Big Car Races on the

Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the

Kansas State Fairgrounds

 Hutchinson, Kansas

Monday – September 18, 1933

 

 

Race Director – Leonard Kerbs of Otis, Kansas

 

Attendance - 10,000

 

 

 

Verne Ellis

Larry Sullivan photo

Lew Irwin

Irwin family collection

Charles Pauley

Charles Pauley collection

 

 

 

Time Trials – 1 Lap

18 drivers and 19 cars participated

(Floyd Davis took a time trial in two different cars)

Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Clarence Haskell

Lincoln, NE

24

Miller Special

28.36

2

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

4

Riley Special

28.88

3

Pat Cunningham

Otis, KS

K 1

Kerbs Special

29.28

 

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

3

Johnson Special

 

 

Lew Irwin

St. Joseph, MO

X 3

Lawhon Special

 

 

Bill Foster

Indianapolis, IN

 

 

 

 

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, MO

 

 

 

 

Paul Smith*****

Kansas City, MO

22 A

Riley Special

 

 

Roy Lake

Los Angeles, CA

3

Frontenac

 

 

Verne Ellis****

Kansas City, MO

 

Ellis Special

 

 

Charles Pauley

Herington, KS

14

Pauley Special

 

 

Pete Alberts**

Chicago, IL

9

Kinsey Special

 

 

Art Challender

Rock Island, IL

 

McDowell Special

 

 

Rae Bray***

Topeka, KS

 

 

 

 

Ray Anguish

Topeka, KS

 

Frontenac

 

 

H. C. Scheetz

Topeka, KS

 

 

 

 

 

Helmet Dash – 2 Cars - 3 Laps

Purse:  An undisclosed cash prize, a leather helmet, and a kiss from trophy girl Vera Kerbs

Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Clarence Haskell

Lincoln, NE

24

Miller Special

1:29.14

2

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

3

Johnson Special

 

 

 

First Heat Race – 6 Cars - 10 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Clarence Haskell

Lincoln, NE

24

Miller Special

5:05.0

2

Pat Cunningham

Otis, KS

K 1

Kerbs Special

 

3

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

3

Johnson Special

 

4

Lew Irwin

St. Joseph, MO

X 3

Lawhon Special

 

5

Bill Foster

Indianapolis, IN

 

 

 

6

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, MO

 

 

 

 

 

Second Heat Race – 6 Cars – 10 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

4

Riley Special

5:00.0

2

Paul Smith*****

Kansas City, MO

22 A

Riley Special

 

3

Roy Lake

Los Angeles, CA

3

Frontenac

 

4

Verne Ellis****

Kansas City, MO

 

Ellis Special

 

5

Charles Pauley

Herington, KS

14

Pauley Special

 

6

Pete Alberts**

Chicago, IL

9

Kinsey Special

 

 

 

Consolation Race – 10 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Lew Irwin

St. Joseph, MO

X 3

Lawhon Special

5:13.0

2

Pete Alberts**

Chicago, IL

9

Kinsey Special

 

3

Charles Pauley

Herington, KS

14

Pauley Special

 

4

Bob Wilson

Kansas City, MO

 

 

 

5

Art Challender

Rock Island, IL

 

McDowell Special

 

6

Rea Bray***

Topeka, KS

 

 

 

7

Ray Anguish

Topeka, KS

 

Frontenac

 

8

H. C. Scheetz

Topeka, KS

 

 

DNS

            While warming his car up for this event, Scheetz’s car was crowded into the inside fence.  It jumped the middle rail and slid down it for about 15 feet splintering the top rail as it went.  He was uninjured but his car was damaged enough that he was unable to get back onto the track in time for the race.

Pauley was running in second place when he bounced his machine against the inside rail in the southeast turn on the third lap.  It then careened across the racetrack plowing into the outside fence.  Although he dropped to fourth place, he was able to regain control and had moved into third place by the end of the race.  His effort was rewarded as third place paid $10.

 

 

Sweepstakes – 6 Cars - 20 Laps

Purse divided among the first three finishers

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

Time

1

Clarence Haskell

Lincoln, NE

24

Miller Special

9:57.0

2

Floyd Davis*

Springfield, IL

4

Riley Special

 

3

Lew Irwin

St. Joseph, MO

X 3

Lawhon Special

 

4

Pat Cunningham

Otis, KS

K 1

Kerbs Special

DNF

5

Paul Smith*****

Kansas City, MO

22 A

Riley Special

DNF

6

Bill Foster

Indianapolis, IN

 

 

DNF

            Davis crowded Haskell out of his pole position in the first turn and shot his car into a 10-yard lead.  Haskell pursued at a blistering pace with both cars entering the turns on the inside and sliding across the track to the fence on every turn almost wrecking on several occasions.  This continued until the sixteenth lap when Haskell “threw caution to the wind and sailed by” for the lead.  Davis tried in vain to catch him over the remaining laps but it could not be done.  A new 20-lap track record was set in the process though.

 

 

 

 

Pat Cunningham

Betty (Kerbs) Able collection

Pete Alberts

Don Radbruch collection

Art Challender

Wood collection

 

 

 

Floyd Davis

Jeff Adams collection

Paul Smith

Les Butler collection

 

 

 

 

 

* Floyd Eldon Davis (1905-1977) went on the race in the Indianapolis “500” four times and co-drove with Mauri Rose to victory there in 1941.  Davis is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana.

 

** 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.

 

*** Rea Clyde Bray (1902-1941) was fatally injured in a racing accident at Oakland, California in 1941

 

**** Audy Verne Ellis (1899-1934) was fatally injured in a racing accident at Memphis, Tennessee.

 

***** Paul Smith (1903-1933) was fatally injured in a racing accident in Dallas, Texas just five weeks later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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