Grover Ruckstell and his mechanic Quicksell pose in Ruckstell's Mercer at the July 1914 races at the Tacoma Speedway. On July 4th, in front of a crowd of 35,000 screaming fans, Ruckstell would fight his way to a second place finish behind Earl Cooper in what was called the Montamarathon. Ruckstell's time for the 250 mile race was 3:23:33. It was the largest crowd in Tacoma's racing history and they were not disappointed with the heavily fought race. Tetzloff was in the lead until he dropped out in lap 113 with wheel problems, and limped to the pits with his mechanic laying across the hood holding the wheel. Ruckstell fought Bert Dingley for second place until Dingley spun off the course in lap 123, sustaining life threatening injuries. The crowd was in a frenzy as Ruckstell passed the checkered flag.
I'll ask again...Kurtis gave me a great link, but I did not see the image I was looking for....Can anyone help me find the image I seek? I know I've seen it somewhere...but I can't remember where-I'm hoping one of us has it or can send me a link to it....Thanks-Mark _____________________________________________________________________ I'm looking for an image, maybe someone has it and can post it. I could have sworn I had it in my reference folder but it's just not there... In my mind's eye, it's a Cole National racer with a driver named Endicott or Dawson aboard and it's shot like a portrait with fancy Cole National script in one corner and the driver's name underneath...Can anyone PM me that or post it here, please? Thanks in advance-Mark
T-Head on the masked man and the chariot if I had to hazard a guess could it be Eddie Rickenbacker in a Mason? Mechanic??-Jim As to Ruckstell at Tacoma he had a better result the following year taking first in the Montamarathon and Cooper in his Stutz was second. Pullen took the other bit July 4 race. A pretty big day for the big Mercers (where they could still run with the big cubes since we were now in the 300 inch era).-Jim
So this is the famous 'monkey mask'. I wonder if this was hot and itchy like the one he wore at his time with Peugeot.
T-Head, As you probably know by now, i enjoyed reading up on the engine build you did on the Mercer. My wife doesn't understand why you went through all that trouble just to fit a starter motor, but, on a serious note i wanted to ask you about the custom made pistons. Are they an exact copy of the originals? Were you hoping for a rise in compression or were the originals too far gone?
The old pistons were OK but they and the bore were worn so I had some new ones made with standard compression. T-Heads are almost 7 to 1 CI and raising it more is asking for trouble. The pistons were the light weight ones that I posted photos of last week. The starter system I made up takes a bit of time but it in no way alters the car like most conversions, it is a bolt on. These cars under the best of situations are hard to start unless you are used to them. I have done several of these starters for people and it makes the car much more useable for them.
I found the time to do the research and the steering wheel is a match with photos of other Mason cars along with the cowl shape. I noticed the jersey right off but did not trust that for an ID. The mechanic could have jumped in to help and could be from anougher team. That leaves it possible for it to be one the following drivers according to the late Fred Roe's (one of the nicest guys ever) book; Lee Oldfield, Mortimer Robert's, Bill Endicott, Ralph Mulford, Fred Duesenberg, Jack Tower, Robert Evans, Wille Haupt. Rickenbacker came on board after the 1913 Indy race but leaves one other driver Billy Chandler who could all be the masked man. In 1914 the name was changed to Duesenberg so it might be safe to say it was earlier. Does anyone know for sure that this is Rickenbackers mask? A friend found the photo online w/no info so we can't go there.
Huge pistons and thin floppy like conrods built into these types of engines still astound me to this day. Looking over the early race results shows a high number of teams experiencing bottom end problems. Drilling holes also didn't help. The early Fiat had massive pistons weighing up to 10lb but i've never heard of any such problems most probably because of the low RPMs.
Yes, but it's going to go over like a fake Peter Helck sketch done in crayon, somehow not quite the same as the original.
Kurtis I think the problem early on was with metallurgy. Only the firms that really understood it and did it right had less trouble. Here in this country the first firm to do that was Locomobile. They had the most advanced metallurgical and heat treating departments in the country. Loco used mostly chrome nickel steel. The other early firm that had an advantage was Alco as they had all of the experience from locomotive building. They used vanadium steel which is very strong, Henry Ford did the same, he hired Wills a metallurgist and did it right. A model T was one of the toughest cars on the planet back then and light weight because they used good strong steel so they did not have to use as much.
Yup, Ford used good materials. I have a book on the Model T with a picture of a front axle undergoing a twist test. They clamped one end in a fixture and put a twisting load on the other end to see how many degrees it could twist before it broke. The picture shows the axle twisted three or four complete revolutions and it still hadn't broken.
My friend Twin6 found the photos label, ta da, the masked man is Bill Endicott. The photo was taken in Sept. 1912 in Milwaukee at the State Fair Track.
Why do they move the forums around so much over there? Making the Packard forum a sub forum with everyone else seems to have killed it.
Random place to find old race car pics...: http://www.imcdb.org/movie_1004509996-Espana-Pais-de-Automocion-I.html
1923 Indy - Tommy Milton 1923 Indy - Prince Cyssnia ? 1923 Indy - Miller Team 1923 Indy - Christian Laut . .
1914 Vanderbilt Cup - Santa Monica 1914 - Los Angeles Barney Oldfield 1914 - Indy Rene Thomas 1914 Indy - Rickenbacker . .
George Clark in the #3 Cutting and #42 George Robinson at the Playa del Rey board track near LA in 1910. I cannot tell what Robinson is driving but it looks like about 40HP and is shaft drive. Great photo showing good action along with the neat Winton sign. Note the eye protection and how oily the boards are.
Cliff Durants Chevrolet team at Tacoma in 1919 getting ready for the board track and doing a little PR at a dealership they no doubt used for a garage. Fred Comer with the #1 and Harry Hartz with the #14. Comers car is missing the intake manifold and carb in the photos. If I remember correctly these were Stutz based cars with the Wisconsin gear driven OHC 16 valve.
Ralph Mulford and his mechanic Frank Eastman are pictured behind the wheel of his Frontenac race car at the Tacoma Speedway in July of 1919. Mulford was in town for the July 4th Montamarathon races. Mulford was in the lead in the 80 mile race when he had to drop out due to an engine malfunction. His car was repaired in time for him to place second in the 60 mile and to win the 40 mile race. Mulford won the National Driving Championship twice, in 1911 & 1915, despite the fact that he refused to race on Sundays due to his religious beliefs. He also has the distinction of being the driver to post the slowest time in the Indy, nine hours. In 1912, he was far behind when the winner crossed the line at the Indy. When officials told him that he still had to finish the race to receive his money, he decided to take his sweet time, even stopping once to eat a chicken dinner. Mulford lived to a ripe old age; he was born in 1884 and died October 23, 1973. His nick name shows in the photo, Smiling Ralph.
The Jalopy Journal
