The Harry A. Miller Club Vintage Indy Car Exhibition was held July 12-13th at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds in West Allis, Wisc. It was the event's largest turnout ever of historic front-engined Indy cars. Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, clear days and there was plenty of track action.
The Club has done a great job of preserving a wonderfully cordial and open atmosphere for all attendees. At what other event can you stand in pit row and watch and listen to the best historical race cars from around the world and then go and chat with the owners, drivers, and restorers at leisure?
Cars in attendance included:
| 1964 Federal Engineering Special | Boyce |
| 1927 Bugatti, Type 35B | Brunkhorst |
| 1934 MG NA Special | Butler |
| 1911 Marmon 32 | Chicago Museum of Science & Industry |
| 1927 Miller 91 front-drive | Davis |
| 1931 Miller V16 | Davis |
| 1931 Duesenberg | Davis |
| 1935 Miller-Ford | Davis |
| 1953 Kurtis 500 Chrysler | Davis |
| 1952 Kurtis Kraft 4000 | Dittman |
| 1960 Watson | Dittman |
| 1912 Cutting | Eby |
| 1932 Studebaker | Grasis |
| 1946 Singer | Greene |
| 1912 National | Grundy |
| 270 Offy | Hahn |
| 1912 Mercer Raceabout 35 | Lederer |
| 1946 Jewell Special | Lederer |
| 1911 E-M-F | Matson |
| 1934 Sparks Weirick Miller | Mecum |
| 1960 Watson | McConnell |
| 1963 Watson | McConnell |
| 1951-53 Kurtis 3000 | Mueller |
| 1934 Detroit Gasket Special | Natenshon |
| 1955 Watson | Nelson |
| 1959 Watson | Pfitzenmaier |
| 1952 Kurtis sprint | Randol |
| 1927 Miller 91 front-drive | Rasansky |
| 1927 Miller 91 rear-drive | Rasansky |
| 1961 Chenowth | Schleppi |
| 1964 Watson | Taylor |
| 1959 Watson | Timolat |
| 1947 Truchan-Shanebrook | Truchan |
| 1951 Brown-Trucking-Dayton Wheel Special | Truchan |
| 1968 Sheraton Thompson | Truchan |
| 1923 Miller | Uihlein |
| 1925 Miller front-drive | Uihlein |
| 1931 Miller-Bowes | Uihlein |
| 1932 Alfa P3 | Uihlein |
| 1938 Sparks "Big Six" | Uihlein |
| 1960 Watson | Ulinski |
The star of this years event was the unveiling of the just-restored Pete de Paolo 91 front-drive Miller. Pete bought the car from Miller in 1927 for $15,450 and then invested another $5000 for further enhancements! The end result was one of the fastest racing cars of its time. Pete won the 1927 national championship with the car. It was driven by Pete and then by Wilbur Shaw in 1928 and by Bob McDonough in 1929 before being sold to Harry Hartz. Hartz rebuilt the car for the junk-formula by widening the chassis and installing a bored-out Miller 122 (151 cu in). Together with driver Billy Arnold, the combination was unbeatable. They won Indy in 1930 and took the national championship for the year. In 1931 at Indy, after being top qualifier, a horrible accident tore a wheel off the car which flew more than a quarter mile out of the track to strike and kill a child playing in his yard. The car was rebuilt for the 1932 season but crashed. It was rebuilt again and sold to Fred Frame. Pete Kreis drove it in 1933 and Frame crashed it in 1934. In 1935, in spite of all its age, crashes, and rebuilds, it still came in 10th. The car was then sold to Mike Boyle who dropped in a 255 Miller, strong enough to quality third fastest in 1936. Rule changes for 1937 allowing supercharging saw a supercharged 122 Miller engine go back into the car. In 1938, the car was converted back to a single-seater and refitted with a 255 Miller and finished third. 1939 saw the car involved in an accident with two other cars on the 107th lap. The car was rebuilt but never ran again.
Chuck Davis, owner of the car, collected the parts for the 91 front-drive over many years. The car has been magnificently restored by Dave Hentschel, also seen driving the car, back to its original 1927 configuration.
The other set of photos are of the
Miller 91 rear-drive, the Boyle Valve car from 1927.
Photos
(click on any photo to enlarge to
full-size)
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paolo) |
Miller 91 (Boyle-Valve) |
Miller 91 (Boyle-Valve) |
Miller 91 (Boyle-Valve) |
Miller 91 (Boyle-Valve) |
Miller 91 (Perfect Circle) |
Miller 91 (Perfect Circle) |
Miller 91 (Perfect Circle) |
Miller-Ford |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
Derby-Miller |
The last 12 photos were provided by Marty Baltmanis.
Sounds
These audio tracks were recorded on a MiniDisc recorder. They are in stereo and are saved at the widest possible frequency response (20Hz - 16kHz) available within RealPlayer (hence the large file size). RealPlayer (rm) was chosen over Windows advanced streaming format (asf) because the accuracy of the sound is noticeably better. The track sounds should all run clearly from right to left: sometimes streaming audio mixes this up during playback and you hear left to right or just mono. Replaying the sound again after the first playback usually gets it to play correctly. To really hear how the cars sounded, hook up a pair of full-range, high quality home speakers or high quality headphones rather than just using typical computer speakers.
The recording location was
directly across from the grandstands, facing the track. The cars accelerate
out of the turn off to the right, come down the grandstand straight from
right to left, and then decelerate for the next turn. You can occasionally
hear voices and other cars in the pit row that was right behind the recording
location. The recordings for the cockpit audio tracks were taken while
riding in the mechanic's seat.
Miller 91 front-drive (Pete de Paulo) on track (111k - 10 sec)Derby-Miller 91 front-drive on track (174k - 17 sec)
A mix of cars on the track (297k - 29 sec). The cars were all on the track at the same time and were recorded as they drove by. The order is the 1912 Cutting, followed immediately by an Offy, and then by the 1932 Studebaker. Next is the 1912 National, followed by the 1932 Alfa P3, followed immediately by the Miller 91 (Pete de Paulo) front-drive.