Louis Frank Schneider (December 19, 1901 – September 22, 1942) was an 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 ...
.
He won the
1931 Indianapolis 500
The 19th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1931. Race winner Louis Schneider, who led the final 34 laps, was accompanied by riding mechanic Jigger Johnson.
The start of the ra ...
.
Biography
"Louie" Schneider was born in
Indianapolis on December 19, 1901. He graduated from School No. 49, and later attended
Shortridge High School
Shortridge High School is a public high school located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Shortridge is the home of the International Baccalaureate and arts and humanities programs of the Indianapolis Public Schools district.(IPS). Originall ...
,
Ohio Military Institute
The Ohio Military Institute was a higher education institution located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1890, it closed in 1958.
History
The Ohio Military Institute was established in 1890, on the foundation then known as Belmont College, and in ...
, and
Culver Military Academy
Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school located in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver ...
.
Schneider started racing on
dirt tracks in the east and midwest in 1920. He was an Indianapolis motorcycle policeman in the mid-20s, and later participated in many motorcycle races. In the fall of 1926, he entered
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 ...
-sanctioned competition driving a car owned by racing enthusiast Mike Boyle.
In
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...
, he entered the
Indianapolis 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...
, having rebuilt a
Miller
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...
-engined car to meet the
piston displacement
Engine displacement is the measure of the cylinder (engine), cylinder volume swept by all of the pistons of a piston engine, excluding the combustion chambers. It is commonly used as an expression of an engine's size, and by extension as a loos ...
limit, and qualified at , the fastest average speed made with a rebuilt engine up to that time.
In
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...
, he drove the "Bowes Seal Fast Special" eight cylinder
front-drive and, after qualifying at , finished the race in third position.
(This was the race in which
Billy Arnold took the lead after lap 2 and led the entire remaining 198 laps to win the race, setting an all-time record.)
The following year, 1931, Schneider achieved the greatest success of his racing career when he won the
19th running of the Indianapolis 500 as well as that year's
AAA national championship
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 m ...
.
He is one of only two drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 who were born in Indianapolis (the other was
Bill Cummings).
His last race at Indianapolis was in
1933, but he continued to compete in dirt track and
midget car racing
Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...
. In 1934, he was accompanied by Clay Ballinger of Indianapolis and
Buddy Rusch and James Triplett of
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
on a two-month racing trip to
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, Argentina.
At the
Indy track in
1937, he was involved in an incident with that year's Indy 500 winner
Wilbur Shaw
Warren Wilbur Shaw (October 31, 1902 – October 30, 1954) was an American racing driver. He was president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1945 until his death in 1954. Shaw was the automotive test evaluator for '' Popular Science'' magaz ...
. During Shaw's post-race celebration (his 1st of 3 wins), his old nemesis Lou Schneider appeared on the other side of the fence, and, in Shaw's words, "made some sneering remark about me being a lucky so-and-so, and his smart crack touched me off like a skyrocket. I went over the fence like a monkey, landed on the other side, and hit Louis right on the nose faster than I can tell about it."
Schneider suffered a broken arm and facial bruises in a nasty midget crash while qualifying for a program at
City Stadium in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
on April 3, 1938. Newspaper articles from later in the year reported his return to racing, though it isn't known for certain that he took part in those racing programs. He died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
on September 22, 1942 at age 40, after a three-month stay at Flower Mission Hospital in Indianapolis. Owing to an erroneous wire report at the time of his death, the cause of his death has been widely misreported as being from racing injuries, but tuberculosis is the sole cause of death listed on his Indiana death certificate.
Schneider is buried at
Crown Hill Cemetery
Crown Hill Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana. The privately owned cemetery was established in 1863 at Strawberry Hill, whose summit was renamed "The Crown", a high point ...
in Indianapolis.
Indianapolis 500 results
References
External links
*
1901 births
1942 deaths
Culver Academies alumni
Racing drivers from Indianapolis
Champ Car champions
Indianapolis 500 drivers
Indianapolis 500 winners
AAA Championship Car drivers
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in Indiana
Burials at Crown Hill Cemetery
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