Big Car Races on the

Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the

Kansas State Fairgrounds

 Hutchinson, Kansas

Friday – September 25, 1936

 

 

Sanctioned by – International Motor Contest Association (I.M.C.A.)

 Race director – William Miner “Bill” Bryant of Hutchinson, Kansas

Attendance – “over 10,000”

 

 

 

Bill Morris

Don Radbruch collection

Clyde Gilbert

Charles Pauley photo

Oscar Coleman

Don Radbruch collection

 

 

 

Rea Bray

Don Radbruch collection

Tex West

Don Radbruch collection

Posey Reeves

Don Radbruch collection

 

 

 

Time Trials - 1 Lap

Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Monday’s Time

Today’s Time

1

Bill Morris1

Denver, CO

3

Messer Special

28.3

 

2

Oscar Coleman9

Dallas, TX

1

Texas Special

28.6

 

3

Morris Musick

Lincoln, NE

4

Messer Special

28.7

 

4

Lou Brown2

Champaign, IL

B 5

Dreyer

29.0

 

5

Clyde Gilbert

Longmont, CO

15

Fronty

29.2

 

6

George Chitwood3

Topeka, KS

X 3

Lawhon Special

29.3

 

7

Tex West4

San Antonio, TX

22 A

Riley

30.0

 

8

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, KS

 6

Gillette Special (Riley)

30.3

 

9

Jimmie Wood

Sioux Falls, SD

11

 

 

30.5

10

Waldo Burnett5

Hutchinson, KS

4

Earl Fronty Ford Special

29.3

30.6

11

Pete Alberts6

St. Louis, MO

25

 

 

31.2

12

Rea Bray

Topeka, KS

700

B & B Special

29.4

31.3

 

Loren Fondoble

Palco, KS

77

Riley Special

 

 

 

Ed Graves7

Oklahoma City, OK

5

 

 

 

 

Chuck Gates

San Diego, CA

 

 

 

 

 

Posey Reeves

Oklahoma City, OK

500

Cragar

 

 

 

Hal Reinsberg8

St. Paul, MN

 

 

 

 

 

Art Challender

Davenport, IA

 

 

 

 

            Time trials were used from the preceding Monday (September 21, 1936) except for those of Burnett and Bray as both of them had changed cars since Monday and therefore, had to requalify.  Alberts and Wood had not entered on Monday so they had to post initial qualifying times that were then integrated with the time trials that were run on Monday.

 

 

First Heat Race – 6 Cars - 5 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Bill Morris1

Denver, CO

3

Messer Special

2:28.3

2

Oscar Coleman9

Dallas, TX

1

Texas Special

 

3

Clyde Gilbert

Longmont, CO

15

Fronty

 

4

Morris Musick

Lincoln, NE

4

Messer Special

DNF 

5

Lou Brown2

Champaign, IL

B 5

Dreyer

DNF

6

Waldo Burnett5

Hutchinson, KS

 

 

DNF

            On the second lap, Morris Musick’s car came out of a slide quicker than he had intended and ground to a stop against the inside railing in the northwest curve.

 

 

Second Heat Race – 6 Cars - 5 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Lou Brown2

Champaign, IL

B 5

Dreyer

2:28.9

2

Morris Musick

Lincoln, NE

4

Messer Special

 

3

George Chitwood3

Topeka, KS

X 3

Lawhon Special

 

4

Waldo Barnett5

Hutchinson, KS

 

 

 

5

Tex West4

San Antonio, TX

22 A

Riley

 

6

Loren Fondoble

Palco, KS

77

Riley Special

 

 

 

First Consolation – 8 Cars - 5 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Tex West4

San Antonio, TX

22 A

Riley

2:31.0

2

Ed Graves7

Oklahoma City, OK

5

 

 

3

Loren Fondoble

Palco, KS

77

Riley Special

 

4

Waldo Burnett5

Hutchinson, KS

 

 

 

5

Jimmie Wood

Sioux Falls, SD

11

 

 

6

Chuck Gates

San Diego, CA

 

 

 

7

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, KS

6

Gillette Special (Riley) 

 

8

Posey Reeves

Oklahoma City, OK

500

Cragar

 

            West started on the pole and led this whole race.

