Riding Mechanic
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Riding Mechanic
A riding mechanic was a mechanic that rode along with a race car during races, and who was tasked with maintaining, monitoring, and repairing the car during the race. The various duties included manually pumping oil and fuel, checking tire wear, observing gauges, and even massaging the driver's hands. They also communicated with the pits and spotted from inside the car. If the car ran out of fuel, or otherwise broke down, the riding mechanic was usually responsible for running back to the pits to fetch fuel or the necessary spare parts. Riding mechanics were also referred to by the term mechanician. The position is largely associated with the early years of Championship car racing and the Indianapolis 500; however, they were also utilized in grand prix racing for a period of time. History Indianapolis 500 Riding mechanics were used by most cars in the Indianapolis 500 from 1911 to 1922, and again from 1930 to 1937. In the first 500, driver Ray Harroun notably drove solo, the ...
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Robert Bandini
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honour, praise, renown" and ''berht'' "bright, light, shining"). It is the second most frequently used given name of ancient Germanic origin. It is also in use as a surname. Another commonly used form of the name is Rupert. After becoming widely used in Continental Europe it entered England in its Old French form ''Robert'', where an Old English cognate form (''Hrēodbēorht'', ''Hrodberht'', ''Hrēodbēorð'', ''Hrœdbœrð'', ''Hrœdberð'', ''Hrōðberχtŕ'') had existed before the Norman Conquest. The feminine version is Roberta. The Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form is Roberto. Robert is also a common name in many Germanic languages, including English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Scots, Danish, and Icelandic. It can be use ...
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1914 Indianapolis 500
The 4th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1914. René Thomas was the race winner, accompanied by riding mechanic Robert Laly. Background Race history The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, and the first motorsport event at the track, a series of motorcycle races, was held in August of that year. A series of automobile races were held in 1909, but concerns were raised about the condition of the course after numerous accidents, including a fatality. The track was re-paved at a high-cost to Carl G. Fisher and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, and further series of races took place in 1910. Fisher was worried about the dwindling attendances at these races, and decided to establish a 500-mile race; double the furthest distance of any previous race at the track. He went on to announce that the track would host no other races during the year, and that the prize for first place would be $25,0 ...
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Jules Goux
Jules Goux (6 April 1885 - 6 March 1965) was a French racing driver and Grand Prix motor racing champion. He was also notable for being the first Frenchman, and the first European driver, to win the Indianapolis 500. Biography Influenced by the Gordon Bennett Cup in auto racing, Jules Goux began racing cars in his early twenties. Success came in 1909 on a circuit set up on roads around Sitges, near Barcelona, Spain, when he won the Catalan Cup, a victory he repeated the following year. Because of his racing success, along with Georges Boillot, he was invited by Peugeot Automobile to race for their factory team. As part of a four-man design team led by Paul Zuccarelli and Ernest Henry, Goux helped develop a racecar powered by a radically new Straight-4 engine using a twin overhead cam. Jules Goux won the 1912 Sarthe Cup at Le Mans driving a Peugeot, and in 1913 he travelled with the team to the United States to compete in the Indianapolis 500 race. Goux won the race, becomin ...
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1913 Indianapolis 500
The Third International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1913. Frenchman Jules Goux became the first foreign-born, and first European winner of the Indianapolis 500. His margin of victory of 13 minutes, 8 seconds (approximately 7 laps) over second place Spencer Wishart still stands, as of 2022, as the largest margin of victory in Indy history. Race Summary After the entries in the first two years of the Indianapolis 500 had been almost exclusively American, 1913 saw six drivers travel to the United States from Europe to enter, likely attracted by the impressive $20,000 first prize (). A total of 27 cars would meet the 75 mile per hour qualifying speed, led by Jack Tower at 88.230 mph. The starting grid was determined by a random draw of names, and Caleb Bragg would be given the pole. Tower's car turned over on the southwest turn on lap 51, causing him to sustain a broken leg and his riding mechanic, Lee Dunning, to bre ...
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Joe Dawson (racecar Driver)
Joseph Crook Dawson (July 17, 1889 - June 17, 1946) was an American race car driver. Biography He was born in Odon, Indiana on July 17, 1889. Dawson competed in the Indianapolis 500 race three times, beginning in 1911 when he drove a Marmon to a fifth-place finish. The following year, Dawson won after Ralph DePalma, who had led for 196 laps of the 200 lap race, dropped out with a mechanical failure. At age 22 years and 323 days, Dawson was the youngest winner of the "500" until Troy Ruttman won the 1952 Indianapolis 500 The 36th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was a motor race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1952. It was the opening race of the 1952 AAA National Championship Trail and was also race 2 of 8 in the 1952 World Champions ... at age 22 years and 86 days. In his final Indy 500 race in 1914, Dawson retired after an accident on the 45th lap when avoiding Ray Gilhooley. He died on June 17, 1946 at age 56.According to two separate handwrit ...
