the Hot Rod Garage brought a Marmon Sixteen to the GNRS... wow, that isn't what you'd expect at a hot rod show!

The spring Big 3 swapmeet at Qualcomm stadium had a lot of little cool old hubcaps

The above box was across the walk from another booth with the following hub caps, and look inthe above, a single Essex, below, a trio. Were they destined to meet at Qualcomm and be reunited? Well, I pointed out the obvious to the sellers who looked across the aisle at each other, and maybe they'll do those Essex hub caps a solid favor, and work out a deal to make it a foursome.

And a gas cap

Winner of first Indianapolis 500 Race, it was lighter, more reliable than the competition... and had one thing they didn't. Rear view mirror.

For a 2009 replica of the Wasp; http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/11/marmon-wasp-indy-500-replica.html

This Marmon Wasp won the first Indianapolis 500 Race in 1911... at that time, all race cars held two men, a driver and a co-driver/mechanic.

The Marmon was a single seater, unlike every other car on the track which had a seat for a driver and riding mechanic.

Marmon figured that shaving the weight of the mechanic from the car reduced the weight making it faster around the track and streamlined the car. It was widely speculated the car won because of its lighter weight.

Officials wanted drivers to have a riding mechanic so they could have an extra set of eyes on the track to avoid collisions. To skirt this rule, a mirror was hastily fixed to the hood and track officials were told that the driver could now see behind him, negating the need for a co-driver with a second set of eyes.

But the mirror vibrated so much, it was useless

This was the first rear view mirror ever used on a race car (or a passenger car as well). The driver, Harroun, was an Indiana native and still holds one Indy 500 record. No one has ever come from the 28th (or worse) starting position to end up winning the race.

Between the years of 1903 and 1933 Marmon Motor Cars, made approximately 250,000 cars. Fewer than 350 exist today.

If you’d like to help support the ongoing preservation of automotive history like Ray Harroun’s Marmon “Wasp” and many others like it, contact Greta Allen at the Museum at (317) 492-6779 to reserve your Hall of Fame Museum license plate, or check out this link for more information: IMS Hall of Fame Museum License Plate

For a couple interesting websites about Indy: http://thisthatotherthing-mary.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-05-22T08%3A01%3A00-05%3A00 and http://andthingsthatgo.blogspot.com/ for period photos and posters http://www.rumbledrome.com/10stats.html

1914 Marmon Model 48, $5000 when new equates to 108 thou in 2009

Thanks to Steve for letting me know this had come up on Shorpy!

http://www.shorpy.com/node/5881?size=_original

Barney Oldfield, American icon, record setter

 the above is a 33 Chrysler with a custom body

the above is a Christie front wheel drive

 the above is a Marmon... with Barney's name brand tires

each of the above photos were found on http://theoldmotor.com/?s=Barney+oldfield a really good website for brass era race cars

Barney Oldfield was the first man to drive a car at 60miles per hour (100 kmh).

On Memorial Day in 1903 in New York, Oldfield drove a mile in a minute flat in another match-race victory. Two months later, he powered the car to a mile run in 0:55.8 and that was enough for Winton to hire Oldfield, complete with salary, expenses and free cars.

His accomplishments led to the expression "Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield?"

In 1910, Oldfield bought a Benz, in which he broke all existing speed records for the mile, two miles, and the kilometer in special runs at Ormond Beach, Fla. After that, he was able to charge a whopping $4,000 for personal appearances, something he didn't mind at all.

Once suspended by the American Automobile Association, the sanctioning body of the day, because of his "outlaw" racing activities, much of Oldfield's legitimate racing career was lost during his prime.

One of those was testing new race tracks, like Iowa's Valley Junction Board Speedway, One Mile Race Track. Barney Oldfield was one of the first drivers to test out the new track. On July 25, 1915, Oldfield averaged 103 mph at Valley Junction Board Speedway, so remarkable was this speed due to the fact that the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t show those speeds until four years later in 1919.


However, he competed at Indianapolis after being reinstated and his best finishes were fifth in 1914 and 1916. Additionally, he ran the first 100 miles per hour lap in Indianapolis history.

http://digitaldoorway.net/The_Barney_Timeline.html

He helped found the Fisher Automobile Company, was a developer for Firestone tires, beat Winton (the founder of the Winton Car Company) in a Ford (by Fords requesting him as the driver), and had been inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports hall of fame of America.

Legend, pioneer, innovator, icon.

http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1990/Barney_Oldfield_main.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am485_98/sarratt/barney.html

http://www.rumbledrome.com/barney.html