Mystery Friday Foto #23 Solved: Ray Harroun in the Marmon ‘Yellow Jacket’
Did you identify this mystery racer?
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify the following;
- The race car and driver
Marmon 'Yellow Jacket' (prototype of the Marmon 'Wasp') and driver Ray Harroun
- The race driver's greatest achievement
Winner of the first Indy 500 Race in 1911
- Link the driver to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
Harroun drove Marmons in the 1909 Wheatley Sweepstakes and the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race
- Where is the race car today?
The Marmon 'Wasp' is in the Indy Museum in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Marmon 'Yellow Jacket' whereabouts are unknown. It is possible they were the same car. See Ariejan Bos' comments below;
Comments (5)
Congrats and kudos to Gary Saucier, Ken Parrotte and Shawn for answering correctly all the Mystery Foto questions.
Greg O.
Ray Harroun driving the #32 Marmon winning the 1909 Wheatley Hills Sweepstakes.
Ray Harroun driving the #21 Marmon during the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race. He finished 21st after breaking a crankshaft during lap 14.
1911 Indy 500 Race
# YouTube views :61,000
2011 Indy 500 Race
This ten-minute video documents two-time Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi and Howard Kroplick driving the restored Alco Black Beast during the 2011 Indy 500 Race parade lap on May 29, 2011. Over the 21/2 mile lap, the racer averaged 45 mph with a maximum speed of 68 mph.
Highlights to look for:
0:30: Aerial of the Black Beast and 1911 parade racers during ABC's pre-race coverage. 1: 14: The 1911 Indy winner Marmon Wasp and the Alco Black Beast on the track at 8:30 am.
1:53: Emerson Fittipaldi gives a thumbs up at 9:50 am.
2:00: The Black Beast begins to roar.
4:22 After 100 years, the Black Beast passes the Marmon Wasp and is asked to take the lead.
6:58: Emerson Fittipaldi puts the Black Beast into third gear and reaches 68 mph
7:35 The Black Beast passes the "yard of brick".
Comments
The Marmon Wasp driven by Ray Harroun
The Wasp and Harroun won the first Indy 500 in 1911
Harroun finished 20th in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup
The car is now in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
Ray Harroun, Marmon, May races at Atlanta Speedway. I have a photo of Ray Harroun driving this car at the new Atlanta Speedway in Atlanta, GA. in May of 1910. Asa Candler constructed a 2 mile dirt oval in 1909 in Atlanta. Ray Harroun and Joe Dawson raced Marmon’s in 1910 at Atlanta. Ray won three races in Atlanta in 1910. May 5th a 10 mile free for all, May 6th a 12 mile free for all and November 3rd a 20 mile free for all. Harroun also won three races at Atlanta’s first race program in November of 1909. Ray Harroun would win the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. Ray Harroun and Joe Dawson driving Marmon’s raced in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race. The Marmon is on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.
The Marmon Wasp
Ray Haroun
Winning inaugural Indy 500
Raced in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup
Indianapolis Speedway Museum
Turned out to be a real head-scratcher so just some guesses. Looks like an early Peugeot racer of some kind. If it is Peugeot, then maybe it’s Dario Resta driving. Resta won the 1915 and 1916 Vanderbilt Cup races. As to the location of the car today: maybe Jay Leno’s garage?
Could be a prototype of the Marmon Wasp, 1911 Indy 500
The car is not the Marmon Wasp, but as Frank Femenias already suspected, a kind of prototype: it is the 1910 Marmon Yellow Jacket, so probably as yellow as the Wasp. The photo series below is from the magazine MoToR, May 1910 issue. Some more detail is given in a post on The Old Motor: https://theoldmotor.com/?p=153744
From Greg O.
Ariejan-
You are correct. This was my error and take responsibility. It has been corrected. As it turns out, the Yellow Jacket and Wasp were in development around the same time and I should have noticed the differences in the cowl area in my haste to put up the photo. I will accept my 50 lashes for my faux pas.
https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/news-multimedia/news/2020/07/10/famous-marmon-wasp-designed-for-speed-from-the-start
Dear Greg, I hope you haven’t taken the lashes yet, because in the end it appears that we are all correct! I was triggered by your remark that the Yellow Jacket and the Wasp were developed from about the same time. In The Horseless Age of March 30, 1910 the official name for this new Marmon is said to be ‘Yellow Jacket’, but from May the name ‘Wasp’ was used. In The Motor World of March 31, 1910 and other issues of that magazine that year the name ‘Yellow Jacket’ is never mentioned, but only the name ‘Wasp’. What I suspect is the following: possibly the official name was the “Yellow Jacket’, but because of the combination of the yellow color and the wasp-like tail undoubtedly the car received very soon the nickname ‘Wasp’, which was subsequently (and almost directly) taken over as official name.