The Jimmy Daywalt Tribute Site

By George Thomas

Wabash Plain Dealer Sports Editor

SPEEDWAY CITY – The chalked up a big “okay” for Jimmy Daywalt at the completion of one lap and that was the signal for the Wabash driver to stay on the throttle as he sped to a 144.683 qualification run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Daywalt had turned in a lap almost as fast Saturday in an earlier qualifying attempt, but mistook the sign to mean 140.5 rather than 144.5 and slowed down when he attempted to change his style on the next lap.  he was flagged in by chief mechanic Russ Snowberger.

The Speedy run by Daywalt placed him on the inside of the fifth row for the Memorial day 500-mile race.  He was only one of the qualifiers Sunday as rain intererrupted trials and practice at different intervals.  the other qualifier was Jack Turner of Seattle, who will be in the middle of the fifth row in the Travelon Trailer Special.

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By Bill Wildhack

The News

Jimmy Daywalt in the No. 48 Sumar Special struck the wall on the southeast turn in a ball of flame.  The car came to rest enar the outer wall.  Daywalt’s head was bobbing back and forth as guards ran to his assistance.  He is in Methodist with arm and head injuries.

Daywalt Earned 88c First Year He Raced

By JIMMY DAYWALT

My first real racing experience was in 1947. I went to a sprint race at Logansport which George Tichenour won. It looked like a lot of un and I heard that it paid well. I decided right then that racing was for me.

At Logansport I heard that there was a race car for sale in Ft. Wayne. Bob Brown, who lived in my home town of Wabash, and I decided to buy it. We did, the next day, for about $?00. There was only one draw-back. It was completely dismantled. It took us a full month to rebuild it.

The first time I drove it – again at Logansport – I had the fourth fastest qualifying time, but it burned out a rod and I couldn’t race it. I drove in 16 races that summer. I kept track of everything I bought – bolts, paint, etc. I sold it at the end of the season. Counting everything I made exactly 88c on the deal. That was the end of my car ownership.

The fifth time was the charm for me at Indianapolis. I passed my driver’s test in 1949, but didn’t make the race. In ’50 I didn’t get a ride. I crashed in practice in ’51 and failed to qualify in ’52. But I joined the Sumar team in ’53 and placed 6th, winning rookie of the year honors.

I qualified in the middle of the front row in ’54 but crashed while I was running second. Last year I drove the Sumar Streamliner to ninth. This year I’m back in the Sumar roadster and, like everyone else, hope we win.

The first time out for a practice run Daywalt had the bubble canopy over his head, but it was off Monday when the local driver reeled off a 131-plus practice try. It was explained that the friction on the plastic bubble was causing dust particles to smear and hamper his vision. Daywalt said he also experienced some trouble with the leather padding flapping around in the cockpit. As for the fenders, the biggest problem is how to check the wear and tear of the tires during the race. They say the rubber will be checked by touch rather than the naked eye and this is one big reason why Daywalt will probably spend a lot of time out on the track during the practice period.

Reports from ‘Gasoline Alley’ are that the new Sumar car is a ‘flop,’ but Daywalt still thinks the car can go, if the mechanics can get the ‘font-end condition’ that has given him so much trouble on the turns straighten out. The car Daywalt is to pilot has attracted a great deal of attention with its fenders and bubble canopy. The latter part of the car, probably won’t be around Saturday, but the fenders will be there. There was some doubt as to whether he’d be able to get the ‘feel’ of the car with the wheels covered, but if he qualifies come race time they’ll open little windows to expose each tire.

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THE SUMAR COMBO – The new Sumar Special and its driver Jimmy Daywalt pictured above will carry the hopes of Sumar Enterprises and the city of Wabash in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 500-Mile race classic Monday. The local auto driver finished sixth in the 1953’500’ and was named “Rookie of the Year”

Only a few minor preliminaries remained on the docket as the temp for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 500-Mile race reached fever pitch Friday for Monday’s annual speed classic, an endurance test for car and man, at the Hoosier’s capital’s West Sixteenth street 2 ½ mile oval.

The eyes of local racing enthusiasts will be focused on the middle position of the first row of the 33-car starting field when it roars by the starting line around 10 a.m. Monday. In that particular spot driving the blue and white new Sumar Special will be Wabash’s own Jimmy Daywalt, a boyish looking individual of 28 years.

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By George Thomas

THE BANNERS of Wabash will be flying high at the starting line of the 500-mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 31. They’ll be in the person of Jimmy Daywalt, who only a year ago drove in his initial 500-Classic.

Daywalt, whose ultimate dream in life is to win the Memorial Day race, the top achievement in the auto racing world, certainly is making great strides in reaching that pinnacle of success. When they lined up for the 1953 500-miler Daywalt was back in the seventh row, but this year when they move up to the starting mark the handsome Wabash driver will be in the first row along with record-smashing Jack McGrath and Jimmy Bryan, the Arizona cowboy.

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Local Driver on Front Row For 500-mile

Indianapolis – Wabash’s Jimmy Daywalt climbed another rung up the ladder on the road to greatest in the auto racing world here Saturday afternoon.

The sun-tanned driver from the banks of the Wabash river will be one of the front row occupants in the 500-Mile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway May 31. This came as a result of Daywalt’s record breaking qualifying time Saturday at the West Sixteenth street 2 ½ mile oval.

Daywalt was clocked in 139.797, which is better than the old mark set by the late Chet Miller in a Novi in 1952, but the Wabashian had to relinquish laurels to Jack McGrath of Inglewood, Calif., who turned the 10-mile qualifying run in 141.033 shortly before Daywalt qualified.

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This department learned in a telephone conversation Thursday evening with Jimmy Daywalt, Wabash’s first and only entrant in the 500-Mile Memorial Day race, that in all probability the local race car driver will attempt to qualify in the time trials at the Indianapolis Speedway Saturday.

The Wabash pilot has been clocked at 136 miles per hour in the No. 19, the new Sumar Special owned by Chapman S. Root of Terre Haute, in practice runs, but both Daywalt and Root’s mechanics wanted the car to run faster.

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Racing Fans Honor Jimmy Daywalt with Hugh Banquet in Center; Rookie of the Year Trophy Presented?

Five hundred and four persons gather in the Honeywell Memorial Center Thursday night to mingle with the many racing celebrities and to collect autographs, but mostly they were there to honor Wabash’s Jimmy Daywalt, Speedway Rookie of the Year and driver of the sixth-place Sumar Special.

Wilbur Shaw, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was there along with Drivers Duane Carter and Art Cross. Daywalt’s pit crew stood by to answer questions about the Sumar car that was trucked in from Terre Haute by Owner Chapman Root.

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Ticket sales for the Jimmy Daywalt banquet moved into the last day Wednesday with a crowd of at least 300 assured for the event scheduled for 6:30 p. m. Thursday in the Honeywell Memorial Center.

Highlight of the banquet honoring the Wabash race driver who finished sixth in the 500-mie race at Indianapolis Memorial Day will be the formal presentation of the Stark & Wetzel Rookie-of-the-Year award. Daywalt was voted winner of the trophy by representatives of Indianapolis newspapers and radio stations, wire services, and Speedway officials.

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