Racers At Rest Volume I, Issue 3 --- May, 2011

Under the Auspices of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame - Knoxville, Iowa -

T his is the centennial year for the

Indianapolis 500 and once again

there will be millions of dollars at

stake in the running of the Memorial Day

classic. The winner alone is likely to stroll

to the bank with a check for somewhere

around $2.75 million, like Dario Fran-

chitti did after his win in 2010. In ex-

change for a chance at snatching part of

the massive purse drivers will face danger

and the possibility of serious injury, or

worse.

But long before there was an

Alex Tagliani or Dario Franchitti, before

Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi, long

before the Borg-Warner Trophy and that

first swig of milk in victory lane, mo-

torsports pio-

neers were fac-

ing the same

dangers for a lot

less money, and

not all of those

pioneers sur-

vived. This is

the story of two

whose lives

ended at the

Brickyard.

Records

are a bit muddy,

but it appears

that Samuel M.

Dickson was

just 24 years old

when he took on

the job as a rid-

ing mechanic for driver Arthur Greiner

for the May 30, 1911 race at Indianapolis.

Dickson and Greiner were both Chicago

boys and likely knew each other well be-

fore they arrived in Indianapolis.

Their car for the 1911 event was

a #44 Amplex, a sleek racer in those

times, though to our eyes a huge, hulking,

smoky machine on spindly wheels and

skinny tires. It was one of those wheels

that failed just twelve laps into the race.

Heading into Turn 2 one of front

wheels collapsed causing the Amplex to

slide, then roll over. Greiner, the driver,

was thrown clear, knocked unconscious,

and suffered a broken arm. Dickson was

not as lucky. (Continued on Page 2)

I N D Y P I O N E E R S F O R G O T T E N

Racers At Rest is published

from time to time and is

available free of charge as a

digital newsletter.

To subscribe, send an email

request to

racersatrest@gmail.com.

Racers At Rest welcomes

your comments, articles,

and photographs. Send

submittals, questions or

comments to racersa-

trest@gmail.com or by post

to the Editor.

Mike Thompson, Editor

135 Heatherwoode Blvd.

Springboro, OH

45066-1579

(937) 219-5851

Special Memorial Day Indianapolis 500 Edition!

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

The List 3

Editor’s Desk 4

Rutherford & Rose 5

Harold “Hal” Delzio 5

Schrader & Englelhart 6

Markers Planned 7

Vintage Support 7

Driver Arthur Greiner and riding mechanic Samuel Dickson

strike a confident pose before the start of the 1911 Indianapolis 500.

Page 2

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

I N D Y P I O N E E R S - C O N T I N U E D F R O M P A G E 1

Sam Dickson was thrown against the

fence and died instantly.

Harry T. Martin was born

a Hoosier and, as it turned out,

would die a Hoosier at the nation’s

most famous race track.

Like Dickson, Martin was

24 years old when he arrived at the

Indianapolis Speedway June 26,

1913 to test a new Stutz racer. This

was apparently an important test ses-

sion since both Harry C. Stutz, the

president of the Stutz Company, and

R. E. Maypole, the company vice-

president, were in attendance.

Martin was a racer on his

way up. As a riding mechanic Mar-

tin had partnered with some of the

best drivers in the sport. In 1910 he

rode with Joe Dawson in a Marmon

factory racer, and he was aboard the

National that Dawson drove to win

the 1912 Indianapolis

500. His performance

as a top riding me-

chanic won him a job

as a driver for Stutz.

During the

June, 1913 test Martin

pushed the Stutz hard,

hard enough that after

four laps Harry Stutz

signaled Martin to

slow down. Martin did

just that, until the final

corner of the fifth lap

when he increased his

speed significantly. In

a sad replay of Dick-

son’s accident, the

right front wheel of the

Stutz collapsed. The

Stutz rocketed into the

outside wall and rolled

over. Both Martin and

his riding mechanic,

Frank Agan, were

pinned under the car.

Martin was killed instantly.

Sam Dickson rests now in

Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago while

Martin sleeps in Mount Hope Ceme-

tery in Peru, Indiana.

While both Dickson and

Martin perished at the Indianapolis

Speedway, in death they share an-

other distinction : 100 years after

Dickson died, and 98 years after

Martin perished, neither grave is

marked.

As we prepare to enjoy the

2011 Indy 500 and the attendant

celebration of the 100th year of this

great event, it is perhaps a sad and

sobering commentary on our respect

for those who helped to lay the foun-

dation to make this race the most

prestigious in the world, that both

Dickson and Martin lie in unmarked

graves.

