Fred Clemons

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Fred "Skinny" Clemons (14 February 1889) was an American race car drriver and designer. He was one of the first entrants at the Indianapolis 500. He designed and built his own cars, engines and built his own Independent wheel suspension which he patented in 1934. Lou Meyer, Joe Russo, Wilber Shaw and many other race drivers drove his cars.

Early life

Clemons was born in 1889, son of __ and Anna L. Clemons. He attended the Emmerich manual training school Greensburg Indiana. Both his father and grandfather bred and trained race horses.

Auto racing

Clemons started his career as a race car designer and driver by building two cars for the Mc Farland motor company in 1910. His workshop/ garage was situated where the present ‘World War’ memorial site in Indianapolis is now located. Clemons cars, built in Indianapolis, have been entered for the Indianapolis 500 in the U.S.A., the Monza Grand Prix in Italy and the Brooklands outer circuit track in England.

The first known racing record for Clemons is found in the ‘Automotive Racing Records’ of the September 2nd to 5th 1910 race meet, at which Clemons' car No. 24, entered by the National McFarlan carriage company, finished 5th in the 200 mile Labour Day race.

One of the first drivers to compete in a Clemons car was Wilber Shaw, who drove the first race car designed and built by Clemons

In 1911 Clemons entered the The Indianapolis 500 (then known as the International 500-Mile Sweepstakes) as part of a two-driver team for the Mc Farland car No 22, but they did not qualify that year. Clemons was also the co-driver of car No 6 with Frank Fox. This car was a Pope/Hartford, and it finished 22nd after 162 laps.

In his book, Illustrated History of Sprint Car Racing, Jack Fox noted that

‘Whilst Clemons was a shop-welder and parts-chaser for the Chevrolet brothers they modified his model ‘T’ road car as a test bed for the first eight valve Fronty head’.

John ‘Pete’ Schmauch, in his book Metamorphosis of the model T Ford, tells that in 1921 the first Fronty-Ford cylinder head was installed in the ‘Skinny’ Clemons car. (At that time Clemons was shop foreman for Frontenac). Schmauch reported that this was the fastest Ford at the time and that during testing the car turned over at high speed whilst road testing the engine conversion. The cylinder head proving to be so successful it went into production.

A newspaper article reported a ‘Grudge Fight between Ralph Ormsby driving Clemons car No16. and Sloessman driving the Chevrolets Frontenac Settled at Jackson fair ground Michigan on Sunday’, with the winning car being purchased by Percy Jackson.

Clemons built both sprint and board track cars. They had chassis and overhead camshaft engines of his design. The Clemons 4 cylinder engines had a 3.8” bore x 4.25” stroke (193 cubic inches). They were chain drive overhead cam, with a cylinder head and block to Clemons own design, with an aluminium chain case, front mounted oil pump, and side drive to magneto and water pump.

In 1925/1926 Lou Schneider and Wilbur Shaw both drove for Clemons. The first Clemons chassis was slender with cart springs front and the word ‘Clemons’ painted on the side rail. A photo of this car can be seen in Wilbur Shaw's autobiography, Gentlemen, start your engines.

The later Clemons (4 cylinder) chassis is distinguished by its deep-sectioned side rails with a raised section over the front axle, which carries the oil tank. This double kick-up in the frame may only have been used by Clemons. The deep-skirted rear section around the rear axle could possibly have been designed to take the ‘Clemons’ independent rear suspension. The front and rear cross-members are tubular with transverse leaf springs and ‘Hartford’ type shock absorbers fitted length wise along the chassis.

Dreyer of Indianapolis fabricated both the chassis frame and alloy bodies for the 4 cylinder cars in the 1920’s to the Clemons design (Dreyer records confirm that 6 bodies were ordered in total but there is no record of how many were completed).

Clemons opened and managed the Rushville’ motor speedway on Saturday August 1st 1925 and that year the Clemons car won nine of ten races entered, including the Hoosier motor speedway race. It also averaged 82 mph on the Fort Miami track in Toledo.

An identification letter 'C’ or ‘Cm ' usually appears in front of the race Numbers on Clemons' cars. The Indianapolis Records that are available show that Clemons cars entered for the Indianapolis 500 were both 4 and 8 cylinder powered cars.

One car in 1927 driven by Wilber Shaw ( No 29)

One car in 1930 driven by Rick Decker ( No 48 ) The Hoosier Pete special

Two cars in 1931, Driven by Billy Winn (No 55) and Herman Church (No10). Both entered as ‘Hoosier Pete’ specials

In 1931 the Clemons independent rear suspension was used on two cars entered for the Indy 500. The 5th placed car in 1934 No16 Driver Joe Russo entered as ‘The Wonderbread Special’ also had the ‘Clemons’ independent rear suspension with revised chassis and a Clemons engine.

A consortium of Indianapolis businessmen in the early 1930’s commissioned 'Skinny' Clemons, assisted by Augie Duesenburg, to build a single seater 8 cylinder 4.4 litre Clemons powered car for the Indianapolis 500. That car was subsequently bought in 1933 by Count Trossi, the president of Scuderia Ferrari for European road racing. Trossi drove the car in the Monza Grand Prix of 1933. Trossi loaned the car to Whitney Straight, who ran it at Brooklands, lapping at 138.34 mph. This was after removing the centrifugal supercharger; the engine spec was 88.4 by 89 mm. 4,376 c.c. straight-eight twin overhead camshaft engine. This engine now had two Winfield carburettors and the three-speed gearbox had ratios of 5.0, 4.0 and 3.0 to 1. Jack Duller subsequently brought it from Trossi and consistently raced it at Brooklands until the very last race meeting ever held at Brooklands in 1939 where it was 2nd. That car was eventually sold to Paul Emery who removed and used the engine in the Emeryson single seater race car. That car is now kept at the Brooklands museum in the U.K after 'Jenks' managed purchaced the car and finally re-unite the car and engine.

The second 8-cylinder car with Clemons connections is the two seater ‘Wonder Bread special’ this car ran at Indy in the early 1930’s. This car has also survived and has been restored.

Later life

Clemons spend the last eight years of his life in Indianapolis running a restaurant called ‘Grand mothers Kitchen’. He died at the family home in Indianapolis, after suffering a heart attack, aged 55 on February 10th 1945.

Race card designed, built and/or driven by Fred Clemons

The following list of Indianapolis records show that Fred Clemons was involved or another with the following cars.

Year. Car No. Driver. Car listing. Owner.

• 1911. No 22. Fred "Jap" Clemons. McFarland. McFarland Motor Car Co.

• 1911. No 6. Frank Fox / Pope-Pope. Hartford. Pope Manufacturing.

• 1927. No 29. Wilbur Shaw. Miller. Jyn Fred Clemons.

• 1930. No 48. Rick Decker. Mercedes-Clemons. Hoosier Pete.Clemons Motors.

• 1931. No 55. James Patterson. Rigling-Clemons. Billy Winn.

• 1931. No 10. Herman Schurch. Rigling-Clemons. Hoosier Pete F.E. Clemons.

• 1932. No 39. Fred Clemons. Hoosier Pete-Clemons. F.E. Clemons.

• 1933. No 54. George Barringer. Wonder Bread-Clemons. F.E. Clemons.

• 1938. No 56. Johnny Seymour. Clemons ‘Indep’ Suspension. H. Jack Petticord.

• 1942. No Race. Jack Dixon. Clemons / Dixon.

• 1946. No 55. Joe Langley. Jack Dixon.

• 1947 No 55. George Metzler. Dixon-Clemons. Jack Dixon.

• 1948 No 47. George Metzler. Glessner Motors-Clemons. Lee S. Glessner.

Race meeting results for Fred Skinny Clemons race car ‘The Dixon’s Graphite special'.

• Date. Location. State. Driver. General Information.

• August 1930. Evansville. Indiana. B Saulpaugh.

• July 1930. Lexington. Illinois. B Saulpaugh.

• August 1930. Springfield. Illinois. McCombs.

• 1930. Cedar Rapids. Nebraska. McCombs.

• 1931. Ord. Nebraska. Red Campbell.

