Wilbur Shaw: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
{{Infobox Person | name =Warren Wilbur Shaw| image = Wilbur Shaw 1939.jpg| image_size = | caption =Shaw in 1939 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|11|31}} | birth_place =[[Shelbyville, Indiana]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|11|30|1902|11|31}} | death_place =[[Decatur, Indiana]] | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | residence = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | salary = | networth = | height = | weight = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | religion = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} |
{{Infobox Person | name =Warren Wilbur Shaw| image = Wilbur Shaw 1939.jpg| image_size = | caption =Shaw in 1939 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1902|11|31}} | birth_place =[[Shelbyville, Indiana]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1954|11|30|1902|11|31}} | death_place =[[Decatur, Indiana]] | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | residence = | nationality = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | salary = | networth = | height = | weight = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | religion = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} |
||
'''Warren Wilbur Shaw''' (October 31, 1902 - October 30, 1954) was |
'''Warren Wilbur Shaw''' (October 31, 1902 - October 30, 1954) was an [[United States|American]] [[racing driver]]. He was president of the [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]] from 1945 until his death in 1954. Shaw was the automotive test evaluator for [[Popular Science magazine]]. |
||
==Biography== |
==Biography== |
||
Revision as of 14:56, 8 October 2012
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (June 2008) |
Warren Wilbur Shaw | |
|---|---|
| File:Wilbur Shaw 1939.jpg Shaw in 1939 | |
| Born | November 31, 1902 |
| Died | Error: Need valid birth date (second date): year, month, day |
Warren Wilbur Shaw (October 31, 1902 - October 30, 1954) was an American racing driver. He was president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1945 until his death in 1954. Shaw was the automotive test evaluator for Popular Science magazine.
Biography
He was born in Shelbyville, Indiana on October 31, 1902.
Wilbur Shaw won the Indianapolis 500 race three times, in 1937, 1939 and 1940. Shaw was the second person to win the 500 three times, and the first to win it twice in a row. In the 1941 race, Shaw was injured when his car crashed; it was later discovered that a defective wheel had been placed on his car.
During World War II, Shaw was hired by the tire manufacturer Firestone to test a synthetic rubber automobile tire at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which had been closed due to the war. He was dismayed at the dilapidated condition of the already-historic racetrack. Then-owner Eddie Rickenbacker, the famed World War I flying ace and president of Eastern Air Lines, was not exactly sentimental about the track, of course. When the United States entered World War II, ending racing at Indianapolis and elsewhere for the duration, Rickenbacker essentially padlocked the gates and let the great race course slowly begin to disintegrate.
During a meeting soon after the tire test, Rickenbacker informed Shaw that what was left of the track would be demolished and the land turned into a housing subdivision ... unless Shaw could find someone else who might have other ideas. Little did Rickenbacker know that he had presented a challenge to a man who relished challenges.
Shaw immediately began looking for a "savior" for his beloved Speedway, and in short order was introduced to a man who lived not too far from Indianapolis; a man who had the resources to do virtually anything. In Terre Haute, Indiana, Tony Hulman had inherited his family's business, Hulman & Company, a wholesale grocer and producer of coffee and baking powder, and he made a fortune by raising the country's level of consciousness about the company's mainstay baking powder—Clabber Girl.
A lifelong fan of automobile racing in general and the "500" in particular, Hulman listened with great interest to what Shaw had to say. Despite what Hulman saw amongst the weeds and deterioration when Shaw took him to Indianapolis, he purchased the Speedway from Rickenbacker in November 1945 for the sum of $750,000.
As a reward for his efforts to revive the Speedway, Shaw was appointed as its president, where he would have complete day-to-day control over the track. To this job, Shaw brought his extensive knowledge of the business of auto racing, something Hulman would admit that he himself didn't have, and Shaw's hard work only cemented the reputation of the "500" as the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
It seemed as though Shaw and Hulman had a "Midas touch" at the Speedway. Hulman poured money into improvements, and Shaw delivered the world's greatest automobile race to enthusiastic crowds, which grew in number by the year. The Indianapolis "500" of the late Forties and early Fifties was a very special event through the work of Hulman and Shaw, although Hulman was always sure to point out that it was Wilbur putting it all together.
Shaw was killed in an airplane crash near Decatur, Indiana on October 30, 1954, one day before his fifty-second birthday. The pilot, Ray Grimes, and artist Ernest Roose were also killed.
Legacy
As the automotive test evaluator Shaw's articles were superior to those of his contemporaries in that they gave consistently accurate reports without relying on Popular Science's lead in the marketplace over competitors such as Mechanix Illustrated.
Wilbur Shaw's highly regarded autobiography, "Gentlemen, Start your Engines," was published in 1955, and covers events through 1953.
Indy 500 results
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Trivia
The first Champ Car event was held at the Milwaukee Mile on July 17, 1933. The show was rained out. Wilbur Shaw and the other drivers convinced the track promoters to run the race the following day and the term "Rain Date" was born.
Shaw was the first driver to win back-to back Indianapolis 500 races, the 1939 and 1940 races, only Mauri Rose in 1947 and 1948, Bill Vukovich in 1953 and 1954, Al Unser in 1970, and 1971, and Hélio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002 have accomplished the same feat.
Shaw is the last native Hoosier to win the Indianapolis 500.
Awards
- He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.
- He was named to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990.
- Shaw was inducted in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1991.
Sources
- Mittman, Dick (2004). Shaw's Blend Of Skill, Charisma Looms Large In Speedway History. Retrieved September 17, 2005.
- The Greatest 33 Profile
External links
- 1902 births
- 1954 deaths
- People from Shelby County, Indiana
- American racing drivers
- Indianapolis 500 drivers
- Indianapolis 500 winners
- International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees
- National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees
- Executives of Indiana based companies
- People from Indianapolis, Indiana
- Racing drivers from Indiana
- AAA Championship Car drivers
- Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductees