Automobile Races

On the Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the

Kansas State Fairgrounds

 Hutchinson, Kansas

Monday, September 19, 1927

 

Attendance:  10,000

 

 

Fred Lentz

Hutchinson Gazette photo

 

 

First Heat Race – 4 Cars - 7 Laps – Time: 4:22.0

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

George Lyons

Chicago, Wisconsin

15

Wisconsin Special

2

Jack Johnson

Aurora, Nebraska

48

Peugeot

3

Jimmy Hess

Joliet, Illinois

 

Hess Special

4

Shano Fitzgerald

Galesburg, Illinois

20

Duesenberg

            The first two finishers in this race qualified for the Sunflower Sweepstakes race.

 

 

Second Heat Race – 4 Cars - 7 Laps – Time: 3:54.0

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

Fred Lentz

Hutchinson, Kansas

5

Dodge

2

Sam Hoffman***

Sioux City, Iowa

21

Frontenac

3

George Young**

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

S-1

Frontenac

4

Jim “Mack” McFadden

Penalosa, Kansas

7-11

Frontenac*

            The first two finishers in this race qualified for the Sunflower Sweepstakes race.

 

 

Third Heat Race – 5 Cars - 7 Laps – Time: 4:02.0

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

Fred Horey

St. Paul, Minnesota

23

Miller

2

Swan Peterson

Davenport, Iowa

77

Red Grange Special

3

George Young**

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

S-1

Frontenac

4

Shano Fitzgerald

Galesburg, Illinois

20

Duesenberg

5

Jimmy Hess

Joliet, Illinois

 

Hess Special

            All cars that had not qualified through the first or second heat races were allowed to start in this race with the first two finishers in this race qualifing for the Sunflower Sweepstakes race.  Peterson crowded Horey from start to the finish.

 

 

Consolation Race – 4 Cars - 5 Laps – Time: 2:48.75

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

Jim “Mack” McFadden

Penalosa, Kansas

7-11

Frontenac*

2

George Young**

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

S-1

Frontenac

3

Shano Fitzgerald

Galesburg, Illinois

20

Duesenberg

4

Jimmy Hess

Joliet, Illinois

 

Hess Special

            This race was for cars that had failed to finish in the top two of any of the heat races.  Young and McFadden battled for the lead the whole five laps with Fitzgerald and Hess close behind.  Young led the first three laps but was passed by McFadden in the north turn on the fourth lap.  Young pulled up beside McFadden in the last corner of the race but McFadden had the better position and finished slightly ahead of Young.

 

 

Invitation Interstate Race – 3 Cars from 3 Different States – 3 Laps – Time: 1:40.75

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

George Young**

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

S-1

Frontenac

2

Fred Lentz

Hutchinson, Kansas

5

Dodge

3

Jack Johnson

Aurora, Nebraska

48

Peugeot

            Young was able to nose out Lentz at the finish. 

 

 

Sunflower Sweepstakes Race – 7 Cars – 11 Laps – Time: 6:36.25 – Purse: $800

 Place

Driver

From

Car Number

Automobile

1

Fred Horey

St. Paul, Minnesota

23

Miller Special

2

Swan Peterson

Davenport, Iowa

77

Red Grange Special

3

Sam Hoffman***

Sioux City, Iowa

21

Frontenac

4

George Lyons

Chicago, Wisconsin

15

Wisconsin Special

 

Jack Johnson

Aurora, Nebraska

 

Peugeot

 

Fred Lentz

Hutchinson, Kansas

5

Dodge

 

Jim “Mack” McFadden

Penalosa, Kansas

7-11

Frontenac*

            McFadden spun into the fence on the south turn on the eighth lap.  Neither he nor the car was hurt.  Horey’s Miller Special and Peterson’s Red Grange Special were even in the last corner of the eleventh lap but Horey pulled away to finish a half car length ahead of Peterson.

 

 

 

 

* The #7-11 Frontenac driven by Jim “Mack” McFadden was owned by Roy Luther O’Laughlin (1896-1930) of Hutchinson, Kansas who just nineteen days earlier (September 1, 1927) was seriously injured when he was struck by a racing car while standing near the racetrack at Belleville, Kansas.  As a result of his injuries, O’Laughlin’s left leg had to be amputated.

 

** George Young (1904-1930) a.k.a. “The Fox Point Flash” in Wisconsin, was fatally injured in a racing accident at the American Legion Speedway in Los Angeles, California.

 

*** Samual A. “Sam” Hoffman (1902-1965) drove in relief for Kelly Pettilo in the Indianapolis “500” in 1933. 

 

 

 

 

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