ASPAR and less than one would expect in the contemporary magazines and so forth. After ASPAR, not much of anyone fooled around with the IMS.....

This is simply a very broad overview and simply gives everyone an idea of what the brouhaha was about.

[fines]

Frank Curtis didn't build Indycars until the late fifties, it was Frank Kurtis who built the Novis. And yes, it was Kurtis' first Indycar, after rebuilding the Falstaff Special before the war.

And the ASPAR commotion wasn't the last time anyone tried to "fool around" with Hulman - in 1950 Lew Welsh, owner of the very Novi team, tried to get starting money for his cars and was rebuffed. That, to my knowledge at least, was the last time this was tried.

[MPea3]

Thanks guys, its all much appreciated

[Don Capps]

Michael,

ASPAR was the last time an organization as such with racing ties tried to "mess"with the IMS of Tony Hulman. Lew Welch was not the last to spar with Tony Hulman, only the last to do so openly and make it a point of doing so. Most of those few hearty souls who did engage in various "discussions" with Mr. Hulman later on, did it in discreet ways and allowed the principle of "plausible deniability" to operate to the benefit of all involved -- usually theirs.

The Great Satan of the IMS has always been the IRS.

***********************************

The presence of Winfield/ Novi engines, two of which were built by Meyer-Drake for the 1947 International Sweepstakes -- it would not be the "Novi Racing Corporation" until the death of Winfield in 1950, is perhaps of more siginificance than most realize. These engines were to have an unintended consequence on the future of both the IMS and the Contest Board.

As most now realize, the Contest Board aligned itself with the CSI and once again adopted the "International Formula" begining with the 1938 season. The Contest Board held its National Championship Trail events -- to include the International Sweepstakes, now often called the "Indianapolis Grand Prix" by some such as T.E. "Pop" Myers -- under the International Formula through the 1946 season. When the CSI announced a new International Formula -- now International Formula A (or I) -- to take effect with the 1948 season, the Contest Board followed suit in late 1946.

However, the problem was that there were few supercharged engines of 1.5-litres available on the western shores of the Atlantic, even the venerable Miller and Duesenberg 91s finally reaching the end of the line. The IMS wanted to ensure a full 33-car field for 1948, something that the ASPAR problem ensured did not happen in 1947. One solution that the IMS's Wilbur Shaw pushed through was delaying the adoption of the 1,500cc limit on the supercharged engines until 1949. The reasoning was that this was give the teams more time to get deals lined up for obtaining suitable engines.

Along the way, the IMS -- for whom Shaw was literally the spokesman -- decided that while did not have any problem with the 4,500cc unsupercharged option, epecially with Meyer-Drake starting to produce the Offenhauser 270 engines that were derived from the Miller engines, it did with the limit for the supercharged engines. The IMS waged a successful campaign to delay the new supercharged limit into not only 1948, but with the option of it being extended into 1949.

One of the announced reasons was that Meyer-Drake was capable of producing the Winflield/Novi engine if interest warranted such a move.

There were those within the American racing community campaigning for a 220-cubic inch limit versus 270/4.5-litres. Since I am doing this off the top of my head and while doing about a dozen other things, I will defer any more on this until I get home.

[fines]

Yes, you're right: the 1950 "discussions" were probably only the last to get publicised - a well-planned indiscretion in my opinion, because it deterred others from trying the same! On the other hand, perhaps the ever-increasing purses precluded anyone from thinking about starting money anyway. Remember, even the F1 teams came to the Glen without upfront money well into the seventies - and USGP purses were really poor in comparison...

