By Dick Mittman
indy500.com
Monday, September 15, 2003
The number of American drivers who have won the Indianapolis 500 and a Grand Prix can be counted on one hand. Actually, they can be counted on two fingers.
One of the drivers is Mario Andretti, 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1978 World Champion. The other is Jimmy Murphy, a San Francisco native orphaned at 11 by the great earthquake. For five years right after World War I, Murphy may have been the best race driver in the world.
In 1921, Murphy took on all of Europe in the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, driving a Duesenberg, and won handily. The next year he brought the same car, although powered by a Miller engine, and won the Indianapolis 500 by more than three minutes.
It wasn't until Andretti took the checkered flag in the "500" in 1969 and then scored his first Formula One victory in South Africa in 1971 that another American was able to win both at Indianapolis and in a Grand Prix.
Murphy was killed in a racing crash at the Syracuse, N.Y., fairgrounds dirt oval in 1924, and today there isn't anyone around to vouch for his greatness. But he will be remembered and saluted in Indianapolis during the United States Grand Prix weekend, Sept. 26-28.
Grand Prix Tours and Racer Magazine will co-sponsor a Grand Prix party Saturday evening, Sept. 27 at Union Station in downtown Indianapolis, and the theme will be Murphy and the young lions of today. The two current F1 drivers to be honored will be Jenson Button of England, 23, and Fernando Alonso of Spain, 22.
Murphy's race car is scheduled to be on display. Author Gary Doyle will present a display of early board racing art and autograph his book on Murphy. There also will be a charity auction of modern F1 memorabilia collected and donated by Professor Sid Watkins, chief F1 medical officer.
This is the fourth year for Grand Prix Tours to stage a theme party at the United States Grand Prix. There is a buffet dinner and full bar, and the party lasts about three hours.
Murphy was 24 years old when he rocketed onto the major racing scene.
Born in 1895, he was forced to go to work at an early age when his parents perished in the San Francisco quake in 1906. He began working in a garage, and on his 2lst birthday, in 1916, he became a riding mechanic for the Duesenberg team.
With World War I over, he made his debut as a driver on a board track in Altoona, Pa. He crashed, but he was so impressive that the Duesenberg brothers put him in another car for the February 1920, race at Beverly Hills, Calif. Murphy smoked the field in the 250-mile race, set a world record speed average of 103.204 mph and was on his way to superstardom.
Three months later, he started his first Indianapolis 500. As a rookie with less than a year's racing experience behind him, Murphy charged from 15th to fourth, placing behind winner Gaston Chevrolet, 1914 champion Rene Thomas and future winner Tommy Milton and beating 1915 champion Ralph DePalma. Murphy returned the next year and crashed out in 14th place.
Then he headed to France with the Duesenberg team. The Grand Prix race took place on the 10.7-mile Le Mans circuit. He chose to stick with his steady Miller carburetor while the other Duesy drivers switched to the French Claudel for cash incentives. That was one key to his victory.
But what really built his legend was that he raced at all. During a practice the week before the race, his car left the road and landed in a ditch with Murphy underneath it. Murphy suffered internal injuries, and it wasn't until two hours before the race that he arrived at the track wrapped in bandages.
Ignoring the pain, he roared around the long track at breakneck speed and beat the veteran Europeans, particularly the French, with a record speed of 78.1 mph.
The story goes that at the awards banquet, the toastmaster chose to ignore Murphy and instead first toasted third-place finisher and Frenchman Jules Goux, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1913. Murphy and his manager, George Robertson, supposedly got up, walked out and dined on ham and eggs at a nearby café.
The next May, Murphy returned to Indianapolis with the Le Mans Grand Prix-winning car, now called the Murphy Spl. He had purchased it, put a Miller engine in the front and turned in another breathtaking performance. He captured the pole with a track record of 100.5 mph and then blasted to victory with yet another record average of 94.48.
Murphy drove in two more Indianapolis 500s and finished third each time. On the boards, he won 18 of 85 starts, both records, and his speed marks at three tracks never were broken.
Murphy went out the way he always raced. He was battling Phil Shafer for the lead in a 100-mile race Sept. 15, 1924, at Syracuse when he crashed into a wooden fence and lost his life.
But he did have enough points to win the AAA championship that season, posthumously. ***
USGP tickets: Tickets for the 2003 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis are on sale, and the IMS ticket office encourages customers to place orders early to ensure the best possible opportunity to acquire good seats.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com, or by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area. Parking and camping information also can be obtained through the ticket office.
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