Miller 91

[fines]

I don't know if this will be successful, but I have been spending some time on Miller racing cars and could use a bit of input!

Let's start with the easy ones, the 91s. Basis for much of this is what Mark Dees wrote in his second edition of The Miller Dynasty, "using principally the research of historians Bill Digney and William O'Keefe, with a few additions and deviations of my own".

By now I have my own "additions and deviations" from Dees, and would really like to know what Digney and O'Keefe wrote originally; does someone have info on that, or know where I could find it?

Anyway, here goes (owner/driver/# at first appearance):

1) the Hartz/Hartz #3 car

Driven by Harry Hartz in 1927, then sold to Cliff Woodbury/Mike Boyle to be driven by Cliff himself and Ralph Hepburn, Dave Evans, Billy Arnold and Red Roberts over the next two years, possibly for Bo Amos at Syracuse in 1929 and then Bill Cummings at Langhorne in 1930, then allegedly to Sig Haugdahl until 1934 or '35.

2) the de Paolo/Shafer #4 car (1928 Indy winner)

Built originally for AAA Champion Pete de Paolo who chose to race his old Duesenberg chassis with a new 1.5-litre engine instead. Raced at Indy in 1926 by Red Shafer/Fred Lecklider, then subsequently by de Paolo, Shafer and Tony Gulotta over the next two years. It was apparently acquired by Shafer (with some support from AC Spark Plugs) for Wilbur Shaw, but sold on the eve of the 1928 Indy race to Alden Sampson for Louie Meyer to drive. Subsequently used by Bill Spence, Deacon Litz and Dave Evans, then bought by Litz for 1929 season. Run by Litz at Langhorne and, apparently, a few secondary events in 1930, but information is thin. Likely the car that appeared with a Miller 220 engine for Shorty Cantlon at Ascot in January 1932, then driven by Howdy Wilcox while Cantlon was recuperating from his El Centro/Imperial crash in March. Crashed again by Sam Palmer in March of 1933, rebuilt and sold on... from here it gets murky. Today's car in the IMS museum is a recreation, apparently using mostly genuine parts from uncertain sources.

3) the Hartz/Comer #8 car

Harry's second car was driven by Fred Comer, Wade Morton and Hartz himself in 1926, then Hartz, Eddie Hearne, Leon Duray, Ira Vail and Dave Evans in 1927. Sold to Bill White in 1928 for Indy winner George Souders, then Evans again and Jimmy Gleason in 1928. Allegedly burned at an Auto Show in Los Angeles in early 1929, but saved and sold to Leon Duray, it appears. !!! Dees disagrees here, and gives it back to White, but contemporary reports are quite clear in that Duray apparently bought both cars (this one and a front-drive) from the fire wreck! Dees (in the 2nd edition) also describes Duray's car as a wide-frame 122, which it was clearly not! Anyway, it was driven by Tony Gulotta at Indy, then apparently brought to Europe along with Duray's two front-drives and perhaps used in record attempts at Monthéry, then back to the states where it disappears from sight until late summer in 1932, racing at Ascot with a 220 engine. Back to Europe in September for a fruitless attempt at Monza, then returned to Ascot competition with Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose and Al Theisen driving until it drops from sight in late 1933.

[fines]

4) the Durant/Durant #9 "Locomobile Junior 8"

Cliff Durant had two special versions of the 91 built, with many distinctive details, but as it were two and their race numbers changed quite a lot early on they're still not easy to untangle! This one, apparently, was driven by Cliff himself, Eddie Hearne and Ralph Hepburn in 1926, then sold to Harry Hartz for Harlan Fengler to drive, then taken over by the Woodbury/Boyle stable inclusive of driver Fred Comer! Also driven by Hepburn, Russ Snowberger, Billy Arnold, Bill Spence, possibly Cliff Bergere, then Chet Gardner and Fred Frame for Boyle until the end of 1929. Bought by Frame and run quite successfully during 1930 in Eastern and Pacific Coast events, then sold to Alvin Kingsley for Walt May and Speed Hinkley to drive in 1931. I lose track thereafter.

