|
Bruce-Brown, born 1890, was a wealthy New Yorker who had attended Yale. While still attending schooling he set a speed record of 109 mph in Daytona Beach in 1908. The following year he acquired a 120 hp Benz to participate at races. Besides minor events during the year he won the 1910 American Grand Prize in Savannah. He was a born race driver if ever there was one. In May of 1911, he finished 3rd in the first Indy 500. At the end of the year he again won the American Grand Prize in a FIAT S74. He returned to Indy in 1912 but retired early. Then followed the French GP at Dieppe, where he led for the first 13 of 20 laps, then ran out of fuel and still came third, losing out on a technicality.
The same year at the end of practice for the American Grand Prize at Milwaukee, he requested extra practice laps from famous starter Fred Wagner. Wagner, who saw that the FIAT's tires were worn down to the fabric, ordered Bruce-Brown to return to the garage. Wagner: "It is my honest belief that David Bruce-Brown would be alive today, to cite a case in point, had he heeded the warning I gave him on that fateful afternoon when he rolled to his death." A rear tire blew, causing his FIAT to flip, burying Bruce-Brown. They finally got the car off him but he passed away on the awful ride to hospital. Tony Scudelari, his mechanic, died one week later.
|