Mystery Friday Foto #48 Solved: Driver Louis Chevrolet and Mechanician Salvatore Barbarino
Art Kleiner challenged you to identify Driver Louis Chevrolet and Mechanician Salvatore Barbarino
Identify;
- Driver and mechanician
- What was the relationship of the two men?
- In what year was the photo taken?
- What car did the person on the left create?
- What was the most significant race did the person on the left participate?
- What car did the person drive in that race and what was its result?
See Art's full answers below.
Congrats to Steve Lucas for identifying this difficult mystery photo of Louis Chevrolet and Salvatore Barbarino.
Art K. & Greg O.
Driver and Mechanician
Driver is Louis Chevrolet (driver in numerous Vanderbilt Cup Races) and Mechanician Salvatore Barbarino (no relation to Vinnie who was a Welcome Back Kotter Sweathog). The Mystery Photo is not from a Vanderbilt Cup Race.
What was the relationship of the two men?
Barbarino worked with the Chevrolet brothers in the mid-1910s and was the relief mechanic/driver during the 1919 and 1920 Indy 500 for the Frontenac team in which the Chevrolet brothers raced for.
Salvatore Barbarino (left) and Louis Chevrolet (middle) in 1919 at Indianapolis.
In what year was the photo taken?
August, 1917 at Sheepshead Bay Speedway, Brooklyn. Probably not far from where Vinnie Barbarino called home!
With Gaston Chevrolet
May, 1917 at Sharonville Sweepstakes, Cincinnati.
May, 1917 at Sharonville Sweepstakes, Cincinnati.
What car did the person on the left create?
The Barbarino Special, of course. Around 10 of the specials were made around 1923 - 1924.
Barbarino even raced the "Special "on The Motor Parkway in 1924.
Barbarino had previously created "The Barbarino" in 1920, a motor featuring a dual valve, "T" head. He used space in Port Jefferson, Long Island for numerous automobile related endeavors.
Other Automobile Endeavors
After his career as a driver/mechanician Barbarino was involved with several automobile concerns, ultimately giving that up to become a brick layer and longshoreman in Brooklyn.
What was the most significant race in which the person on the left participated?
Barbarino was a relief driver for Louis Chevrolet in the 1920 Indy 500 and raced in laps 64 - 79.
What car did the person drive in that race and what was its result?
A Frontenac 183, designated as #3. The car had to be pulled after 94 laps due to a steering problem. Artwork of the car is a 3-D computer generated image produced by Dan Palatnick and displayed on chevroletbrothers.com.
Art Kleiner
Comments
Driver: Louis Chevrolet
Machanician - Gaston Chevrolet
Photo was taken in 1917 Harkness Trophy Race at Sheepshead Bay Speedway -Brooklyn
Gaston Chevrolet became a partner with Louis and Arthur in the new Frontenac Motor Corporation.
Gaston Chevrolet won the 190 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first driver
in the history of the race to complete without a tire change.
He won the race driving a re-designed Monroe-Frontenac.
“With the coming of winter in late 1920, racing moved to the West Coast. While competing in the last race of the season on the board track at the Beverly Hills Speedway”
“Chevrolet was killed when his Frontenac crashed on lap 146 of the 200 lap race.[1] He connected with Eddie O’Donnell’s car and both cars tumbled down the embankment. Chevrolet died instantly along with O’Donnell’s riding mechanic while O’Donnell died the next day from a skull fracture.”
I think that’s Salvatore Barbarino on the left with Louis Chevrolet on the right. They knew each other as race car drivers and mechanics in the early 1900’s. I think the date of the photo could be August, 1917 at Sheepshead Bay Speedway with both men sitting in the #54 Frontenac.
Barbarino created a short lived car in the early 1920’s under his own name. He participated in the 1920 Indy 500 in a Frontenac and was credited with 18th. place at the end of the race.