[m.tanney]

  1946-1947 wasn’t the first time American racing drivers had tried to organize. In his very enjoyable book, Dirt Track Auto Racing, 1919-1941, Don Radbruch has a couple of pages on The National Championship Drivers of America, which was formed in 1935. In 1934 there were only four races in the AAA’s national championship series. Indy was a big payday, but the prize money for the other races was a pittance. In the summer of 1935, a group of leading AAA drivers formed the NCDA. They thought that if they promoted races themselves, they would get a bigger share of the gate receipts. Among the drivers who signed on were Rex Mays, Floyd Roberts, Lou Meyer, Wilbur Shaw, Fred Frame and Bill Cummings. Taking an “all for one and one for all” approach, they decided to forego appearance money. The one notable driver who did not join the group was the 1935 Indy winner, Kelly Petillo. Petillo demanded appearance money. The latest Indy winner was an important drawing card, but the group had to race without him. As Radbruch points out, a compromise might have been reached if it had been anyone but Petillo: “...an obnoxious character before his Indy win”, afterward "he was insufferable”. If anything, that’s putting it mildly. Anyhow, the NCRA was a bust. It promoted two races at Ascot and one at Oakland (AAA sanctioned, but not national championship events). The drivers made even less than usual. The National Championship Drivers of America disbanded early in 1936.

[Henri Greuter]

Don, thanks for filling me in on a number of things I wasn't aware of.
Same to the others who filled on on this one.


Henri Greuter

[Henri Greuter]

Originally posted by Don Capps
Michael,


The presence of Winfield/ Novi engines, two of which were built by Meyer-Drake for the 1947 International Sweepstakes -- it would not be the "Novi Racing Corporation" until the death of Winfield in 1950, is perhaps of more siginificance than most realize. These engines were to have an unintended consequence on the future of both the IMS and the Contest Board.




One of the announced reasons was that Meyer-Drake was capable of producing the Winflield/Novi engine if interest warranted such a move.

There were those within the American racing community campaigning for a 220-cubic inch limit versus 270/4.5-litres. Since I am doing this off the top of my head and while doing about a dozen other things, I will defer any more on this until I get home.

Maybe of interest to point out but Lew Welch had the first engine built by Offenhauser Engineering Co. and exclusive for one year. Later on he kept them exclusive for himself. Only in the mid 50's there has been some interest by an undisclosed potential customer who wanted to use Novi's too but Lew Welch didn't give in on his rights.

As far as I know, it has never been seriously pursued by someone else to lay his hands on Novi engines and try his luck with them. (and given Welch his experiences with the V8's, I can't blame them to be honest)
Meyer&Drake never catalogued them as being available to customers. Maybe if needede to assure good starting fields and with enough interest for them, Novi's might have been made avaliable for customers. But I have my doubts if there was so much money circulating within racing teams to afford them, in addition to the regular Offies most teams needed for the other champcar events.

quite a story of "what might have been"

Henri Greuter

[Don Capps]

Originally posted by Henri Greuter
quite a story of "what might have been"

Henri,

That was precisely the issue in many ways, there being much more hope than reality attached to the Winfield/Novi engines almost from the start.

Some odds and ends from the 1947 season:

Contest Board Bulletin, 28 January 1947

* The non-championship events run on dirt had the maximum displacement raised from 210-cubic inches to 220-cubic inches as the result of a poll and the resulting action of the Contest Board, effect in January 1947 and good until 31 December 1951.

* For the 1947 National Championship, max of 274-cubic inches for non-supercharged engines and 183-cubic inches for supercharged engines, no weight restriction

Contest Board Bulletin, 16 September 1947

* The extension of the maximum of 183-cubic inches for supercharged engines is predicated upon the assumption that there are "16 or 17" such supercharged engines that could be used in 1948 until the 91-cubic inch engines appear.

From Speed Age, Report on the Contest Board meeting in Los Angeles during mid-December by Walt Woestman:

* Colonel Harrington states that National Championship events will only be held at tracks with adequate safety measures. This is in response to the lack of an ambulance on site when Bardowki crashed and flipped at Lakewood/ Atlanta

* Ted Horn voices support for keeping the reduction to 220-cubic inches from 270 for the non-championship Big Car events

* Lou Meyer says a 91-cubic inch supercharged engine can compete with the unsupercharged 220s, but not the 270s. He stated that the speeds of the 91s would be slower and spectators unhappy.

