Automobile Races
On the Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the
Kansas State Fairgrounds
Hutchinson, Kansas
Friday – September 25, 1931
Sanctioned by – International Motor Contest Association – I. M. C. A.
Each race except the Straw Hat Derby paid prize money back three places
Emory Collins
Don Radbruch collection
First Heat Race – 10 Cars - 7 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Mark Billman1 |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
4 |
Frontenac |
3:30.0 |
2 |
Clarence Haskell2 |
Lincoln, Nebraska |
C – 3 |
Antelope Special (Frontenac) |
|
3 |
Red Sorenson |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
4 |
Black Frontenac |
|
4 |
Ted Tetterton9 |
Chicago, Illinois |
|
|
|
5 |
Rea Bray |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
7 |
Hill Special (Frontenac) |
|
6 |
Jack Johnson |
|
|
|
|
7 |
Shano Fitzgerald |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
|
|
8 |
Banty Flinn |
Denver, Colorado |
99 |
Frontenac |
|
9 |
Clyde Gilbert |
Denver, Colorado |
5 |
Lloyd Fisher Frontenac |
|
10 |
Dan Brenneman3 |
Newton, Kansas |
13 |
|
|
Bray had trouble with his own Frontenac while warming it up for this race. He borrowed a car from Russell D. Hill for this event but did not enter any of the other races.
Second Heat Race – 10 Cars – 7 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Emory Collins10 |
Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
7 |
Miller |
3:26.2 |
2 |
Speed Adams4 |
Rock Island, Illinois |
300 |
Kinsey Special (Frontenac)6 |
|
3 |
George Barringer |
Parsons, Kansas |
28 |
Frontenac |
|
4 |
Rex Edmonds |
Houston, Texas |
|
|
|
5 |
Ray Hebert5 |
Sioux City, Iowa |
23 |
Kruck Special |
|
6 |
Shano Fitzgerald |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
|
|
7 |
Alto Challeons8 |
Montreal, Canada |
|
|
|
8 |
George Burry |
Hemingford, Nebraska |
66 |
Miller Special (Frontenac) 7 |
|
9 |
Claude Sigler |
Ft. Wayne, Indiana |
|
Dreyer Special |
|
10 |
Murray Earl |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
400 |
Ford |
|
Special Match Race – 5 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Emory Collins10 |
Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
7 |
Miller |
3:26.2 |
2 |
Speed Adams4 |
Rock Island, Illinois |
300 |
Kinsey Special (Frontenac) 6 |
|
3 |
Clyde Gilbert |
Denver, Colorado |
5 |
Lloyd Fisher Frontenac |
|
4 |
Red Sorenson |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
4 |
Black Frontenac |
|
Straw Hat Derby – 4 Cars
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
|
Alto Challeons8 |
Montreal, Canada |
|
|
NT |
|
Shano Fitzgerald |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
|
NT |
|
Ted Tetterton9 |
Chicago, Illinois |
|
|
NT |
|
Claude Sigler |
Ft. Wayne, Indiana |
|
|
NT |
There were no qualified finishers in this race. One driver had a spare hat with a chin strap but he was disqualified.
Consolation Race – 11 Cars – 5 Laps
Open to all cars that had not finished in the top two in any of the previous races
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Clyde Gilbert |
Denver, Colorado |
5 |
Lloyd Fisher Frontenac |
2:23.4 |
2 |
Ray Hebert5 |
Sioux City, Iowa |
23 |
Kruck Special |
|
3 |
George Burry |
Hemingford, Nebraska |
66 |
Miller Special (Frontenac)7 |
|
4 |
Rex Edmonds |
Houston, Texas |
|
|
|
5 |
Shano Fitzgerald |
Galesburg, Illinois |
|
|
|
6 |
Alto Challeons8 |
Montreal, Canada |
|
|
|
7 |
Claude Sigler |
Ft. Wayne, Indiana |
|
|
|
8 |
Bill Carroll |
Lewis, Kansas |
3 |
Carroll Special |
DNF |
9 |
Murray Earl |
Hutchinson, Kansas |
400 |
Ford |
DNF |
10 |
Dan Brenneman3 |
Newton, Kansas |
13 |
|
DNF |
11 |
Banty Flinn |
Denver, Colorado |
99 |
Frontenac |
DNF |
13 cars were scheduled to be in this race but only 11 actually started it. Flinn’s car was struck by another in the southeast turn of lap two. Flinn’s car slid striking the fence parallel so hard that he bounced back onto the racetrack, gyrated wildly and backed into the fence leaving one tire flat and the rudder shaped tail knocked sideways. Flinn jumped the fence as the remainder of the cars whizzed by.
