923 Fins Springs and Gears
1905 Premier race car, built in Indianapolis, Indiana; on display at IMS Museum.
Commissioned by Indianapolis Motor Speedway founder Carl Fisher in 1905 (four years before the founding of IMS) the machine is a product of the Premier Motor Manufacturing Company in Indianapolis. The car was developed to compete in the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race in Long Island, New York.
Ever patriotic (and optimistic) Fisher was determined to prove that Americans could compete and met with Premier's chief engineer George Weidley and conceived of a giant (923.4 cubic inches) machine. The engine was air-cooled, the largest of its kind. The problem was the car exceeded the weight regulations - it was over the 2,200-pound maximum weight allowance by some 300 pounds. Fisher put the Premier boys to work drilling holes in the car and removing the drive shaft to be replaced by heavy-duty drive chains to each of the rear wheels. All of this was to no avail. Fisher pleaded his case but was rebuffed. Until recently, the only record of the car ever competing was in a five-mile handicap race October 21, 1905, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt oval. Fisher won after catching the final competitor he granted a head start on the last lap. He averaged 59.21 mph.
Available in a 24x36" lustre print on float mount