Automobile Races
On the Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the
Kansas State Fairgrounds
Hutchinson, Kansas
Friday, September 24, 1926
Promoter – D. J. Fair of Sterling, Kansas
Total Purse: $1,320
“A crowd of fully 10,000 braved blustery north winds and rain to pack the grandstand and remained there until the racing program was at an end.”
#4 Charles Lebsack – #1 Leonard Kerbs
Betty (Kerbs) Able collection
Vic Felt Carolyn (Felt) Junod collection |
John Gerber Roy Eaton collection |
L. O. Hughes Hughes collection |
Entry List
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Charles “Butch” Lebsack |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #4 |
Leonard E. Kerbs |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #1 |
Vic Felt |
Deer Trail, Colorado |
Frontenac |
Lawrence O. Hughes |
Wichita, Kansas |
Hughes Special |
John B. Gerber |
Meriden, Kansas |
Gerber Special |
Clyde Gilbert |
Longmont, Colorado |
Fisher Special |
Delbert Ging |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Fronty Ford |
Fred Lentz |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Lentz Special |
Joe Hutchinson |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Frontenac |
James E. White |
Sharon Springs, Kansas |
White Special (Frontenac) |
William Miner “Bill” Bryant |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Hudson Ppecial |
Al Koepke |
Great Bend, Kansas |
Frontenac |
Clovis Rankin* |
Chicago, Illinois |
Frontenac |
Andrew “Cokey” Fuller |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Ford Special |
Oscar Anderson |
Chicago, Illinois |
Miller Special |
Roy Rinehart |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Laurel Ford |
Walter Higley |
Longmont, Colorado |
Higley Special (Essex) |
Keene Saxon |
Topeka, Kansas |
Frontenac |
Jess A. Pettit |
Kanapolis, Kansas |
Dodge Special |
Roy O'Loughlin |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Frontenac |
O. Albert “Mike” Koenitzer |
Meriden, Kansas |
O. K. Special |
Time Trials – 1 Lap
Place |
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Charles Lebsack |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #4 |
31.0 |
1 |
Leonard Kerbs |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #1 |
31.0 |
3 |
Vic Felt |
Deer Trail, Colorado |
Frontenac |
31.5 |
4 |
L. O. Hughes |
Wichita, Kansas |
Hughes Special |
31.6 |
4 |
John Gerber |
Meriden, Kansas |
Gerber Special |
31.6 |
6 |
Clyde Gilbert |
Longmont, Colorado |
Fisher Special |
32.0 |
7 |
Delbert Ging |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Fronty Ford |
32.4 |
8 |
Fred Lentz |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Lentz Special |
33.2 |
9 |
Joe Hutchinson |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Frontenac |
33.6 |
10 |
Jim White |
Sharon Springs, Kansas |
White Special (Frontenac) |
34.2 |
11 |
Bill Bryant |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Hudson Special |
36.0 |
12 |
Al Koepke |
Great Bend, Kansas |
Frontenac |
37.6 |
13 |
Jess Pettit |
Kanapolis, Kansas |
Dodge Special |
NT |
13 |
James White |
Sharon Springs, Kansas |
White Special (Frontenac) |
NT |
13 |
Clovis Rankin* |
Chicago, Illinois |
Frontenac |
NT |
13 |
Mike Koenitzer |
Meriden, Kansas |
O. K. Special |
NT |
Class “A” Heat Race – 10 Laps – Purse: $350
Place |
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Leonard Kerbs |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #1 |
5:33.0 |
2 |
L. O. Hughes |
Wichita, Kansas |
Hughes Special |
|
3 |
John Gerber |
Meriden, Kansas |
Gerber Special |
|
4 |
Charles Lebsack |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #4 |
|
Hughes finished “a poor second” to Kerbs.
Class “B” Heat Race – 5 cars – 10 Laps – Purse: $320
Place |
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Fred Lentz |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Lentz Special |
5:39.6 |
2 |
Joe Hutchinson |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Frontenac |
|
3 |
Al Koepke |
Great Bend, Kansas |
Frontenac |
|
4 |
Bill Bryant |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Hudson Special |
|
5 |
James White |
Sharon Springs, Kansas |
White Special (Frontenac) |
DNF |
Lentz started this race from the pole position and easily pulled away for the win. White was forced to drop out on the ninth lap when he crashed into the fence at the north end of the racetrack. He was not injured and no damage was done to either his car or the fence.
Class “C” Heat Race – 10 Laps – Purse: $250
Place |
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Charles Lebsack |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #4 |
5:31.6 |
2 |
Al Koepke |
Great Bend, Kansas |
Frontenac |
|
3 |
Joe Hutchinson |
Arkansas City, Kansas |
Frontenac |
|
4 |
Fred Lentz** |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Lentz Special |
|
|
Jim White |
Sharon Springs, Kansas |
White Special (Frontenac) |
DNF |
|
Clovis Rankin* |
Chicago, Illinois |
Frontenac |
DNF |
|
Mike Koenitzer |
Meriden, Kansas |
O. K. Special |
DNF |
The race was stopped after one lap had been completed as the machines of White, Rankin, and Koenitzer tangled going into the first (south) turn on the first lap. None of the drivers were injured but the O. K. Special had a wheel smashed off and the machines were disabled. After the race was restarted, Lebsack had an easy time pulling away to finish with a big lead.
Free-For-All – 20 Laps – Purse: $400
Place |
Driver |
From |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Charles Lebsack |
Otis, Kansas |
Kerbs Special #4 |
11:08.5 |
2 |
John Gerber |
Meriden, Kansas |
Gerber Special |
|
3 |
Vic Felt |
Deer Trail, Colorado |
Frontenac |
|
4 |
L. O. Hughes |
Wichita, Kansas |
Hughes Special |
|
|
Al Koepke |
Great Bend, Kansas |
Frontenac |
|
|
Clyde Gilbert |
Longmont, Colorado |
Fisher Special |
|
|
Delbert Ging |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
Fronty Ford |
DNF |
Lebsack, Hughes, and Clyde Gilbert were tightly bunched going into the (first) south turn before Lebsack took off with a big burst of speed and sped away to a big lead that he maintained for the rest of the race. Hughes fell into second place at the start with Gilbert in third and Gerber in fourth but running some distance behind the front three. Ging, driving Roy O'Loughlin’s Fronty Ford, dropped out after the second lap with engine trouble. On the fifth lap, Gerber was holding the outside track and gaining speed when the engine in Gilbert’s Fisher Special developed a miss. That allowed Gerber to catch and pass Gilbert for third. Gerber was gaining on Hughes in second place when the Hughes Special threw a tire on the fourteenth lap. That allowed Gerber to slip into the runner-up spot. The right rear tire then came off of Gerber’s car on the sixteenth lap but he still managed to hold onto second place at the finish some 200 yards behind Lebsack. Gerber and Lebsack had lapped all of the other cars by the competition of the race.
Cokey Fuller Lew Irwin collection |
Jim White Oakley Graphic photo |
Al Koepke Jeff Adams collection |
|
|
|
Fred Lentz Hutchinson Gazette photo |
Delbert Ging Robert Ging collection |
Joe Hutchinson Winfield Courier photo |
* Clovis S. Rankin (1897-1967) was actually from Salina, Kansas and was probably convinced by the promoter to pretend he was from Chicago, Illinois to help make it appear as though a field of cars had entered these races from far and wide..
** Another source states that the 4th place finisher in the Class “C” Heat was Jess Pettit of Kanapolis, Kansas in his Dodge Special.
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