We estimate the cost of

markers for Dickson and Martin, and

the others on our list, at around $850

each, or about the same as the win-

ner of this year’s Indy 500 will earn

for every 800 feet of the Brickyard

he or she covers.

If you’ve been holding off

making a donation because you

don’t think your $5 or $10 will make

a difference, please reconsider and

make that donation now.

Make your check payable to

the National Sprint Car Museum and

please be sure to write “Racers at

Rest” on the memo line to ensure

that your donation goes into the

proper account.

Mail your check to the mu-

seum at P.O. Box 542, Knoxville,

Iowa 50138.

Volume 1, Issue 3 - May, 2011

The photograph above was provided from the archives of the Library of Congress and shows a

wrecked Stutz race car. The information available with the photo indicates that it was taken at

Indianapolis sometime between 1911 and 1914 and while we cannot say with certainty that this

is the Stutz in which Harry Martin died while testing in 1913 the car does show damage similar

to that which Martin’s Stutz suffered in his accident and is typical for the Stutz racers of that era.

Racers at Rest Page 3

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

T here have been some additions to our list of those racers who rest in unmarked graves since the last issue

of Racers at Rest. Hal Delzio died behind the wheel of a midget racer at an event in New Haven, CT just

after WWII. Sam Dickson, a riding mechanic, died during the running of the very first Indianapolis 500

when the wheel of his Amplex racer collapsed on the 12th lap. Harry Martin was headed to the big time as a

driver after a stellar career as a riding mechanic. He died in 1913 while testing a new Stutz racer at the Indian-

apolis track in his first assignment as a driver for the Stutz factory.

R A C E R S W I T H O U T M A R K E R S F I N A L R E S T

D R I V E R D I E D C E M E T E R Y L O C A T I O N

Baker, Oscar "Kenny" 7/28/1935 Mountain View Cemetery Altadena, CA.

Bottorff, Seveica.O. 11/3/1919 Evergreen Almeda Cemetery El Paso, TX.

Brown, Walt 7/29/1951 St. Charles Cemetery Farmingdale, NY.

Brucks, Sherman 9/9/1928 Greenwood Cemetery Hamilton, OH.

Carlson, Billy 7/5/1915 Calvary Cemetery East Los Angeles, CA.

Christensen, George 4/22/1929 Calvary Catholic Cemetery Galveston, TX.

Cipelle, Steven "Dutch" 8/18/1939 Wichita Park Cemetery Wichita, KS.

Clark, Loren "Red" 6/13/1935 Valhalla Memorial Gardens North Hollywood, Ca

Craft, George "Jimmy" 2/3/1924 Oak Hill Cemetery Belle Plaine, IA.

Crane, Harvey 10/16/1920 Mount Hope Cemetery Logansport, IN.

Davidson, Jay 9/5/1934 Oneonta Plains Cemetery Oneonta, NY.

Delzio, Harold “Hal” 5/31/1946 Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, NY

Dial, "T.B." 7/30/1910 Alcovy Mountain Baptist Cemetery Monroe, GA.

Dickson, Samuel 5/30/1911 Rosehill Cemetery Chicago, IL

Donnelly, Walter 6/21/1911 Milldale Cemetery New Boston, OH

Eldridge, Lynn 10/15/1930 Hollywood Forever Cemetery Los Angeles, CA.

Enterline, Garner "Slim" 10/8/1938 Rush Presbyterian Cemetery Northumberland, PA.

Farmer, Earl 2/1/1931 Inglewood Park Cemetery Inglewood, CA.

Ferch, Walter "Speedy" 7/4/1923 Forest Home Cemetery Milwaukee, WI.

Flagstead, Harlsten 9/4/1928 Alliance City Cemetery Alliance, OH

Ford, Leslie 5/3/1931 Elmwood Cemetery Centralia, IL.

Harris, Lawson 9/20/1939 Crown Hill Cemetery Indianapolis, IN.

Heid, Matthew "Matt" 6/29/1949 Mt. Ever Rest Cemetery Kalamazoo, MI.

Heisler, Bill 5/15/1932 Inglewood Memorial Park Inglewood, Calif.

Henderson, Garnet "Bud" 5/17/1939 Greenlawn Memorial Park Cemetery Akron, OH.

Knox, Francis Marion "F.M." 6/11/1933 Summit View Cemetery Guthrie, OK.

Lafon, Clyde 8/20/1927 Holy Cross Cemetery Akron, OH.

Lehmann, Curt A. 10/12/1957 Calvary Cemetery & Mausoleum St. Louis, MO.