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1912 Indianapolis 500
The 1912 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, or International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race, the second such race in history, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, May 30, 1912. Indiana-born driver Joe Dawson won the race, leading only the final two laps. Ralph DePalma dominated the race, leading 196 of the 200 laps, and pulling out to an over 5-lap lead. But with just over two laps to go, his car failed with a broken connecting rod. Summary In the aftermath of victory by Ray Harroun in the single-seat Marmon "Wasp" in the first 500-Mile Race the year before, new rules made the presence of riding mechanics mandatory; maximum engine size remained 600 cubic inches (9.83 liters) displacement. At $50,000, the race purse was nearly double that of 1911. Out of 29 original entries, 24 qualified for the race by sustaining a speed faster than a minimum of 75 mph (120.7 km/h) for a full lap, an increase from the quarter-mile qualifying distance of the inaug ...
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Tom Barrett (riding Mechanic)
Tom Barrett (21 November 1891 – 27 September 1924) was an English motor-racing riding mechanic. His death in the 1924 San Sebastian Grand Prix brought an end to the practice of riding mechanics in two-seat racing cars. Racing in this early period was conducted between unreliable cars over long road courses, rather than by repeated laps of a dedicated short circuit. There was no nearby "pit lane" in which to conduct repairs and so it was necessary to carry a mechanic on board the car. Life and early career Barrett was born in 1891, at Prestwood Road, Heath Town, Wolverhampton, one of nine children. His father, George Barrett, had been born in rural Essex but came to Wolverhampton and worked in engineering factories. Tom and his eldest brother William served apprenticeships at the pump-making factory of Joseph Evans & Sons, where their father also worked. During the First World War, Barrett worked at Guy Motors. Rather than Guy's better-known lorries, this work was on small me ...
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WIBC (FM)
WIBC (93.1 MHz) is a commercial FM radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is owned by Urban One and broadcasts a news/talk format. The studios are located at 40 Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis. The transmitter and antenna are located near South Post Road and Burk Road on the far east side of Indianapolis. The station airs mostly local conservative talk shows on weekdays, with several nationally syndicated programs, including Dana Loesch, Chad Benson, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and on weekends Kim Komando. Weekends also feature shows on money, health, gardening, computers and guns. Some weekend hours are paid brokered programming. Some hours begin with world and national news from Fox News Radio. For nearly seven decades, WIBC broadcast on the AM radio frequency of 1070 kHz. On December 26, 2007, WIBC's call letters and talk programming moved to the FM dial at co-owned 93.1 MHz. Also on that date, the 1070 kHz frequency took the call sign W ...
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Kelly Petillo
Kelly Carl Petillo (born Cavino Michele Petillo; December 5, 1903 or December 16, 1903 – June 30, 1970) was an American racecar driver. Life and career Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1903, Petillo moved with his family to Huntington Park, California in 1921. He began racing at Los Angeles' Legion Ascot Speedway in 1929. Petillo competed in the Indianapolis 500 on ten occasions, winning the race in 1935 in a year that marked the first win by a car powered by an Offenhauser engine. He went on to win the 1935 AAA-sanctioned National Driving Championship. In 1937, he participated in the Vanderbilt Cup but engine problems forced him out of the race. In 1942, Petillo sustained a concussion and lacerations after a road accident when his car collided with a freight train. He was denied entry to the 1946 Indianapolis 500, and sued the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for $50,000. Off the track, Petillo had numerous run-ins with the law, including charges of attempted rape an ...
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Pete DePaolo
Pete DePaolo (April 6, 1898 – November 26, 1980) was an American race car driver who won the 1925 Indianapolis 500. Biography Peter DePaolo was born on April 6, 1898, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pete saw his first race in 1919, where he watched his uncle Ralph DePalma win from Pete's perch his riding mechanic. He drove in the 1922 Indianapolis 500, finishing 4th. DePaolo had his worst career injury at the Kansas City board track; his car rolled four times. He spent three weeks in the hospital with a severely cut up face and two lost teeth. Both men had been thrown from car and his riding mechanic Harry "Cotton" Henning pulled DePaolo from the car. Henning spent several months in the hospital with a broken ankle and broken ribs. At the 1925 Indianapolis 500, DePaolo pulled out to a huge lead. DePaolo's strategy in the race was to run the left side tires in the oil slick on the middle the track for two laps then runs his right side tires in the oil slick for two laps. His ...
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