5) the Durant/Duray #10 "Locomobile Junior 8"

The other special "LJ8" was driven by Leon Duray, Harlan Fengler, Wade Morton and Frank Elliott in 1926, then sold via Harry Hartz to Norm Batten. This was the car that famously caught fire at Indy in '27, and with Batten recuperating from the burns it was driven by Elliott again, and Babe Stapp who did very well with it. Batten was again behind the wheel in 1928, with Zeke Meyer driving relief, and after his death in a maritim accident the car was driven by Wes Crawford, Ted Simpson, Meyer again and Dave Evans in 1929 before it went through a number of hands on the East coast, including Jimmy Gleason and Gordy Condon. It even reappeared at Indy in 1938, owned by Henry Kohlert and driven by Duke Nalon, no less!

6) the Kreis/Lockhart #15 car (1926 Indy winner)

After the cinderella story of Indy in 1926, Lockhart had a rocky start to his "regular" career when the dream was over. First, owner Peter Kreis had to be convinced to sell his car back to the factory (or, possibly, Tommy Milton as an intermediary), which was eventually accomplished by selling him on the idea of owning a new front-drive. Then, Lockhart was banned from the next race because he had earlier send in his entry for a minor dirt track event in Texas the same day! Eventually, Frank got to paint his favourite number on the car, and took off on a run of victories, but it was too late to win the championship. The next year, tyre troubles and engine experiments cost him dearly and he ended up second again, then came his untimely death at Daytona Beach. The car was bought by Alden Sampson for Louie Meyer to drive in 1928 and '29, and then its engine was used to build the Sampson 16-cylinder in 1930. The chassis was fitted with an 8-cylinder Miller 230 engine and raced by Meyer, Shorty Cantlon, Arvol Brunmier, Stubby Stubblefield, Francis Quinn, Babe Stapp, Kelly Petillo and Bob Carey in Pacific Coast events. Subsequent history is still a bit murky, with reports saying it went to Ira Hall or Bill White in 1932 - in any case it was broken up and rebuilt into a Sprint Car.

[allenbrown]

Excellent subject Michael. There will be some people here who can contribute - once they notice the thread.

[fines]

Well then, so there's hope! Thanks, Allen, and let's continue:

7) the Miller/Hill #16 car (1929 Indy winner)

The 'works' car, as raced by Bennie Hill, Jules Ellingboe and Frank Lockhart in 1926, then Hill again and Dutch Baumann in 1927 before it was bought by Lockhart and driven by Bob McDonogh, Eddie Hearne and Frank Elliott for him. After Frank's death the car was bought by Maude Yagle for Ray Keech to race, and Wilbur Shaw got to drive it in relief for the then Land Speed Record holder. It was wrecked in Keech's fatal accident in June of 1929, but parts of it were probably used to build the 1930 two-man car Betholine Special, and to update the team's Miller 122 dirt track car.

8) the Haase/Melcher #24 car

Al Melcher, Jack Petticord, Fred Lecklider and possibly Fred Frame drove this car in 1927, then Lou Moore over the next two or three years with relief stints by Louis Schneider and Barney Kleopfer. Like the Duray car (#3), it drops from the radar for a couple of years, then reappears with a 220 engine in early 1932, co-owned by Charles Mason and driver Chet Gardner, who did very well with it over the next six-and-a-half years before his fatal crash. After that, his brother Ray raced the car for a time in ARA events in California, and there are references to Hal Robson driving it as late as 1946, possibly even later!

9) the White/Stevens #33 car

As already noted, there's some confusion about whether this car was a rebuilt of #3 or an entirely new car, but in any event Myron Stevens crashed it at Indy in 1929, and thereafter Shorty Cantlon drove it a few times in its original configuration before the engine was pulled and a 4-cylinder "improved Marine Miller" installed for Pacific Southwest competition, where car and driver did very well the following two winter seasons. It was sold in early 1931 to Doug Harrison for Chet Gardner to drive, who also excelled, but within a year the car became uncompetitive due to a preponderance of new 4-valve Millers, and after Gardner Al Gordon, George Connor, Carl Ryder and presumably many others drove it with ever diminishing success.

10) the Sampson/Pardee #44 car

The most obscure of the lot, both Ralph de Palma and Dave Evans practiced in it at Indy in '29, before Phil Pardee easily qualified only to crash the day before the race. There follows some confusion, with possible entries for de Palma again, and Myron Stevens later that year, before the engine is pulled for the Sampson 16-cylinder, and the chassis sold to a man named Cottrell, who enters the car in East coast events the following year, presumably with an "improved Miller Marine" engine, before the trail already fades.

[allenbrown]

Good to have you back by the way. Nearly four years away!