* Wilbur Shaw unhappy with any changes to the formula with regards to the IMS -- he likes the current one. This die to any expenditures that might be incurred by the cars owners.

* Rumor that the Army might procure the Meyer-Drake for some purpose. This would allow prices of engines, especially the midget engines, to drop.

* Small Cars and not "Midgets" is the official Contest Board designation for Midgets....

* Small Cars can run with 220-cubic inch engines

* Western Racing Association (WRA) -- represented by J.C. Agajanian at the meeting -- drivers were forgiven and welcomed back to the AAA circuit

* Annual Fees: drivers, $15: owners, $10; mechanics, $5

* The Contest Board removed the "color-line" to allow non-Caucasians to become active in the AAA as owners and and drivers

[Arthur Anderson]

Originally posted by Henri Greuter



Maybe of interest to point out but Lew Welch had the first engine built by Offenhauser Engineering Co. and exclusive for one year. Later on he kept them exclusive for himself. Only in the mid 50's there has been some interest by an undisclosed potential customer who wanted to use Novi's too but Lew Welch didn't give in on his rights.

As far as I know, it has never been seriously pursued by someone else to lay his hands on Novi engines and try his luck with them. (and given Welch his experiences with the V8's, I can't blame them to be honest)
Meyer&Drake never catalogued them as being available to customers. Maybe if needede to assure good starting fields and with enough interest for them, Novi's might have been made avaliable for customers. But I have my doubts if there was so much money circulating within racing teams to afford them, in addition to the regular Offies most teams needed for the other champcar events.

quite a story of "what might have been"

Henri Greuter

Henri,

Actually, the "Novi" engine was designed by Leo Goosen to the ideas and specifications of the Winfield Brothers, "Bud" and Ed in 1940 for entry at Indianapolis in 1941. For the 1941 race, the Winfields came up with one of the 1935 Miller-Ford front-drive cars, which was modified at Offenhauser to mount the Winfield V8 (which engine name appears on at least the 1946 Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes entry list and in the race record). At a dynamometer reading of 550bhp, the engine was too much for that chassis (the Miller-Ford had been built around a 170hp "hopped up" flathead Ford V8), so Ralph Hepburn (arguably one of the best front-drive pilots at the Speedway in his career) wisely had the throttle pedal affixed with a wood block, effectively closing off about 1/4 of the throttle opening.

This car exists with the original engine (I don't know where now, since Bob Sutherland passed away), I did see it run at the Milwaukee Miller Club Meeting in 1996, an awesome experiece.

For the 1946 race, the Winfields, now funded by Lew Welch of Ford V8 engine rebuilding fame, commissioned Frank Kurtis to build a new car, also of front-wheel drive design. Apparently, sponsor Welch got into the action during the design phase, and pressed for some of his ideas to be included. While the car was fast, and Hepburn was able to handle it well, it wasn't particularly successful in 1946.

A second car, as you note, was built for 1947. By then, all manner of ideas were being tried, in order to get the chassis to handle the immense power and torque of the 3-liter supercharged V8. Of course, as others have noted, front-drive cars on the Speedway truly had just two straightaways in which to accelerate full-throttle, the short chutes having to be considered part of the turns for them. In addition, I believe the Novi had to be "feathered" quite a bit coming off turns 2 and 4, lest the front wheels break away (which the engine was quite capable of, especially seeing as how the almost 3000 lb weight of the car was highly concentrated at the rear with a full fuel load.

For 1948, allegedly, the Novi team, upon adding the curved front bumper to the cars, hid an oil-line to that bumper, with small jets at each end of the bumper, to spray upon driver demand, a fine spray of oil at the front tires, to break the traction just enough to keep them from biting the track surface (One can only imagine the reaction of AAA officials if they'd known that at the time!).

It is of course, a tragic note that Chet Miller was killed in 1953, driving the same (repaired) car in which Hepburn met his end. Miller, by all accounts, had a very similar circumstance to that of Hepburn.

