The 1939 season showed a marked increase in the number of races as well as the total amount of prize money paid to drivers. The extent of midget automobile racing, i. e., cars of 500 to 950 lbs., using motors of approximately 100 cubic inches increased markedly.
The twenty-eighth annual Indianapolis 500-mile Memorial Day race with the fastest field of starters in the history of the event, was won by the veteran Wilbur Shaw driving a foreign car, manufactured by Maserati of Italy and renamed as a 'Boyle Special.' Shaw, who also won in 1937 and placed second three times, completed the 500 miles in 4:20:47.39, elapsed time, for an average of 115.035 mi. per hr. Jimmy Snyder, who placed second, established a new ten-mile qualification mark in the official time trials before the race with an average of 130.138 mi. per hr., his fastest lap being made at a speed of 130.757 mi. per hr. Third place in the race was taken by Cliff Bergere.
Other races of major importance were the two 100-mile National Championship events held at Milwaukee, Wis. and Syracuse, N. Y. Elbert (Babe) Stapp was the winner at Milwaukee while the Syracuse race was won by Mauri Rose. Both tracks are of a clay surface, one mile in length. Of the half-mile tracks on which the majority of regular races are held, the most outstanding during 1939 was the new Williams Grove Speedway, located near Harrisburg, Pa., where eight races were held this year. Half-mile track racing is confined largely to the Eastern states.
Midget Automobile Racing opened in the East early in April and continued through October. During the season regular weekly races were held at West Springfield, Mass.; West Haven, Conn.; Bridgeport, Conn.; Castle Hill, Bronx, N. Y.; Cedarhurst, L. I.; Coney Island, N. Y.; Paterson, N. J.; Nutley, N. J.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pottstown, Pa.; Baltimore, Md.; Washington, D. C.; Denver, Colo.; and two tracks at Los Angeles, some of which operated twice weekly.
The most common length for Midget Tracks is th mile, although lengths vary from th to th miles. Generally these races are held at night under artificial lights.
Three National Midget Championship Races were held during 1939. The first was a 100-lap event, staged on a specially constructed quarter-mile banked board track on June 25 at Soldier Field, Chicago. The winner was Ronney Householder, second was Duke Nalon and third was Sam Hanks. A 150-mile race, held on a half-mile track at Roosevelt Raceway, Long Island, N. Y., on August 12, was won by Morris Bower; second, Joe Garson and third, Perry Grimm. The final championship race, a 150-lap event held on the quarter-mile Gilmore Stadium track, in Los Angeles, was won by Mel Hansen; in second place was Bob Swanson and third was Fred Friday. The winners in each of the above races drove Offenhauser midget cars.
The first A.A.A. Sanction Stock Car Race in recent years was held on the one-mile, clay-surfaced track at Langhorne, Pa., for a distance of 200 miles. Only 1937, 1938 and 1939 strictly stock model cars were eligible to compete. Forty entries started and the winning car was a Buick driven by Mark Light. Second place went to a Ford driven by Walt Keiper and a Willys-Overland, driven by Bert Ross was third. During June a strictly stock Studebaker 'Champion' set an impressive record at the Indianapolis Speedway when it was driven 15,000 miles in 241 hours, 50 minutes and 43 seconds, for an average of 62.02 mi. per hr. This record was subsequently beaten, however, when a stock Hudson Six was driven 20,000 miles on the Saltbeds in 283 hours, 22 minutes and 7.09 seconds for an average of 70.58 mi. per hr.
In the field of speed trials and tests, the six-miles-a-minute record established by John Cobb was the outstanding feat of the year. On August 23, Cobb, a Briton, drove his Railton Red Lion car in a two-way run over the Bonneville Saltbeds in Utah at an average speed of 368.9 mi. per hr. for the measured mile and 369.7 mi. per hr. for the one kilometer distance. World records for these two distances were formerly held by Captain George E. T. Eyston, also of England, at 357.5 and 357.3 mi. per hr.
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