Vanderbilt Cup Races

Joe Dawson

Hero of the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race and Winner of the 1912 Indy 500 Race

Nationality: United States
Born: July 17, 1889 Odon, Indiana
Died: June 17, 1946 Langhorne, Pennsylvania 56 Years

Born in 1889 in Idon, Indiana, Joe Dawson competed in the the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race and three Indy 500 Races (1911, 1912 and 1914). Later became an AAA supervisor and died of a heart-attack during a track inspection for the upcoming championship race. Also worked as a car dealer, mechanic and garage owner.

1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Known as "The Indiana Whirlwind", Dawson driving the #25 Marmon led by more than four minutes on Harry Grant's Alco Black Beast by lap 17 of the 22 lap race. But the poor judgment of a spectator who was hit by Dawson on the backstretch during the next lap determined the outcome of the race. Dawson stopped to check on the man, who suffered two broken legs, and then had to pit to repair his gas line. He spent the remaining four laps steadily gaining on Grant only to come up 25 seconds short.

1912 Indy 500 Race

For the second running of the Indy 500 Race, Joe Dawson drove a stripped down version of a National passenger car. On loan from Nordyke & Marmon, Dawson led only the final two laps, winning first place over the Mercedes of Ralph DePalma which broke down within sight of the finish. The National's four-cylinder engine displaced a hefty 491 cubic inches, making it the largest ever to win.

Joe Dawson Profile from the 1914 Indy 500 Program

Joe Dawson, the meteoric youth who capture the 1912 five hundred-mile race in the record time of 78.7 miles per hour, has had a racing creer second to none. Starting as a Marmon tester, he plunged to the front in daredevil fashion, always speeding as fast as his machine would go.

Despite his tendency to "step on it," however, Dawson has always displayed the coolest of judgment under fire. A bertter judge of pace and position never lived. Knowing to a fraction of a second what is mount is capable of, he invariably drives it to the limit of safety and holds it there. If he fails to win, it is usually due to some other reason than lack of personal ability.

Nor is the headliness his only virtue, his heart being as big and generous as himself. In one of the earlier Vanderbilts he thus sacrificed first place for the sole reason that he stopped to inquire what had become of a spectator he had hit. The only support of a widowed mother, he presents an ideal spectacle of filia duty and devotion. Never does he enter a contest that maternal prayers are not breathed in his behalf. To this, perhaps a big share of his success is due.