9/23/2011

1913 Continued...

I learned something interesting today.  I'm allergic to my grandfather's scrapbooks!  Last night while I was scanning, I had a couple of little sneeze attacks, but today, I'm pretty well overcome by sneezing every time I handle any of this material.  Is it a dust allergy?  I don't know but I'm going to be buying more Claritin if this keeps up.  Or wearing a dust mask.


So, more of 1913 before we move on to 1914.  I didn't have as much time to go digging today, but at least we'll have some interesting photographs.  I'm also still fussing around with the layout of the blog.  I'm sorry if this is annoying, I just want to get to a format that is easy to read and a bit more interesting.  I figured a photo instead of a scrapbook cover would be a better hook for someone visiting the blog for the first time.  Let me know what you think.  I'd like to see more color, but I'm still fussing.


The more I studied the scrapbook today, the less I think the photos I posted previously were from qualifying.  In the other two years (1914, 15 coming up) I'm pretty sure I have photos of the starting grid, the drivers all lined up on the start/finish line, bands playing, etc.  Not so with 1913, for some reason, so I'm assuming these are live racing photos.


An acquaintance of mine (actually I'm going to call him a friend) wrote me a very encouraging email about the blog today.  I call him a friend because he's been extraordinarily kind and open about a project that he has going on, and he's actually the reason I started the blog.  His name is Brian Karli and he's building a Curtiss Jenny just like my grandfather flew.  Some of you may be following this since we worked together at Cessna.  I think you'd really enjoy a visit to his blog here.


Well, he asked me to post every photo and every journal entry!  It would take me (he'll laugh at me, since he's been at his project for six years) years to complete this project if I include everything.  As it is, I expect this will actually take me at least a couple of years, but I don't plan on making this a career.  Some of the photos are just not interesting enough to post, quite honestly.  Some of them are of family members or friends, and I have no clue who they are.  Do you really want to see grandma Cora's begonias?  Seriously, I have some.


Okay, enough blabbing, here are some more of Indy 500 from 1913.  Many of the race photos themselves are of tiny, indistinguishable cars off in the distance.  These had some photographic merit, I thought.

The race is on!

If these fellas seem a little close, it's because they're
brothers - Bill and Harry Endicott. Joe Nikrent behind them.

Mystery driver. Help me out if you can.
This is going to have to do for tonight.  1) I can't stop sneezing, and 2) I spent nearly an hour trying to discover the identity of mystery driver!  I'm usually pretty lucky with a jersey, a guy standing next to a car, or a photo that I can ID from the list of entrants.  I just struck out on this guy.


I need to mention one last thing about the photo with the star over driver's head.  My grandfather followed up in his scrapbooks throughout the years, and would put a star above anyone in his photos who had died.  Sadly, you'll see this a LOT when we get to the photos of flying.  That was really deadly.

-kpw

4 comments:

  1. Fantastic Kurt, Beck and I are enjoying our morning coffee with you and your grandfather! Your grandfather lead such a adventure filled life, we are looking forward to learning more, thanks for sharing.

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  2. This makes me really happy! I was afraid it would only appeal to airplane nuts, but it seems like I was wrong. Thanks, Dic!

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  3. I'm thinking the sneezing is probably from something in the dust. It could also be a mold issue. You might think about putting the scrapbooks out in the sun while it's still shining in central OR to make them a little more tolerable during the upcoming winter. Kris wants to see pics of the begonias.

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  4. The scrapbooks live in a sealed bin, so maybe having them out is a good idea. I read about dust mites, but that sounds like it's associated with dampness.

    Tell Krissie I'll show her the begonia photos at Thanksgiving. :-)

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