Photo above: From Left, Tony Hulman, Wilbur Shaw and John "Irish" Horan on race morning of the 1953 Indianapolis 500 reviewing what could be the race morning "countdown" schedule the first year that the command to start engines was featured in the "countdown".
The 37th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 30, 1953. The event was part of the 1953 AAA National Championship Trail, and was race 2 of 9 in the 1953 World Championship of Drivers.
The 1953 Indy winner was Bill Vukovich. After falling short a year before, earned the first of two consecutive Indy 500 victories. With the temperature in the high 90s and the track temperature exceeding 130 degrees, this race is often know as the "Hottest 500". Due to the extreme heat conditions, several drivers in the field required relief drivers and some relief drivers even required additional relief. Vukovich, however, as well as second-place finisher Art Cross, both ran the full 500 miles solo.
In 1953, the attendance number was 190,000 spectators!
Indy 500 Traditions: The 'Gentlemen, Start Your Engines' command can be traced back to the late 1940s at Indy.
While this famous command sounds for all the world as if it would have been intoned from the very earliest days by Carl Fisher* holding a megaphone, it apparently was not uttered until either 1949 or maybe 1950 and then almost as an afterthought rather than a planned and much-anticipated feature of the pre-race ceremonies. The beginnings of this ritual are rather clouded and, as with several other traditions, it appears to have evolved, rather than been created.
*Carl Graham Fisher was an American entrepreneur who helped make automobiles a viable form of transportation. He was born in Greensburg, Indiana in 1874 and co-founded Prest-O-Lite Co. in 1904 which developed acetylene gas vehicle headlights distributed nationwide. Fisher was a seemingly tireless pioneer and promoter of highway construction and of real estate development in Florida. He is widely regarded as a promotional genius. The headlight patent made him rich as an automotive parts supplier whe he and his friend, James A. Allison sold their company to Union Carbide in 1913 for $9 million (equivalent of approximately $240 million in 2020).
Fisher operated in Indianapolis what is believed to be the first automobile dealership in the United States and also worked at developing an automobile racetrack locally. After being injured in stunts himself and following a safety debacle at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway, of which he was a principal, he helped develop paved racetracks and public roadways. Improvements he implemented at the speedway led to its famous nickname .. The Brickyard.
In 1952, Fisher was inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame. In 1971, he was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame and in 2018 he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. He passed on July 15, 1939 at age 65 in Miami Beach. Fisher was one of the best known and active promoters of the Florida land boom in the 1920s. By 1926, he was worth an estimated $100 million. His fortune was lost in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression. Although he had lost his fortune and late in life considered himself a failure, Fisher is widely regarded as a decidedly successful man in the long view of his life. "Montauk was Carl's first and only failure," wrote Jane Fisher in a biography of her late husband, who died with only $40,000 to his name.
In a 1998 study judged by a panel of 56 historians, writers and others, Carl Graham Fisher was named one of the Fifty Most Influential People in the history of the State of Florida. PBS labeled him "Mr. Miami Beach". Just south of Miami Beach is Fisher Island which he once owned and is named for him. That island became one of the wealthiest and most exclusive residential areas in the United States.
Gentlemen Start Your Engines, Part Two will follow this article.
Pat Locke, Maestro Muse
