by Peter Vack
October 16, 2002

When is a Maserati not a Maserati? When it is a Boyle Special.

Years ago, sometime after the Great War, Indianapolis sponsors acquired the nasty habit of naming cars by the sponsors name rather than by the make, a rather deplorable situation which continues to this day. When Wilbur Shaw won the 1939 and 1940 Indianapolis 500s in this 3 Liter, 360 hp 8CTF Maserati, it was called the Boyle Special, after Michael Boyle, Shaw’s sponsor.

Handy, one might think, as at the time cars from the land of Mussolini were probably not particularly popular anyway. But because of the sponsor’s ego, few Americans realized that Maserati had won the 500 two times in a row and very nearly three, as Shaw retired in the lead during the 1941 event. The same car appeared again in 1946, this time driven by Ted Horn, and finished third in a race which featured four Maseratis. These Maseratis, built to compete with the 3 liter Mercedes Benz and Auto Union Grand Prix cars, were far more successful on the Indianapolis oval than the road circuits of Europe. By winning at Indy, Maserati provided Americans with a glimpse of Italian engineering at its best. Perhaps if Mr. Boyle had called a spade a spade, the name of Maserati would hold much more import than it does today.