Yesterdays post by Kurtis of the Stutz team cars in San Francisco brought to mind a photo of another Stutz that I have been trying to identify. This photo of Moosie and his Stutz was found with a bunch of other photos of road cars that some dealers in the SF area had taken. I would assume this was late teens or early twenties and Moosie changed it around a little. It could have been used for sprints or match racing as the Stutz fuel tank has been eliminated. Compare it with the team car. Who can tell us more about Moosie's Machine?
I'm aware that some don't care much for the crash photos, but acknowledge they too are part of history. In that spirit, here is the 1904 model L Packard that was driven by Jack Boyd in a 1,000 mile endurance run at the Grosse Point track on June 24, 1904. Bev Kimes' book contains some better photos and a good writeup for those interested in more information. The crash was the result of losing their driving lights after midnight, and miraculously no one was killed. Boyd's mechanic on the run was Charles Schmidt, who was well known as driver of the Grey Wolf, which has been the subject of many prior posts.
I am enjoying how this is turning into a nice segment on Stutz's. (even if they are more brutish then the lithe Mercer.)
Stutz photos on flicker to add to the atmosphere of this segment of the thread. http://www.flickr.com/photos/68144590@N00/4308904232/sizes/l/in/set-72157623293732412/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_s_etc/4102766100/sizes/l/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_s_etc/4102010237/sizes/l/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/team140/4158269186/sizes/o/ A set of a Stutz racing car. http://www.flickr.com/photos/94957089@N00/sets/72157606692006339/
Jim, Thanks for the photos and all the information on the Baby Chevrolet! Bill Castle is bringing history back to life with such an outstanding effort.
Tommy Milton at Indy, 1923, in the HCS Special. Not precisely Stutz, but I would not have wanted to convince Harry C Stutz of that in person.
JohnB, Good luck with your MA, i followed your link, a good read, more to add expect, I look forward to seeing the finished article . . Keith
Howdy Wilcox whose car was on the left in Kurtis's photo of the three team cars yesterday is shown slogging through the wet conditions of the 400-mile Grand Prize race on Feb. 27 1915. It was held on the grounds of the Pan Pacific Exposition. The race took more than 7 Hours with Resta winning in the Peugeot. Wilcox finished six minutes behind him in a race that many dropped out of because of the terrible conditions. He finished ahead of Hughe's in the ONO and Disbrow in the Simplex Zip that some pages back is shown in a photo of it fitted with tire chains to deal with the conditions by Disbrow. The following week the Vanderbilt Cup 300-mile race resulted in the same one-two finish.
Earl Cooper at the Santa Monica Road Race in 1912 in his Stutz Racer. It appears this is when he arrived for practice as the car is clean and wearing a temporary paper plate. B.Craig photo.
Earl Cooper shown on his way to winning at Santa Monica as part of the Stutz team in 1913. He and went on to become the unofficial national champion in 1913, '15, and '17.
Photo from Indianapolis with the cars numbered with their qualifying order. #1 Wilcox #4 Cooper and #5 Anderson. Anderson got up to first place in the race but unfortunately the cars used up tires quickly which slowed them down. Anderson finished third behind Resta in a Peugeot and the winner DePalma in this Mercedes. Cooper finished forth and Wilcox with a cracked valve spring in seventh. Without the tire problems things may have been different as the cars had great speed and durability. Photo, G. Wingard.
After a great season in 1915 where they had just had three in a row, one-two finishes in big races these photos show the team with Harry Stutz in the middle at the Sheepshead Bay 2.5-mile board track. Anderson on the left set a 350-mile record of over 102 mph winning with Rooney on the right in second. They finish ahead after an intense battle with a Peugeot driven by Burman who experenced problems. A dejected looking Cooper is shown in his car with dropped a valve. After a great season Stutz announced that he was quitting racing until some other make could best the great records they had set for the year. Left photo H.A.Clark, r.h. photo Jerry McDermott
Cooper at Corona in 1916 after he talked Stutz into getting his old car back and going it on his own. He crashed hard in practice and worked 72 hrs. to repair the car only to have a crankshaft break in the race. It was won by O' Donnell in a Duesenburg and during the race Burman was tragically killed in an accident. B. Craig photo
Left photo, the starting grid at Santa Monica in 1916 with Cooper's #8 behind and Duesenberg and Marmon, He finished 2nd behind Resta. Craig photo. Center, Andersons car that he bought from Stutz and only raced once, suffering a bad crash at Cincinnati which killed his mechanic. He sold the car to Cooper the next year. Reeves Dutton and Oldfield at Beverley Hills in 1920.
The #9 Stutz is a car that Cooper sold to Durant, also check post #1110 for other Durant Stutz photos. The car on the right is the #20 a car that was buiilt for DePalma and suffered a frozen piston in 1915 at Sheepshead Bay. Cooper secured the only Peugeot-imitation Wisconsin engine (which is a story in itself) and he and his mechanic Reeves Dutton installed it in this car. Cooper sold it and after Billy Taylor bought it he won at Uniontown Pa. and it was stored during the war. Eddie O' Donald ended up with it for a while, then possibly Durant and it then ended up in Oregon were it is shown at a fair and driven by George Lott. It eventually ended up in Washington State where it raced for a number of years. Photos for most of the Stutz posts and brief information are from an article written by my good friend Joe Freeman.
I would be most interested in following up on this car being built for DePalma. I am going from memory and would have to go back thru some files but I thought that ended up the Newman Stutz. It would be very interesting if that is true that it was built for DePalma. Jim
Jim..... According to Joe's research after Sheepshead Bay in 1915 where DePalma ran the car which was specially built for him midway through the season, it went back to Stutz and Cooper bought it in 1916. He changed the engine and apparently sold it soon after because it next appeared as the Newman-Stutz Special (as you thought) at Ascot in March of 1917 with Billy Taylor where he finished 5th. He then went on to his win at Uniontown. Anything you can add to the great Stutz story would be welcome. What I wrote is very brief, while being a little under the weather here today with a cold.
If Joe said it then it is probably true. I will have to go back over my DePalma notes during this time as I thought it was another car he ran. I have pictures of him in another car. The engine in the Newman Stutz is so distinctive with the dumbo ears (cam towers) sticking out of the hood. As you state though there was an engine change but I even thought the body work and possibly chassis was different. Interesting. I am certainly not a Stutz expert as I figured there are enough mysteries without going over matters that Joe has researched pretty well.-Jim
The Durant 'Chevrolet' that T-Head posted previously reminds me of Bob Burmans rip off Peugeot. From memory the Burman Spl., initially had some trouble being allowed to race when it made it's debut but on closer inspection it was accepted by the officials after it was found to be just another Peugeot. Well, a highly Frankensteined version. The Stutz that Durant branded as a Chevrolet also doesn't sit too well with me or the car he built later with a Miller engine sitting in a Delage chassis. I don't know all the rules implemented by the AAA board or what was required to field a car at any of the road races or the Indy 500 but i always assumed a car was accepted to race based on the number of models built by the manufacturer.
Very slow Keith. I don't have any books that specifically talk about the drivers. I guess most of the info will be pulled from web. There isn't much written because Patschke didn't have a long career in racing but what i have found is pretty impressive for an amatuer. I'll collect as much as possible and post up what i've learnt.
The Jalopy Journal