Several cars disappeared into a cloud of dust in the south turn on lap three. All of the cars emerged again except Brenneman’s. When the dust cleared, Brenneman’s car was stuck in the south fence with three of its wheels badly bent. It took workmen several minutes to untangle the car from the fence.
Earl was blinded by dust when he struck the inside fence at the beginning of the fourth lap. The car slid down the top of the fence for 15 feet before coming to a stop with one wheel still hooked over the fence. After the race, Earl changed a tire and was able to drive the car back to the pit.
On the same lap, Carroll was also blinded by the dust and tried to turn the corner too sharply crashing into the inside fence. The radiator on his Carroll Special was crushed, the engine was damaged, and both front tires were left flat so the car had to be removed from the racetrack on a truck. Carroll sustained some minor burses but those were the only injuries suffered in the race despite the many crashes.
Gilbert won over Hebert by a wide margin while Burry finished a close third in a Miller Special owned by Russell Miller of Hemingford, Nebraska.
Sweepstakes – 8 Cars – 7 Laps
Place |
Driver |
From |
Car Number |
Automobile |
Time |
1 |
Emory Collins10 |
Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
7 |
Miller |
3:25.0 |
2 |
Speed Adams4 |
Rock Island, Illinois |
300 |
Kinsey Special (Frontenac) 6 |
|
3 |
Mark Billman1 |
Indianapolis, Indiana |
4 |
Frontenac |
|
4 |
Clarence Haskell2 |
Lincoln, Nebraska |
C – 3 |
Antelope Special (Frontenac) |
|
5 |
Red Sorenson |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
4 |
Black Frontenac |
|
6 |
George Barringer |
Parsons, Kansas |
28 |
Frontenac |
|
7 |
Clyde Gilbert |
Denver, Colorado |
5 |
Lloyd Fisher Frontenac |
|
8 |
Ray Hebert5 |
Sioux City, Iowa |
23 |
Kruck Special |
|
Clyde Gilbert Charles Pauley photo |
Clarence Haskell’s Antelope Special Roy Eaton collection |
Bill Carroll Emmett Carpenter photo |
Howard “Speed” Adams Roy Eaton collection |
Rex Edmonds Barbara (Plant) Thompson collection |
Art Challender Wood collection |
Murray Earl Roy Eaton collection |
Ray Hebert Wood collection |
George Barringer Bill Barringer collection |
1 Mark Billman (1906-1933) was fatally injured in a crash while competing in the 1933 Indianapolis “500”.
2 Clarence H. “Speed” Haskell (1908-1934) was fatally injured while warming up a racing car at Winchester, Indiana.
3 Daniel “Dan” Brenneman (1897-1967)
4 Howard E. “Speed” Adams (1904-1932) was fatally injured in a racing accident at Nashville, Tennessee.
5 Ray Oliver Hebert (1896-1933) was fatally injured in a racing accident at Peoria, Illinois.
6 The Kinsey Special was a 16-valve Frontenac owned by Joe Kinsey.
7 The Miller Special that George Burry drove and probably the #13 car that Dan Brenneman drove were owned by Russell Miller of Hemingford, Nebraska.
8 Alto Challeons of Montreal, Canada was almost certainly the same person as Art Challender of Houston, Texas. Which of these was his real name is unknown. Did he anglicize his name when he moved form Canada to the USA?
9 The Hutchinson, Kansas newspaper gave this driver’s name as George Tetterton but he was undoubtedly Ted Tetterton instead.
10 Emory Adelbert “Spunk” Collins (1904-1982)
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