• 1933. South bend. Indiana. Ted Hartley.

• 7th June 1925. Fort Miami Toledo. Ohio. Fred Harter. Broke the track record.

• 3rd June 1928. Wisconsin state fair. Milwaukee. GeorgeYoung. 4th place 10 Lap race.

3rd place 5 Lap race. 2nd place Feature race.

• July 1929. Evansville. Indiana. B Saulpaugh.

• October 1929. Bloomington. ?? Wally Butler. Winner 50 miles race.

• 4th July. ?? ?? Fred Harder . Winner Hossier speedway.

• 9th August 1926. Hawthorne. ?? Wilber Shaw. Winner ‘Red grange’.

• 9th August 1926. Hawthorne. ?? Fred Harder . Second.

• 19?? Roby. ?? Wilber Shaw. Winner.

• 19?? Funk’s Speedway. ?? Wilber Shaw. New world record.

• 19?? Funk’s Speedway. ?? Louis Schneider.

• 1st June. ?? ?? Art Brach. Badgers motor contest club.

• 19?? ?? ?? Claude Fix. Crashed on lap 8.

• 19?? ?? ?? Ralph Ormsby. Winner.

• 19?? ?? ?? Claude Fix. Second.

• 4th Sept Akron Cleveland. Ohio. Wilber Shaw.

• 4th Sept Akron Cleveland. Ohio. Fred Harder.

• 19??. State fair ground. Michigan. Freddie Harder. 150 mile race.

• 6th July. Funk’s speedway. Winchester. Wilber Shaw. Winner.

• 6th July. Funk’s speedway. Winchester. Jimmy Coppel. Second.

• 19??. State fair ground. Michigan. Frank Harder. 120 laps then DNF.

• 19??. Bloomington. ?? Wally Butler. Winner.

• Sunday 19?? Springbrook Park. ?? Claude Fix. Winner of Australian pursuit.

• Sunday 19?? Crown Point. Indiana. Wilber Shaw.

• 1926. Roby Bowl. ?? Wilber Shaw.

• 1926. Roby Bowl. ?? Schneider. D.N.F

• 19??. Hawthorne oval. ?? D.D.Morris.

• 19??. Hawthorne oval. ?? Wilber Shaw. Lap record and winner.

• 4th July. Funk’s Lake. Winchester. Fred Charndler. Winner.

• 6th Sept. Akron speedway. Ohio. Wilber Shaw. Second in ‘Buckeye’150 mile race.

• 6th Sept. Akron speedway. Ohio. Jimmy Copple. Locked wheels D.N.F

• Sunday . Jackson fair ground Michigan. Ralph Ormsby. AAA rules.

• 19??. Fort Wayne Indiana. Ralph Ormsby. Record in the 100 mile.

• Sunday. Jackson fairground. ?? Ralph Ormsby. Winner ‘Ford’ trophy race.

• 19??. Central park Shoaff. Indiana. Ralph Ormsby. Winner.

• 19??. Central park Shoaff. Indiana. Claude Fix. Second.

• 19??. Central park Shoaff. Indiana. Merl Chandler.

• 30/06/1946. Langhorne. Pennsylvania. Danny Goss. Ran for 30 miles but DNF.

• 02/09/1946. Lakewood Atlanta.  ?? Joe Langley. Placed 5th @ 95 laps.

• 15/09/1946. Indianapolis fairground.  ?? Joe Langley. Retired burnt-out wiring on Lap 7.

• 22/09/1946. Milwaukee. WI. George Metzler. No55 placed 11 @ 40 laps hit wall.

• 06/10/1946. Goshen. NY. George Metzler. No55 placed 11 @ 59 laps hit wall.

• 04/07/1947. Aledo. Illinois. J-Strube. Slides into fence in consolation race.

• 05/09/1948. Davenport. Louisiana. J-Strube. Spin in semi final.

• 18/09/1949. Farmer City. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 21/05/1950. Mendota. Illinois. J-Strube. Listed as entrants in pre-race article,but race rained out.

• 30/05/1950. Macomb. Illinois. J-Strube. Listed as fourth place in feature,and Third in second heat.

