Desert Classic Celebrates Indianapolis 500 Centenary

Michael T. Lynch

The fourth edition of the Palm Springs Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance will be held over the weekend of February 26-27 at the famed La Quinta Resort and Club in the desert spa area of Southern California.

A modern concours is more than just a car show, and the weekend of February 19-20 will see the inaugural Desert Classic Vintage Race, sanctioned by the Vintage Auto Racing Association, at the new 16-turn Chuckwalla Valley Raceway just down the road from La Quinta. This will kick off a Desert Classic Speedweek celebration.

Concours festivities will open Friday night the 25th at La Quinta’s Old Town, where an auction preview will be held, highlighting some of the cars to be sold at the EG Auctions sale to be held Sunday on the Concours grounds.

Saturday will see the Desert Classic Tour, which will depart from Old Town and conclude with a traditional French lunch at the charming Le Cuistot Restaurant in Palm Desert. The route map and schedule of the Tour can be seen at http://www.DesertConcours.com

That evening features an opening reception at the La Quinta Resort and Club with food and wine as only they can prepare it. Some concours cars will be on view for a sneak preview. The setting will be Greta Garbo’s former house on the property, and a K Model Lincoln formerly owned by the famous recluse will also be on hand. Music will enliven the scene and everyone should be in a good mood for of the main event the following day. Tickets for the reception are available in advance only. Information is available at (760) 766-1777.

The Desert Classic will showcase everything from classics like Aaron Weiss’ 1929 Auburn Boat Tail Speedster to a good entry of microcars. Other historic treasures include the Sunbeam Sir Malcolm Campbell used to break the World’s Land Speed Record in 1924 and 1925. Mid-Century dream cars are represented by the Petersen Museum’s Plymouth Explorer. This was one of a long line of Ghia-bodied dream cars built on various Chrysler produced chassis during the time Virgil Exner was design chief there. Exner and Ghia’s Luigi Segre had a long collaboration. Segre was head of design at Ghia from the time Mario Boano left in 1953.

The Desert Classic’s traditional exceptional entry will be enhanced by a special anniversary this year. America’s motorsports community is celebrating 100 years of the Indianapolis 500 and the Desert Classic will be the first, but certainly not the last, major Concours to have a class celebrating the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There are too many Indy Car entries to mention, but some of the highlights include Tom Malloy’s Miller-Novi. It was originally one of the 1935 Indianapolis Miller-Fords promoted by Preston Tucker. Later, Ed Winfield put his first Novi V-8 in it. It is this configuration today.

Bill Evans 1913 Isotta Fraschini IM raced in the Indy 500 in just the third year of the event. The Auto Shippers Special Offy built by Russ Snowberger is a beautiful example of an immediate post World War II Indy racer.

Representing one of the Golden Ages of U.S. racing will be Larry Pfitzenmaier’s Watson roadster. Running as the Simoniz Special, this car won the fastest race of its era, averaging over 170 mph at a championship race at Daytona International Speedway. Jim Rathmann was the driver, and the speeds were so frightening in that period that Indy cars never raced at Daytona again.

Representing the transition between front and rear-engine cars will be Rodger Ward’s Harvey Aluminum Special. Built for the 1964 500 by A. J. Watson, it finished second that year because of a mix-up on which way to turn the fuel mixture knob. It was an early American response to the British rear-engine invasion.

The Indy Car entry will range almost from the beginning of the 500 through the rapid developments of the 1970s and 80s. The dominant Gurney Eagles and Penskes of that era will be well represented. The latter were driven by such legends as Dan Gurney, Bobby Unser, Tom Sneva and Mark Donohue.

The 1916 Indianapolis winner will take pride of place on the show field. Ann Bothwell’s Peugeot finished second in 1915, before winning the 500 in 1916 with Dario Resta driving. Resta also used the car to win the 1916 National Championship. The car has a remarkable story. It is a three owner car. After World War I, it was bought by racer Art Klein. Klein had flown in the same squadron as famed aviator and race car driver Eddie Rickenbacker during World War I. Klein raced the Peugeot on the AAA National Championship circuit in 1919-20, winning a race on the fabled Beverly Hills board track. After he retired from racing, he kept the car.

In 1949, Lindley Bothwell, a California collector suffered a garage fire and lost many cars in his collection. Bothwell had lusted after the Peugeot for many years and Klein wanted to encourage him to rebuild his collection. To motivate Bothwell, Klein offered him the Peugeot at a more than fair price and Bothwell bought it.

Bothwell was one of the leading car guys of his generation, giving generously of his time to improve the governance of both oval and road racing. He also put on vintage racing exhibitions at current race meetings in the 1950s using mostly cars from his own collection. Steve Earle, who presided over America’s most prestigious vintage race, the Monterey Historic Automobile Races, has cited Lindley as one of his inspirations for starting the Monterey Historics. Earle had seen Bothwell’s cars run at early California road races.

Lindley took the Peugeot back to Indianapolis in 1949 with the idea of exceeding Howdy Wilcox’s 1919 Peugeot qualifying speed. Wilcox was the first to qualify over the 100 mph barrier. Many thought Lindley was trying to qualify the 35 year old car for the 500 and he got enormous publicity. He did achieve his goal, lapping the Speedway at 103.5, quite an improvement on Wilcox’s 100.1. The Peugeot has remained in the Bothwell family ever since. Ann Bothwell has also brought a 1920 Hudson works racer and a 1930 Studebaker. The latter is one of the best looking examples of the production car based “Junk Formula” that ran at Indianapolis from 1930 through 1937. The regulations also required riding mechanics in those years.

There will also be thoroughbred single seaters from road racing, like Bill Pope’s Maserati 8CM, one of the great prewar designs by the Maserati Brothers.

With cars like these entered, there can be little doubt that the Desert Classic Concours d’Elegance will build upon its reputation as one of the West Coast’s premier automotive events. The collection of cars from America’s premier race will make up a show of their own, but be sure to allow time to take in the rest of the field. Even without the Indy Cars, the Desert Classic would stand among our finest concours.