Spencer Wishart

Spencer Wishart at the 1912 Vanderbilt Cup

Wishart's tombstone in Kensico Cemetery

Spencer Wishart (born December 3, 1889 or 1890 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † August 22, 1914 in Elgin , Illinois ) was an American racing car driver .

Career

In 1909, at the age of nineteen, Wishart started his motorsport career in a modified Mercedes Grand Prix racing car at the Vanderbilt Cup . Due to many accidents with the favored drivers in the field, he finished the race in fourth place. When the first Indianapolis 500 in history was started in 1911 , Wishart was able to lead the race for a few laps, starting from eleventh place, and finishing fourth. In 1912 he was able to improve his starting position, but had to finish the race on the 82nd lap. In August of the same year, Wishart bought a Mercer Type 35R with which he won the Columbus 200-mile race. He also took part in the Vanderbilt Cup with the Mercedes. In 1913 he started in the Mercer as 19th in Indianapolis and was second behind the French Jules Goux . In races in Elgin and Brighton Beach he was third. In February 1914, Wishart started the Vanderbilt Cup from pole position and led the race until he had to retire with a defective water pipe. He could not finish the Indianapolis 500 of the same year with transmission problems.

The fatal accident

On August 22, 1914, Wishart started in the Elgin National Trophy , an AAA National Championship race, in the Mercer. He led the field until he was about to lap another Mercer on the fourteenth lap. The two cars collided, and Wishart went off the track and hit a tree. Previously, a tire of the car grazed a spectator who was unharmed. Wishart was seriously injured in the impact - he suffered several broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken leg and a fractured skull and succumbed to these injuries a little later in the Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin. His co-driver and mechanic Jack Jenter also died four days later as a result of the accident.

Spencer Wishart is buried in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla , New York .

Trivia

Wishart had a habit of always wearing a shirt and tie under his racing overalls.

Web links

Commons : Spencer Wishart  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Race biography on historicracing.com
• Profile on motorsportmemorial.org
• Newspaper report on the deaths of Wishart and Jenter (August 24, 1914 - Trenton Evening Times )
• Jack Jenter at www.motorsportmemorial.org (English)