• 11/06/1950. Mexico. Missouri. J-Strube. Win consolation & second in feature.

• 04/07/1950 Mexico Missouri. J-Strube. Placed third in second heat.

• 05/08/1950. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana J-Strube. Second in car#6 in special race for four slowest cars.

• 01/09/1950. Aledo. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 27/05/1951. Macomb. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 06/??/1951. Webster City. Louisiana. J-Strube. IMCA sanction race.

• 04/08/1951. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Fifth in Car #19 & Second in third heat in car #27.

• 09/08/1951. Manchester. Louisiana. J-Strube. Third in consolation and seventh in feature race.

• 16/09/1951. Maquoketa. Louisiana. J-Strube. Placed eighth in feature.

• 30/05/1953. Princeton. Illinois. J-Strube. Third in first heat, third in Victory Sprint & fifth in feature.

• 04/07/1954. Burlington. Louisiana. J-Strube. Fourth in second heat, second in Pursuit race.

• 18/07/1954. Burlington. Louisiana. J-Strube. Fourth in heat 2, fourth in Pursuit race.

• 31/07/1954. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Pursuit race.

• 30/05/1955. Princeton. Illinois. J-Strube. Car No S14 is fourth in heat 1, Second in the Dash.

• 03/07/1955. Davenport. Louisiana. J-Strube. Second in heat 4.

• 04/07/1955. Princeton. Illinois. J-Strube. Car No S14, Third in heat.

• 30/07/1955. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Car No 55, Fourth in Dash race.

• 26/08/1955. Fargo. North Dakota. J-Strube. Third in heat 3 & seventh in feature

IMCA sanctioned race.

• 27/08/1955. Fargo. North Dakota J-Strube. Third in heat 3, fourth in feature –

IMCA sanction.

• 30/05/1956. Princeton. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 16/09/1956. Jacksonville. Illinois. J-Strube. United Speedways sanction.

• 25/05/1957. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 16/06/1957. Moline. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 23/06/1956. Peoria. Illinois. J-Strube. Second in heat 3.

• 29/06/1957. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 30/05/1958. Aledo. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 28/06/1958. Mt. Pleasant. Louisiana. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 08/08/1958. Moline. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

• 01/09/1958. Aledo. Illinois. J-Strube. Full race result report not available.

Patents held by Fred Clemons at the United States patent office

Registration Date. Reg No. Title .

• 1. 11th August 1934 21142. Independent wheel suspension.
• 2. 11th August 1934 2104736. Independent wheel suspension.
• 3. 19th August 1921 1463574. Vehicle suspension.
• 4. 10th January 1938 2216907. Independent wheel suspension.
• 5. 10th January 1927 1839832. Internal combustion engine.
• 6. 15th June 1931 2062778. Independent wheel suspension.

References

Books

• Floyd Clymer (1946). Indianapolis 500-mile Race History. Floyd Clymer.
• Fox, Jack. The Indianapolis 500
• Griffith Borgeson (1998). The Golden Age of the American Racing Car. SAE International. ISBN 978-0-7680-0023-8.
• Gerber, John. The outlaw sprint car racer
• Sheldon, Bob. Speedway Photos
• Jenkinson, Denis. The Batsford guide to Racing Cars
• Wallen, D. Board track Guts, Gold & Glory
• Dreyer, Mike. The Pop Dreyer story
• Seymour, Miranda. The Bugatti Queen
• White, Gordon. Offenhauser:
• Paulsen, Ken. M.V.A.R.A
• Riggs, L. Spencer. Automobile quarterly, V29 No 4
• Riggs, L. Spencer. Automobile quarterly, V30 No 4
• Riggs, L. Spencer. Langhorne. No Mans Land.

Articles

• Old car illustrated. Vol 4 & 5
• National speedway weekly. 5 Dec 1934
• Cavalcade of auto racing. Oct 1977
• Vintage Oval Racing The Strubes: A Peoria Racing Dynasty. by Ken Paulsen
• A record of motorsport U.S Racing 1919-1949 by Darren Galpin

News reports

• The Indianapolis News › 26 May 1931 › Page 18 – Newspapers.com