Lockwood, James "Speedy" 3/1/1935 Woodlawn Cemetery Santa Monica, CA.

Maben, Curtis "Curly" 8/21/1954 Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Seattle, WA.

Martin, Harry Thomas 6/26/1913 Mount Hope Cemetery Peru, IN

Miller, Lee 9/11/1938 Woodland Cemetery Quincy, IL.

Reid, Gordon 4/20/1952 Forest Lawn Memorial Park Glendale, CA.

Russo, Joe 6/9/1934 Mt. Olivet Cemetery Detroit, MI.

Shelly, Howard 9/1/1947 Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park Seattle, WA.

Spanglo, Charles "Dutch" 7/19/1925 Saint Marys Cemetery Champaign, IL.

Speth, Al 5/31/1953 Fairmount Cemetery Davenport, Iowa

Van Steenberg, Harry "Van" 8/11/1925 Mount Hope Cemetery Logansport, IN.

Winn, James M."Billy" 8/20/1938 Mount Olivet Cemetery Detroit, MI.

Page 4 Volume 1, Issue 3 - May, 2011

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

I had hoped that by this, the

third issue of the Racers at

Rest newsletter, I would be

able to tell you that we have success-

fully placed a memorial stone on the

grave of one of the racers on our list

of those without a grave marker.

Unfortunately, I cannot do that, and

in fact I have to confirm that we

have found three more racers to add

to our list.

But to the good news first.

Donations to the Racers at Rest pro-

ject have been arriving steadily at

the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame

and Museum Foundation and the

contract to purchase our first marker

and have it placed remains just

slightly out of reach. We remain

confident and hopeful that donations

will allow us to place the first and

perhaps second markers very soon.

You can read more about our plans

elsewhere in this issue.

And now the sad news. Our

list has grown by three names since

the last issue of this newsletter. Our

page one story in this issue looks at

two early Indianapolis Speedway

racers, Sam Dickson and Harry

Martin, who have rested in un-

marked graves for a century, in

Dickson’s case at least.

I have to admit that I was

shocked to see that these two early

Indy competitors sleep in anonymity

particularly given all the generous

supporters of the Indianapolis event,

and the sponsors, the car owners,

and the drivers, many of them

wealthy and powerful and conscious

of the history of the Memorial Day

classic. And in this, the Centennial

Year of the race!

Hal Delzio joins Dickson

and Martin on our most recent list

and you can find his story elsewhere

in this issue.

I was asked recently whether

Racers at Rest donors could

specify which of the racers they

wanted their donation to go to. The

answer is, perhaps unfortunately, no.

Such an approach would

require a far more complex account-

ing and record keeping process than

we can provide.

W e are pleased to announce that

some well-known members of

the motorsports community have

endorsed our Racers at Rest project.

You’ll find some very famil-

iar names in this issue, each of

whom have thrown their support

behind this effort.

I n the last issue I asked for some

assistance for our website. My

goal is to eventually have a separate

page for each of the racers on our

list. Sadly we have very little infor-

mation on some of these racers and

even fewer photographs. If you are

able to help with details about the

racer’s life or provide photos we

would very much appreciate it.

You can contact me at fog-

gygoggles@woh.rr.com with infor-

mation and/or photos.

O ur offer to give a copy of Buzz

Rose’s book, Racers At Rest, to

anyone donating $250 or more is

still on the table. To date we have

had one kind and generous donor

take advantage of our offer and there

is still time for you to do the same.

The books are being paid for

by those of us on the committee; no

donated funds are being used to pay

for the books. We’ve committed to

providing at least four books, so

three remain available. But, since

none of us are independently

wealthy, our generosity can expire

anytime after those four books have

been claimed!

Large donations are wonder-

ful, but in the end the success of this

project will depend on much smaller

donations, $5, $10, and $20.

If you consider yourself a

race fan, please take a moment to

write out a small check today to

honor the memory of some of the

racers whose sacrifices helped create

the auto racing sport we know today.

Until next time...

Mike Thompson

F R O M T H E E D I T O R ’ S D E S K

Not one penny.

That’s how much your dona-

tion to the “Racers at Rest” will be re-

duced by administrative fees or over-

head!

Every dollar you donate will

go directly towards placing a marker on

the grave of one of the 39 open-wheel

racers whose graves are currently un-

marked.

All Racers at Rest Committee

labor and related fund raising costs

(including the cost of this newsletter)

are being donated.

So why not take a moment

right now and write out a check for

whatever amount you think appropriate

and send it to the National Sprint Car

Museum. You’ll find the address else-

where in this issue of Racers at Rest.