 

 

Second Consolation – 8 Cars - 5 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Waldo Barnett5

Hutchinson, KS

75

Earl D. O. Fronty

2:33.0

2

Jimmie Wood

Sioux Falls, SD

11

 

 

3

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, KS

6

Gillette Special (Riley)

 

4

Chuck Gates

San Diego, CA

 

 

 

5

Posey Reeves

Oklahoma City, OK

500

Cragar

 

6

Art Challender

Davenport, IA

 

 

 

7

Hal Reinsberg

St. Paul, MN 

 

 

 

8

Pete Alberts6

St. Louis, MO

25

 

 

 

 

Invitational Handicap – 25 Laps

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Ed Graves

Oklahoma City, OK

5

 

12:20.4

2

Lou Brown2

Champaign, IL

B 5

Dreyer

 

3

Morris Musick

Lincoln, NE

4

Messer Special

 

4

Bill Morris1

Denver, CO

3

Messer Special

 

5

Rae Bray

Topeka, KS

700

B & B Special

DNF

 

Loren Fondoble

Palco, KS

77

Riley Special

DNF

            Fondoble lost control of his car on the north turn and crashed through the inside fence knocking down two sections.  He was not injured.  Only four cars remained in the race past the 12th lap.  Bill Morris had started the race last and was slowly gaining on the leaders.  Graves hugged the inside railing the whole race, even on the straight-aways.  The finish was very close between Graves and Brown.

 

 

State Fair Sweepstakes – 8 Cars - 10 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Bill Morris1

Denver, CO

3

Messer Special

4:55.8

2

Clyde Gilbert

Longmont, CO

15

Ford Fronty

 

3

Morris Musick

Lincoln, NE

4

Messer Special

 

4

George Chitwood3

Topeka, KS

X 3

Lawhon Special

 

5

Lou Brown2

Champaign, IL

B 5

Dreyer

 

6

Oscar Coleman9

Dallas, TX

1

Texas Special

 

7

Tex West4

San Antonio, TX

22 A

Riley

 

8

Ed Graves7

Oklahoma City, OK

5

 

 

            Morris was awarded the four-column silver pedestal Frank Phillips trophy for winning the State Fair Sweepstakes on both days of the state fair this year but he was not there for the presentation.1

 

 

 

 

Art Chandler

Wood collection

Loren Fondoble

Lehman collection

Jimmie Wood

Wood collection

 

 

 

George Chitwood

Larry Sullivan photo

Waldo Barnett

Jack Earl collection

Bob Wilson

Roy Eaton collection

 

 

 

Morris Musick

Don Radbruch collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

1 ”Bill Morris” is an alias used by Benjamin Franklin “Ben” Musick, Sr. (1908-1966).  The Messer Special #3 that he drove was owned by Chelsie E. Johnson of Lincoln, Nebraska and had a yellow paint job on it.  According to George Chitwood, FBI agents came to the pits that day with an arrest warrant for Musick but relented long enough for Musick to drive in the rest of the day’s races.  After winning the State Fair Sweepstakes, Musick continued around the racetrack at full throttle and drove out through a gate on the back straightaway.  The car was out of gas when it was located later that night on a roadside outside of Hutchinson.  Although Musick managed to get away that day, he was eventually apprehended.

 

2 Lou Brown was fatally injured in a racing accident at Savannah, Georgia less than three months after these races at Hutchinson.

 

3 George Rice Chitwood (1912-1988), later known as “Joie” Chitwood, went to race in the Indianapolis "500" seven times.

 

4 ”Tex West” is an alias used by Austin E. Wetzler (1903-1962)

 

5 Charles Waldo Burnett (1905-1947) was originally from Oklahoma City but had been residing in Hutchinson “all summer”.  Note that he changed from driving a car #4 to driving the #75 car between time trials and the second consolation race.  The #75 D. O. Fronty was owned by Murray Earl of Hutchinson.  The photo of Barnett in the #75 car above was taken at the Kansas State Fair racetrack on this day.  Pictured left to right in that photo are Ted Davis, Bud Bennett, Murray Earl, and Burnett.  Waldo was fatally injured in a racing accident at Ord, Nebraska and is buried at Terrel, Oklahoma.

.

6 Harold Denman “Pete” Alberts (1905-1939) a.k.a. “Pietro Alberti” and “Phillipe Lecitir” was fatally injured in a racing accident at Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

 

7 Ed Graves was fatally injured in an accident during time trials for a race at a different racetrack in the spring of 1937.

 

8 Harold C. “Hal” Reinsberg was fatally injured in a racing accident at Hamline, Minnesota in 1939.

 

9 Oscar Lloyd Coleman (1905-1938) was fatally injured while attempting to qualify for a midget race in Dallas, Texas.

 

 

 

 

 

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