In the years immediately following World War II, most racing teams were small private companies dependent upon racing for their livelihood. One of their goals was to increase the prize money. As a result, in 1946, a group of West Coast racers led by Joel Thorne formed the American Society for Professional Automobile Racing. They had success with many promoters in increasing the purse and approached the Indianapolis Motor Speedway management which had the same guaranteed prize money as that from 1946 of $75,000. Duke Nalon, a driver for the Novi team, later recalled, “We wanted more prize money.”
Speedway management had a decision to make and either of the obvious options would not provide a “win-win” for both sides. The first option was to acquiesce to the drivers’ demand. Although this would permit the race to go forward in 1947, it risked the long-term viability of the Speedway to be self-sustaining. There were still many items which needed to be addressed in terms of the physical renewal of the track. If the Speedway management declined to increase the purse, they ran the risk of not having a full field for the race, and many of the well-known drivers wouldn’t participate, hurting the brand.
Ultimately, Speedway management declined ASPAR’s request, as their business model was different from other promoters. Most promoters leased dirt ovals located at county or state fairgrounds. The promoters did not have the fixed overhead for maintaining the facility. As a result, they were able to increase the purse to the drivers and car owners to 40 percent of the gate. But the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had all of these costs. Wilbur Shaw, president of IMS, frequently traveled to promote the Speedway. On a trip to the West Coast, he met with ASPAR leadership to explain the difference in the models but was unsuccessful. He also pointed out that the Speedway had the biggest purse in auto racing and that total prize money, including bonus payments, totaled $115,450 for the 1946 race.
When the deadline for the submission of entries arrived on April 15, the Speedway had received thirty-five entries for the 1947 race but none from the ASPAR members. Believing they had bargaining strength as they represented some of the most popular drivers, ASPAR threatened to boycott the Indianapolis 500 unless Speedway management agreed to their demand of a guaranteed purse of $150,000. The drivers expected support from Shaw who had participated in the 1937 boycott by drivers relating to the ouster of Howdy Wilcox II from the field. Shaw’s reaction to the ASPAR demands was “We’ll race without them.”
Frustrated by the intransigence of the Speedway management, the ASPAR drivers waged a public relations campaign to promote their cause and convince the public that without their participation in the race, the Indianapolis 500 would not be run. Wilbur Shaw responded, “I have told Ralph [Hepburn] that the purses will be increased just as fast as possible. There was an increase of 22 percent after the race last year. This is the same coercive thing that happened to 15 major speedways and they are all out of business except one. They went bankrupt.
At a meeting of the AAA Contest Board at the Indianapolis Athletic Club on May 7, 1947, Speedway management and other interested parties spent five hours negotiating with the ASPAR representatives. Although a tentative agreement was reached where the prize monies would be increased as the gate allowed, there was still the issue of the entries of the protesting drivers. At the meeting, ASPAR appealed directly for the AAA Contest Board to declare this an emergency, thus being able to reopen the filing of applications.
The AAA Contest Board refused this request. Representing the AAA Contest Board, Arthur Herrington explained the decision: “The contest board today was requested by ASPAR to order entries to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway race on May 30 reopened. In justice to the 34 who filed their entries by the official closing date of April 15, 1947, the request is denied. In accordance with the usual procedures, post-entries may be accepted provided that all entrants or their agents sign a waiver of post-entry.”
With the refusal by the AAA Contest Board to reopen the application period, ASPAR member James Frantonne filed an application for a competing race at the Langhorne Speedway on May 30. This was quickly denied by the AAA Contest Board as their by-laws prohibited two races on the same day. ASPAR president Ralph Hepburn responded, “A majority of outstanding racing automobiles and their drivers in America will not participate in the race on May 30.”
To stimulate interest in qualifications, Shaw announced special qualifying prizes up to $10,000 when the time trials opened on May 17. “This is the first time cash prizes have been offered for qualifying runs and we believe the additional money will provide the incentive for the drivers to provide more thrills than the fans have ever derived from the preliminary activities.” The offer of special qualifying prizes quickly became a sticking point in the negotiations.
When qualifications started in mid-May, pressure on the ASPAR members increased as they had no viable option for racing on Memorial Day. Following the action on the track during qualifying, they realized that the field would be strong without their participation. Seeing their efforts had not succeeded, the ASPAR drivers indicated a willingness to drop their demands if they could participate in the time-trials. Negotiations continued between the ASPAR drivers and Speedway management. There were two sticking points. In order to get the agreement of entrants in the race, ASPAR members needed to agree that no ASPAR team could take the spot of a team that qualified at 115 mph. The second requirement was that ASPAR drivers would not participate in the special qualifying purse.
ASPAR driver Nalon recalled of Shaw, “He refused to arbitrate anything with us at all.” With a week remaining before the race, negotiations led by the Indianapolis Star continued between Hulman and Shaw representing IMS and Rex Mays and Hepburn representing ASPAR. The crisis was averted when Hulman agreed to provide a separate purse for qualifying runs if they placed between first and fifth. Hulman also agreed that the ASPAR drivers starting positions would be based upon their qualifying speed rather than at the end of the field. With a solution apparently at hand, Hepburn announced that there were between fifteen and nineteen racers ready to make their qualifying runs.
With a settlement reached, the ASPAR drivers were ready to begin qualifying. The AAA Contest Board required that all drivers and team owners who had qualified for the race agree to the ASPAR drivers being given a chance to qualify. Shaw believed the Speedway had no right to ask the participants to sign the waiver permitting the ASPAR drivers to make their qualifying runs.
The prolonged negotiations to avert a strike by the ASPAR drivers resulted in a great deal of acrimony between the ASPAR drivers and the entrants in the race. Speedway management believed that if ASPAR approached the qualified drivers, their efforts to obtain the concurrence of the entrants would fail. The solution appeared to be a neutral third party, Bill Fox, the Indianapolis News sports editor.
For an intense forty-eight hours, Fox worked to obtain the required waivers. In the end, there were seventeen ASPAR drivers with cars wanting to qualify. Of the thirty-five original entrants, twenty-one had qualified. The ASPAR drivers and cars showed up at the track but by and large, their cars were not ready for the race. By the end of qualifications, only four ASPAR drivers had made the field.ASPAR appealed for additional qualifying time which was granted for two additional days to end on May 28 at 4 p.m.
At the drivers’ meeting before the race, the ASPAR drivers pleaded for more qualifying time. Speedway management agreed to allow qualifications to continue until 6 p.m. subject to the qualifying cars obtaining waivers from the other participants in the race. Four cars attempted to qualify with two, Mel Hanson and Emil Andres, making the field. But by the end of the qualifying period, only sixteen waivers had been received. This left Hanson and Andres unable to be part of the field unless the remaining fourteen waivers were obtained.
By the start of the race, the needed waivers had been obtained and thirty cars participated in the 1947 Indianapolis 500. The race was won by Mauri Rose, his second Indianapolis 500 victory. Ironically, the top five finishers had all submitted their entries by April 15.