And don’t forget to write “Racers at

Rest” on the memo line!

NOT ONE PENNY….

Racers at Rest

J ohnny Rutherford (left), a three

-time winner of the Indianapolis

500, and noted author and for-

mer race driver Buzz Rose have

both thrown their support behind the

Racers at Rest project, it was re-

cently announced.

Rutherford, or “Lone Star

JR” as he was known during his rac-

ing career, won the Indy pole posi-

tion in 1973, 1976, and 1980. His

three wins at the Brickyard came in

1974, 1976, and 1980. While best

known for his Indy 500 exploits,

Rutherford also excelled in other

forms of racing.

In 1963 Rutherford won one

of the NASCAR Daytona qualifying

races driving for Smokey Yunick,

and in 1965 Rutherford was the

United States Auto Club National

Sprint Car champion.

Buzz Rose knew his way

around sprint cars, too. He drove

the powerful racers and did well, but

he is better known now for the many

books he has authored on the history

of our sport. Among them, Racers

at Rest, the book that documents

racers who have died in competition.

It was this book that led to the crea-

tion of the Racers at Rest project.

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

R U T H E R F O R D & R O S E L E N D S U P P O R T

H is business was operating the Sunoco gas sta-

tion he owned in the Jamaica neighborhood of

Queens in New York city, but his passion was

racing the lightning fast midgets that were all the rage in

the years after WWII.

Harold “Hal” Delzio had been driving

race cars for some eight years when he strapped

in to the midget owned by Nicholas Vetro of

Belleville, NJ on Thursday, May 30, 1946. The

pair had traveled to an American Racing Driv-

ers Club-sanctioned midget event on the tiny,

paved fifth-mile track in New Haven, CT.

While any precise records of the

night’s racing activities have been lost to time,

it appears that Hal and Nicholas weren’t doing

particularly well. Their qualifying and heat

race results were sufficiently unimpressive to

push them into the consolation race. During

that event Delzio lost control and hit the fence

with what was described in newspaper accounts

as “tremendous force.”

Harold Delzio was transported to the

New Haven hospital and there he died the fol-

lowing day, May 31, 1946, of a fractured skull

without ever having regained consciousness.

Delzio was 35 years old at the time of his

death.

The body of Harold “Hal” Delzio was buried in

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY. His grave re-

mains, 65 years after his death at the New Haven Speed-

way, unmarked.

Page 5

P R O F I L E : H A R O L D D E L Z I O

X

(Above) This photo by Bob Collins shows the final resting place of

race driver Harold Delzio in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. NY.

The Racers at Rest project will eventually place Delzio’s marker at the

“X” shown in the photo.

Volume 1, Issue 3 - May, 2011

Popular race driver Ken

Schrader recently lent his support to the

Racers at Rest project.

"The Racers at Rest" Project

pays tribute to fellow racers and in do-

ing so, preserves the history of open

wheel racing. It is a commendable ef-

fort to recognize those who may other-

wise go without notice, and I wish them

well with the project." --Ken Schrader

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

Page 6

S C H R A D E R E N G E L H A R T

T hinking of donating to the Rac-

ers at Rest project? We need

every dollar bill that you can

spare!

Mail your donation to

National Sprint Car Museum

P.O. Box 542

Knoxville Iowa 50138

and make your check payable to the

“National Sprint Car Museum.”

In order for your donation to

go to the Racers at Rest project, you

must write “Racers at Rest” on the

memo line of the check.

Thank you in advance for

your kind support of this very worthy

project!

D O N AT E !

W isconsin native Billy Engelhart spent his racing career in the

open-wheel ranks, and eventually landed a ride in an Indianapo-

lis-style champ car. During the 1980 - 1981 racing seasons Eng-

elhart started nine champ car events run under the Championship Auto

Racing Teams (CART) or United States Auto Club (USAC) sanction, in-

cluding the 1980 Indianapolis 500 where he completed 193 laps and was

credited with an eleventh-place finish. In other champ car events Engelhart

finished in the top 10 four times, including a best-ever finish of 8th at Mil-

waukee in 1981.

We’re pleased to announce that Billy Engelhart has offered his

endorsement of the Racers at Rest project. Here’s the note Billy sent us.

“I think the efforts of [the volunteers] bring some much needed

dignity and recognition for these racers who have been such a big part of

the history of auto racing in America.

“It goes without saying that safety was barely a consideration dur-

ing their time and that many of us would not have otherwise had the pro-

tections that developed as a result of their efforts. I for one have always

been grateful for their contributions and recognize how very brave they

must have been.

