Gustav Carl Frederick Monckmeier (December 13, 1888 – October 14, 1962) was a German-American
racecar driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organi ...
and inventor. He is today best known for his participation in the 1911 and 1912 1,000-plus-mile Around Lake Michigan reliability races, which he recreated in 1961.
Early life
Monckmeier was born in
Stolzenau, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1901, where he had an uncle in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
; within a year at age 14, he found work at the
American Mercedes factory in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
.
Racing career
In 1910, he appears as an entrant in the
Wisconsin State Association Reliability Tour's
Milwaukee Sentinel Trophy, driving a
Staver entered by the
Stephenson Motor Car Company. He quickly became a Staver factory driver, research engineer and test driver, often called "The Little Swede".
Staver was in the right place at the right time, because 1910 marked the debut of the
Elgin National Road Races, which instantly became one of the premier events of the day. After
Ned Crane was disqualified on the final lap of the 1910 running (for almost taking
Arthur Greiner
Arthur Greiner (April 28, 1884 – May 24, 1917) was an American racecar driver, and historically the first to finish last in the Indianapolis 500. Greiner crashed on the backstretch after completing twelve laps in the inaugural race. His rid ...
's National off the track when pitting) and
Chester Cheney's car broke down after 42 minutes, Monckmeier was left to carry the flag, taking third place in the
Fox River Trophy in just over three hours before more than 50,000 spectators. From there, he was off and running, sparkling at the
Algonquin Hill Climb and notching a perfect score in the roadster division at the
Chicago Motor Club's 1,000-mile reliability run.
Ned Crane didn't make it back for the 1911 season, killed while testing a Buick in April, but Monckmeier continued to win efficiency contests, hillclimbs and endurance events, soon joined by driver
Emery T. Knudsen. Monckmeier, Knudsen and famed driver
Ralph Ireland were all on the slate for Staver at Elgin that August, when on August 21 Ireland was killed in practice as a result of a burst tire. "I'll never ride in a racing automobile again," said his mechanician (
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, ...
) Joe O'Brien, who was thrown from the vehicle and spent a week in a hospital. "This once has been enough for me. Ireland was as good and as careful a driver as they make—it was simply chance that killed him. I'm not going to take any more of those kind of chances."
Monckmeier wasn't scared off—motor racing deaths weren't exactly front page news, and with Knudsen and Californian
Joseph K. Nikrent (longtime holder of many Speedway Class B and C records in a Buick), did very well for the rest of the year, dominating September racing at Amarillo and Peoria.
Nikrent returned to Los Angeles for the 1912 season, but 1911 came back to haunt Staver. In the middle of another successful Around Lake Michigan run on October 21, 1912, the
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
suspended them from all competition through June 1, 1913, for a rule 75 violation: Their 1911 entries, run in the Stock class, had been revealed to be less than stock. Monckmeier and Knudsen, hundreds of miles away from Chicago and incommunicado, completed the race anyway, Monckmeier winning the
W. E. Stahlmaker cup for touring cars. It appears the victory was allowed to stand, as Monckmeier was pictured as winner of the Touring Car Class on the cover of ''Motor Age''.
When they started racing again in the summer of 1913, it was now the 70 hp Staver 65s that took the limelight. Monckmeier set a record in front of 35,000 spectators at the
Illinois State Fair
The Illinois State Fair is an annual festival, centering on the theme of agriculture, hosted by the U.S. state of Illinois in the state capital, Springfield, Illinois, Springfield. The state fair has been celebrated almost every year since 1853 ...
in October, 54 seconds on the mile track (eclipsed that same day by the
Louis Disbrow
Louis Disbrow (1876–1939) was an American racecar driver.
Life
He was born on September 23, 1876, in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. Disbrow came from a wealthy family.
He was indicted for the 1902 murders of Sarah "Dimples" Lawrence an ...
's fantastic
Simplex Zip), and won the ten-mile club championship race for Chicago:
*"
onckmeierin his Staver-Chicago, was the surprise of the days, as he made a valiant fight against the field of special racing cars and finished in the money in all his starts. In his first appearance of the day he smashed the track record by negotiating the distance in :54 in the mile time trials, but this time was later lowered by Disbrow
50 Monckmeier also walloped
enz driver Hearne in the club championship race when he carried home the cup for the Chicago Motor Club."
He continued to race a Staver 65 through the fall of 1913 in the South, but Staver's fortunes were in decline and the company never won another race.
Monckmeier wasn't quite done winning in a Staver, however: On October 1, 1914, four months after Staver ceased making automobiles, he won a 30-mile race on a one-mile dirt track at
Johnson County Fairgrounds Racetrack in
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the tim ...
, with a time of 36 minutes, 34 seconds, beating two
Buicks and a
Mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader, ...
, along with taking two other first-place trophies over two days of racing. The 30-mile race is considered his sole recorded American open-wheel, track racing victory.
Inventions, later life and death
After his career with Staver finished, Monckmeier settled in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he began marketing a "Universal Piston Inserter" of his own design. His was used in the development of the automotive
disc brake. While most of his inventions were for automotive applications, he also registered a and in common use today.
By the 1920s, Monckmeier had relocated to
Tipton, Iowa
Tipton ( /ˈtɪptən/) is a city in Cedar County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,149 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Cedar County.
History
Tipton was platted within Center Township in 1840 and was named for Ge ...
, then to
Davenport, Iowa, in order to market his inventions as the Ever-Tite Manufacturing Co., which also offered plating and machining services. They may also have produced goods for the US Government during the Second World War.
In 1961, he recreated the 1911 Around Lake Michigan run with reporter
Hal Foust, detailed in a four-part series of articles in ''
The Chicago Daily Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''.
Monckmeier died of a heart attack on October 14, 1962, aged 73.
Partial list of Monckmeier patents
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monckmeier, Gus
1888 births
1962 deaths
German emigrants to the United States
Sportspeople from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
People from Tipton, Iowa
Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa
Racing drivers from Iowa
AAA Championship Car drivers
Racing drivers from Lower Saxony