[fines]

Well, thanks for the welcome back! I discovered, partly by chance, that I was still registered in this place while reading some stuff here to vent off frustration at the sorry state of TNF. As you know, I'm mainly into Indy/Champ Car and US short track racing by now, so I guess I'm trying to gauge if there's enough interest around here to keep me going...

[allenbrown]

It's not the specialist subject of the Chassis Archive's usual inhabitants. We'll certainly be interested but I'm not sure how many of us are genuinely knowledgeable.

I agree TNF isn't what it once was but I think that starting up a TNF-as-it-once-was forum would be very difficult. Technically it's not a huge issue but the marketing takes time and effort and it's important to get the right "host".

[fines]

... and how would you avoid falling into the same traps? No, I wasn't seriously suggesting that! As I said, frustration got the better of me, as it sometimes does. Mmh.

[fines]

I hope this will work...

National Championship results:

Date	Chassis	1)	2)	3)	4)	5)	6)	7)	8)	9)	10)
1926-05-31	Indianapolis		10th	4th	ret	ret		12th	-	-	-
1926-06-12	Altoona	ret	8th	4th	5th	ret	dnq	6th	-	-	-
1926-07-05	Rockingham	dns	9th	4th	ret	ret	dnp		-	-	-
1926-07-17	Atlantic City		4th		dns	6th	ret	ret	-	-	-
1926-08-23	Charlotte	dns	?	dns		dns		6th	-	-	-
1926-09-18	Altoona	4th	ret	6th	9th	ret		7th	-	-	-
1926-10-12	Rockingham		7th	ret	ret	ret	ret	8th	-	-	-
1926-11-11	Charlotte	4th	?	5th	ret		dns	ret	-	-	-
1927-03-06	Los Angeles	ret			5th	8th	4th	ret	9th	-	-
1927-05-07	Atlantic City	5th	ret	ret	ret	ret	ret	?		-	-
1927-05-30	Indianapolis	ret		7th	ret	ret	ret	ret	ret	-	-
1927-06-11	Altoona	6th		9th	ret	ret	ret	?	8th	-	-
1927-07-04	Rockingham	4th	ret		8th	5th		?	6th	-	-
1927-09-05	Altoona	ret	4th	7th	ret			ret	8th	-	-
1927-09-19	Charlotte		ret		8th		ret	ret	7th	-	-
1927-10-12	Rockingham	4th	5th	ret	9th			8th	7th	-	-
1928-05-30	Indianapolis	12th			7th	5th	10th	4th		-	-
1928-06-10	Michigan SF	ret	4th	ret	ret	ret	dns	?		-	-
1928-07-04	Rockingham	5th	4th	dnq	?				11th	-	-
1928-08-19	Altoona	4th	ret	5th	?	ret		6th	ret	-	-
1928-09-01	New York SF	7th	5th	dns	dns	8th	ret		?	-	-
1928-10-12	Rockingham		9th	ret	?	8th	ret	ret	ret	-	-
1929-05-30	Indianapolis	8th	ret	ret	dnq	ret			ret	dnq	dns
1929-06-09	Michigan SF	?	?	?	10th	ret		ret		?	?
1929-06-15	Altoona	?		?	ret	9th		ret	ret	?	?
1929-08-31	New York SF	?	ret	?	ret	?	ret	-	?	ret	?
1929-09-02	Altoona	?	ret	?		ret		-	8th	4th
1930-05-03	Langhorne			?	8th	?	?	-	?	-	?

Absolutely no responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of this information!

[fines]

Originally Posted by fines

1) the Hartz/Hartz #3 car

Driven by Harry Hartz in 1927, then sold to Cliff Woodbury/Mike Boyle to be driven by Cliff himself and Ralph Hepburn, Dave Evans, Billy Arnold and Red Roberts over the next two years, possibly for Bo Amos at Syracuse in 1929 and then Bill Cummings at Langhorne in 1930, then allegedly to Sig Haugdahl until 1934 or '35.

From photographs, it appears to be clear that Haugdahl used his Miller 91 chassis to build the Rocket Car in 1932. I'm not sure whether it would have been possible to rebuilt the car to standard configuration, or at least close to it, but later that same year he was reported as driving an 8-cylinder Miller again. He was also reportedly driving a Miller in AAA events in early 1935, possibly a Miller 220 in the old 91 chassis?