“They deserve better and the efforts of [the Racers at Rest volun-

teer committee] are helping to provide that. Thank you from all of us. It

was my honor to provide Buzz Rose with some of the photos that he used in

his book,"Racers at Rest".

Regards,

Billy Engelhart

C O N TA C T U S

H ave a question or something

to share with the members of

the Racers at Rest Commit-

tee? Don’t hesitate to contact us!

RACERS REST PROJECT

racersatrest@gmail.com

NATIONAL SPRINT CAR MU-

SEUM and HALL OF FAME

TOM SCHMEH

Curator

tschmeh@sprintcarhof.com

DON TASH

Phoenix, Arizona

dtash90@gmail.com

(602) 791-3983

STEVE ESTES

Troy, Ohio

restes@woh.rr.com

(937) 339-2784

JIM THURMAN

Palmdale, California

jim.thurman@att.net

MIKE THOMPSON

Webmaster/Newsletter Editor

Springboro, Ohio

foggygoggles@woh.rr.com

(937) 550-4067 (Office)

Page 7

T he Racers at Rest Committee

members are optimistically an-

ticipating soon being able to

place the first of project’s grave markers

and if all goes well those two markers

are likely to be placed on the side-by-

side graves of Joe Russo and Billy

Winn.

In previous issues of this news-

letter we’ve told the improbable and

tragic story of Russo and Winn and how

they happened to find themselves resting

for eternity shoulder to shoulder, but to

refresh memories here’s the tale.

Joe Russo had only been mar-

ried for a short time to Helene Yockey

when he was killed in a racing event in

1934. Following Russo’s fatal ride,

Yockey purchased two cemetery plots in

Detroit’s Mt. Olivet Cemetery and had

Russo buried there. She no doubt in-

tended that someday she would use the

second plot herself.

It’s an unpredictable world

when it comes to love and automobile

racing, and Yockey eventually found

herself in a relationship with race driver

Billy Winn. They married.

Unfortunately Billy Winn soon

followed Russo, racing to his death in

1938. For whatever reason, whether

financial or simple practicality, Helene

Yockey buried her second husband in

the space next to her first.

We’re unaware of what might

have happened to Helene Yockey after

Winn’s death, but her story would cer-

tainly be worthy of book-length treat-

ment.

Mt. Olivet will not permit us to

place a single marker with both Russo

and Winn names. Their regulations

require individual markers except where

the deceased are all members of the

same family, and being members of the

same racing family simply doesn’t

count.

We’re not approaching the

Racers at Rest project list of racers in

any particular order and the sequence in

which a racer will receive a marker de-

pends upon a variety of things, most

importantly our ability to get permission

from the cemetery to place the marker.

We’ve found that some ceme-

teries have a very relaxed policy to-

wards non-family members placing

markers while others make it very diffi-

cult. In the case of Russo and Winn we

have been able to get permission from

Mt. Olivet to place the markers and their

side-by-side location offer the possibil-

ity of saving money in either the marker

production or placement or both.

How soon Russo and Winn get

their well-deserved markers is up to you.

Won’t you help by sending a check to-

day? You’ll find instructions for mak-

ing that donation on Page 6 of this issue.

Honoring Our Racing Heroes in their Eternal Slumber

Racers at Rest

F I R S T M A R K E R S P L A N N E D

V I N TA G E G R O U P S U P P O R T S P R O J E C T

T he Southeastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame and the Vintage Modified Stock Car group, repre-

sented by John Surges and Bob Ralston, have thrown their support behind the Racers at Rest project and

we thank them! Here’s the recent release from their offices.

“[The Racers at Rest] volunteer committee [members] at the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Mu-

seum Foundation in Knoxville, Iowa have recently embarked on a humanitarian mission that will both interest

and greatly please open wheel race fans across the country.

“They have identified, through exhaustive research, that out of fifteen hundred open wheel racers who

died on the track in this country's history, some thirty nine lay at rest in unmarked graves, their sacrifice lost to

the winds of time. [The members of the] committee are actively taking action to right this wrong through their

"Racers at Rest" program.

“The board at the Southeastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame and members of the Vintage Modi-

fied Stock Car group heartily endorse this worthwhile project and congratulate the "Racers at Rest" Committee

for taking on such a daunting and complex task.”

[Signed]

John Surges and Bob Ralston: representing the Southeastern Wisconsin Short Track Hall of Fame and

the Vintage Modified Stock Car group.

Joe Russo died June 10, 1934 of inju-

ries received in a sprint car crash at

Langhorne Speedway the previous day.