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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