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Wilbur Shaw Photograph & 1940 Model Racer [179066]

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia / Sports - Racing Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 400.00 USD
Wilbur Shaw Photograph & 1940 Model Racer [179066]
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Signed facsimile 8x10" photo and 8.5" polished aluminum Maserati Speedster that Shaw drove to victory in 1937 and 1939. Ex Richard Merkin Collection and with COA from Hake's Americana. "Warren Wilbur Shaw (October 31, 1902 – October 30, 1954) was an American racing driver. The second three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (1937, 1939 and 1940), he is also remembered for serving as president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1945 until his death in 1954. During World War II, Shaw was hired by the tire manufacturer Firestone Tire and Rubber Company to test a synthetic rubber automobile tire at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), which had been closed due to the war. He was dismayed at the dilapidated condition of the racetrack and quickly contacted then-owner Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I flying ace and president and founder of Eastern Air Lines. When the United States entered World War II, ending racing at Indianapolis and elsewhere for the duration, Rickenbacker padlocked the gates, and the race course slowly begin to disintegrate. During a meeting soon after the test, Rickenbacker informed Shaw that what was left of the track would be demolished and the land turned into a housing subdivision. Shaw sent out letters to the major car manufacturers trying to find a backer to buy the speedway. However, all indicated that should they buy the IMS they would turn it into a private testing facility for their own cars only. Shaw then met Terre Haute businessman Tony Hulman who had inherited his family's business, Hulman & Company, a wholesale grocer and producer of coffee and baking powder, Clabber Girl. A lifelong fan of automobile racing in general and the "500" in particular, Hulman listened with great interest to what Shaw had to say. Despite what Hulman saw amongst the weeds and deterioration when Shaw took him to Indianapolis, he purchased the Speedway from Rickenbacker in November 1945 for the sum of $750,000." Indianapolis Indian Territory Robert Coelln Collection