It wasn't until 1956, with new roadster chassis built by Kurtis, that the Novi engine was truly tamed, but that year's new Firestone tires seemed not to be up to the task, and Paul Russo blew a rear tire, and slapped the wall. Had the roadster chassis had better, wider tires in 1956-57, it's likely the cars would have given a better account of themselves. But, at any rate, the Novi, the "hardluck" but seemingly so promising cars of the 50's, would excite the crowd like no other. In a field of Offies, one could pick out the sound of the Novi all the way around the track, they were loud, LOUD. The flat-plane crankshaft design, coupled with a supercharger turning at tremendously high rpms made for a noise that could be heard all the way around the speedway, above the growling, throaty 4-cylinder noise of the rest of the Offenhauser powered field.

Art Anderson

[Henri Greuter]

Originally posted by Don Capps


Henri,

That was precisely the issue in many ways, there being much more hope than reality attached to the Winfield/Novi engines almost from the start.

Some odds and ends from the 1947 season:

Contest Board Bulletin, 28 January 1947

* The non-championship events run on dirt had the maximum displacement raised from 210-cubic inches to 220-cubic inches as the result of a poll and the resulting action of the Contest Board, effect in January 1947 and good until 31 December 1951.

* For the 1947 National Championship, max of 274-cubic inches for non-supercharged engines and 183-cubic inches for supercharged engines, no weight restriction

Contest Board Bulletin, 16 September 1947

* The extension of the maximum of 183-cubic inches for supercharged engines is predicated upon the assumption that there are "16 or 17" such supercharged engines that could be used in 1948 until the 91-cubic inch engines appear.

From Speed Age, Report on the Contest Board meeting in Los Angeles during mid-December by Walt Woestman:

* Colonel Harrington states that National Championship events will only be held at tracks with adequate safety measures. This is in response to the lack of an ambulance on site when Bardowki crashed and flipped at Lakewood/ Atlanta

* Ted Horn voices support for keeping the reduction to 220-cubic inches from 270 for the non-championship Big Car events

* Lou Meyer says a 91-cubic inch supercharged engine can compete with the unsupercharged 220s, but not the 270s. He stated that the speeds of the 91s would be slower and spectators unhappy.

* Wilbur Shaw unhappy with any changes to the formula with regards to the IMS -- he likes the current one. This die to any expenditures that might be incurred by the cars owners.

* Rumor that the Army might procure the Meyer-Drake for some purpose. This would allow prices of engines, especially the midget engines, to drop.

* Small Cars and not "Midgets" is the official Contest Board designation for Midgets....

* Small Cars can run with 220-cubic inch engines

* Western Racing Association (WRA) -- represented by J.C. Agajanian at the meeting -- drivers were forgiven and welcomed back to the AAA circuit

* Annual Fees: drivers, $15: owners, $10; mechanics, $5

* The Contest Board removed the "color-line" to allow non-Caucasians to become active in the AAA as owners and and drivers

Interesting facts Don! Much appreciated!

Back to Lew Welch one moer time, I wonder how he would have reacted when AAA had decided to follow the 91 CI rues from 1949 on. Given the fortune he spend in having build 2 new Winfield V8's in '47 and (reportedly) having all of them (3) extensively rebuilt for 1948....

In a earlier post you also mention:

even the venerable Miller and Duesenberg 91s finally reaching the end of the line.

I wonder how much of those old 91's were still around. Several historians reported that mandy of the original 91's were bored out and used duing the junk formula years. I assume many of such engines being used up in those lean years.
As for alternative on 91's, there was of course the Offy Midget engine around which could be reworked into 91CI's and then be supercharged.
But of course that would have taken some time to make those reliable.


To Arthur Anderson,

Interesing enough, the latest versions of the Novi were told to perform at the best when revved much higher than in the Welch years.

The oil sprayer bumpers you wrote about were tried in '52. Watch the pics of the 52 cars versus those of other years and you''ll see the `bumpers`being different.


Henri Greuter