If you watched the other episode of the index. But so I’m going to look through and make sure we don’t get another book full of words. And I’m saying, if we’re going to look at automobiles, we at least got to look at the pictures, right? That’s the whole reason I thought they were interesting. If I knew I would’ve tossed them away. All right. We got a quarterly. Yeah. Cause the other one said index on the front. It’s my own fault. I didn’t look at that, but let’s talk. I mean, we got three red ones, a black one and a blue one. Let’s go with knocking out some of these red ones.
Again. We’re going to look kind of like this. So just like you guys are my students in class. I think I’ve seen this advertisement somewhere. I don’t know where I’ve seen it. You see it? I think it’s pretty popular, but let me show you so you can pause. And read your own table of contents.
The forgotten steam buggy, the Duesenberg. I remember the Duesenberg’s number 13, the bad luck, special Duesenberg circuit, 65 auto flea market that PM cigars or PF Sigma for safety sake by seven, 1970 200 miles an hour on the highway. That got my attention right there. Boom. We’re going to do it. Now there’s more, but that, that got my attention. 394.
Oh, I thought they were going to give us a nice picture starting at all, but no, they didn’t. So boom, there it is. You can kind of see 200 miles an hour on the freeway. Of course I’m going to pick the one thing where there’s not a single bloody picture. Are you kidding me? There’s no picture on here. We’ll go backwards. Let’s go find something else interesting. We’ve got to find pictures. Number 13, 374.
Race car driving, I guess. Oh wow. Yeah. Look at him. So the number 13, boom. So here we go. That’s kind of a starter chapter. Race drivers have been known to arouse the ear of other members of their fraternity, but define one of the one or more auto racing superstitions often in an effort to draw special attention to themselves. Appearance on any American track of the unlucky green car, for example is a solid guarantee of extra publicity, but no one has ever created a greener foyer than Wilbur Delane, pictured left. This guy. Him.
50 years ago when he willed his Duesenberg special number 13. So I’m guessing this is in 1925 since this book is around…oh no, 1916. So it was much longer than I thought. Wow, that’s crazy. I didn’t even look that bad. Besides his swim cap, whatever he’s wearing, you know what I’m saying? It looks basically kind of like a person of today.
Let’s get back to where we were. Special number 13 in the starting lineup for the inaugural 300 mile event at the brand new board Speedway in Cincinnati. The date was September 4th, 1916, and then Delane’s action fomented such concern nation among his fellow race participants before and after the event that there is no record of anyone having used that bad luck number again in a major championship race.
During the early days of the motor racing, no standard procedure existed to determine car identification, numbers or starting positions said details were left to the discretion of promoters or American automobile association officials in charge of the various events. Indianapolis, for example, the system in effect in 1916, called for assignment of car numbers by Speedway officials were starting positions to be decided on the basis of speeds recorded in pre-race time trials, as some tracks, however, both car numbers and started positions were determined by the luck of the draw. And it was customary to admit 13 when making a drawing, because nearly everyone regarded as jinx.
So the number 13, I really wonder where in the world did it come from that 13 is an unlucky number? Cause this is 1916 and there were saying 13 was a negative number or like an unlucky number. So what is with this is number 13. Why does everyone say it’s a negative number? That’s not for this conversation, but just my own question.
So basically what he was basically saying is he got the lucky 13 number, just off a dumb luck. He went over to the Fred Wagner of the time, which was the AAA starter. He went up there and he said, “I want the 13”. Wagner said no, Delane challenged and pointed out. There’s nothing to rule book. Can’t have 13 number and boom. So here’s Wagner. And I’m guessing this is Delane insisted that other drivers would object. “I don’t care if they do,” Delane reported, “unless they’re willing to have 13 place in the box with the other numbers and take the chance of drawing it for their own cars, they don’t have any right to tell me I can’t use it. I believe it might bring me good luck”. Wagner finally agreed to at least to consider the request. But when the other drivers learned about it and angry dispute developed. Some threatened to punch Delane in the nose if he didn’t withdraw the request and almost all of them protested that everyone in the rest would be jinxed by the presence of the 13 car.
However, when Wagner finally agreed to let Delane use a number, the protests were pretty much still the other drivers rucking agreed among themselves. That would be better to let Delane use 13, then risk the possibility that any of them would draw the number. “But it’s a stupid kid’s stunt”, explained Tom Allie. Oh, well, no. So this is Delane right here. This is Wagner. And then this is Tom Allie. So some of your beginning race car drivers. He told Delane, “you’ll be putting the curse on all of us. And I bet you five to one you won’t even finish the race.” Delane made known to Allie that he would accept the challenge. If you want to put up $5, just like this one”, he pulled a $5 bill out his pocket. “It’s a crime to take your money”, said Allie. The bet was on.
28 cars answered to starting flag. Ralph de Palma set a pace at nearly 110 miles an hour to grab an early lead, but a connecting rod in his Mercedes broke on the 12th lap and he was out. Mechanical trouble claims seven other cars during the first a 100 miles clutch fails, broken bowels and overheated engines eliminated eight more contenders during the second 100 miles. As Darrio Resta and Johnny African battle for supremacy in put guards at the head of the pack. Jill Enderson studs overturned after hitting a chunk of thread torn from the tire of another car and only 11 cars remaining running as a final a 100 miles began.
The final a 100 miles? How many miles was this thing? What? 300 miles. I think it was 300. Yeah, 300 miles. So out of only 11 cars, how many started anyways? I don’t see them, I’m not going back. But with 70 miles ago, a broken rock in the Hoskins he was driving ended Allie’s chances of winning his bet with DeLane. Bowel trouble claimed two more victims at about the same time and with only 12 miles ago, rest that was unable to start his overheated engine after a fourth pit stop for water. Acken ultimately won the race by a margin of four minutes, 29 seconds over Delane and only five other cars were to go the full distance.
So literally every car broke down. Acken collected 12,000 Delaine six, including the amount of his wager, but Allie won his point concerning the use of 13. At an early meeting of the triple AAA contest board rule eight 11A paternity no card identification numbers were discussed at length and by unanimous vote, 13 was permanently banned from the AAA competition.
Well, I’ll have to find a little bit of a different story since we basically just read the whole story. So it was not unlucky to him. He still, he made money, made $5,000 back in the day. That’s good money. Now they eventually outlawed the number 13 car, but it’s kind of interesting to know that it, at one point in time it was not outlawed. And at one point in time, it actually won money. So that was much better than the index. Hope you guys enjoyed that little story of car history.