Big Car Races on the
Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the
Kansas State Fairgrounds
Hutchinson, Kansas
Friday – September 22, 1939
Sanctioned by – International Motor Contest Association (I.M.C.A.)
Official Starter / I.M.C.A. Official – Al Sweeney of Chicago, Illinois
State Fair Secretary / I. M. C. A. Official – Sam M. Mitchell
Advertised purse – $500
Waldo Barnett L. A. Ward photo |
Shorty Burns Larry Sullivan photo |
Al Rogers Marjorie Meyer collection |
Swan Peterson Don Radbruch collection |
C. J. “Crash” Waller7 Wood collection |
Bud Bardi Roy Pulver collection |
Entry List
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Herschel Buchanan |
Shreveport, Louisiana |
Hal Special |
Bert Hellmueller |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
Miller Special |
Revialo Rex |
Des Moines, Iowa |
|
Cotton Grable |
Houston, Texas |
|
Swan Peterson |
Galesburg, Illinois |
Hal Special |
Tommy Kristin |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
|
C. J. “Crash” Waller7 |
Blakely, Georgia |
|
Harry West |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
Fisher Dreyer #27 |
Harry Boling |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|
Bob Deitrich |
Joliet, Illinois |
|
George Brier |
Kirkwood, Missouri |
|
Wes Johnson1 |
Kansas City, Kansas |
Gillette Special #6 |
Pop Lewis |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
Al Rogers4 |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Coniff Special #9 |
Bud Bardi2 |
Gary, Indiana |
Swart Brothers Special #9 |
Posey Reeves |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
|
Waldo Barnett3 |
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
Grenard Special Cragar #6 |
Ralph Pratt |
Kansas City, Missouri |
Turco Special #1 |
Lyle Christie |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Miller Special |
Bill Rhea |
Moline, Illinois |
|
Shorty Burns5 |
St. Louis, Missouri |
|
Ace Owens |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|
Waldo Barnett, driving the Grenard Special owned by Morris Grenard of Oklahoma City; and Ralph Pratt, driving the Turco Special owned by Joe Turco of Omaha, Nebraska; were barred from racing in these races by I.M.C.A. official Al Sweeney for leading a “strike” at Tulsa, Oklahoma a week earlier. I.M.C.A. head John A. Sloan promised to meet with the drivers the following week in Oklahoma City to “straighten out the mess.”
Time Trials – 1 Lap
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Shorty Burns5 |
St. Louis, Missouri |
28.44 |
|
Swan Peterson |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
|
Ace Owens |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|
|
Al Rogers4 |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
|
|
Bob Deitrich |
Joliet, Illinois |
|
|
Harold Shaw |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
|
Pop Lewis |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
|
Bert Hellmueller6 |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
|
First Heat Race – 5 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Shorty Burns5 |
St. Louis, Missouri |
2:29.91 |
2 |
Bert Hellmueller6 |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
|
3 |
Al Rogers4 |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
|
Second Heat Race – 5 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Swan Peterson |
Galesburg, Illinois |
2:32.24 |
Southwest Derby
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Ace Owens |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|
Special Event with an Ascot Start – 4 Cars - 5 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Al Rogers4 |
Colorado Springs, Colorado |
2:24.48 |
2 |
Shorty Burns5 |
St. Louis, Missouri |
|
3 |
Bert Hellmueller6 |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
|
4 |
Swan Peterson |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
Burns caused three false starts trying to pass cars before the start of the race. After Burns got a lecture from starter Al Sweeney, the race got underway with Burns taking “advantage of a dangerous cross-track maneuver” in the first turn to make up three-quarters of the distance between himself and the lead car but wound up several car lengths behind Rogers at the finish.
Australian Pursuit Handicap – 8 Cars - 8 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Bob Deitrich |
Joliet, Illinois |
|
2 |
Pop Lewis |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
Pop Lewis dropped out of this race with engine trouble on the eighth lap leaving the victory to Deitrich.
State Fair Championship Race - 10 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Time |
1 |
Pop Lewis |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
4:23.21 |
2 |
Harold Shaw |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
|
3 |
Bert Hellmueller6 |
Charlotte, North Carolina |
|
|
Ace Owens |
Tulsa, Oklahoma |
|
|
Shorty Burns5 |
St. Louis, Missouri |
|
Burns spun his car into the outside fence on the north curve on the second lap but escaped injury. During the caution period that followed, Owens got a little too close to the inside railing and crashing through it. He received serious injuries when a board from the railing crushed his chest. Owens narrowly missed Burns who had sought refuge just inside that railing from his own accident. Burns was treated for burns at a Hutchinson hospital from his brush with Owens’ car. Due to Owens’ accident, the caution period was extended to the end of the race with Pop Lewis being awarded the victory.
With eight of the ten laps in this race being run under caution, it is highly unlikely that the announced time of 4:23.21 is correct.
Harry West Larry Sullivan photo |
Tommy Kristin Larry Sullivan photo |
Posey Reeves Don Radbruch collection |
Cotton Grable Roy Eaton collection |
Ralph Pratt Bob Stolze collection |
Herschel Bachanan Roy Eaton collection |
Bert Hellmueller Bob Stolze collection |
Pop Lewis Don Radbruch collection |
Wes Johnson Charles Pauley photo |
1 Wes Johnson was known by the nickname “Feather Foot”.
2 Bud Bardi is believed to have been an alias used by Bud Bardowski (1914-2000) who was also from Indiana.
3 Charles Waldo Burnett (1905-1947) was fatally injured in a racing accident at Ord, Nebraska in 1947 and is buried at Terrel, Oklahoma.
4 Al Rogers received a total of $26.75 for finishing 4th in time trials, 3rd in the 1st heat race, 4th in the International Australian Pursuit, and 4th in championship race.
5 Shorty Burns was an alias used by Thomas F. Scheck.
6 Engelbert H. “Bert” Hellmueller, Jr. (1906-1985) listed his home as a number of different places but his family home was in Louisville, Kentucky and that is where he retired to.
7 Gordon Bracken first shows up as G. E. Bracken from Macon, Georgia having won some races at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia in 1924. Later, he raced all over the eastern half of the U.S. under the name of Gordon W. “Gordy” Bracken, Jr. from Bainbridge, Georgia. Gordon was not his real first name. He was dubbed that by a press agent who had once served at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Bracken was known in the sport by several nicknames including “King of the Canebrakes”, “Peck’s Bad Boy of Speed”, and “Three-Fingered Bracken”. Touring with Bracken around the country was another driver named Charlie Jackson “Crash” Waller (1887-1959) from Blakely, Georgia who appears to have gotten his nickname from his days as a firefighter. In 1934, Bracken, Waller, and a driver known as Shirley “Speedy” Goff were all racing with the American Automobile Association (A.A.A.) back at Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta. Bracken is probably the same Gordon Bracken from Barnesville, Georgia who drove NASCAR Grand National stock cars in 1953.
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