Gustav Carl Frederick Monckmeier (December 13, 1888 – October 14, 1962) was an American
racing driver
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...
and inventor. He is known for his participation in the 1911 and 1912 1,000-plus-mile Around Lake Michigan reliability races, which he recreated in 1961.
Early life
Monckmeier was born in
Stolzenau
Stolzenau is a municipality in the district of Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the left bank of the Weser, approx. 20 km southwest of Nienburg, and 25 km northeast of Minden. During the second half of the 20th cen ...
, Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1901, where he had an uncle in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
; within a year at age 14, he found work at the American Mercedes factory in
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
.
Racing career
In 1910, he appears as an entrant in the
Wisconsin State Association
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
Reliability Tour's
Milwaukee Sentinel Trophy
Milwaukee is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the 31st-most populous city in the United States and the fifth-most populous city in the Midwest with a population of 577 ...
, driving a
Staver
The Staver and Staver-Chicago was an American Brass Era automobile manufactured at 76th and Wallace Streets in Chicago, Illinois, by the Staver Carriage Company from 1906 until 1914.
History
Staver Carriage Company was organized after the ...
entered by the Stephenson Motor Car Company. He quickly became a Staver factory driver, research engineer and test driver, often called "The Little Swede".
Staver was in the right place at the right time, because 1910 marked the debut of the
Elgin National Road Races
The Elgin Road Races were a series of automobile races that took place on closed public roads in Elgin, Illinois between 1910 and 1920.Ned Crane was disqualified on the final lap of the 1910 running (for almost taking
Arthur Greiner
Arthur William Greiner (April 28, 1884 – May 24, 1917) was an American racing driver, and historically the first to finish last in the Indianapolis 500. Greiner crashed on the backstretch after completing twelve laps during the inaugural race. ...
's National off the track when pitting) and
Chester Cheney
Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West and Chester. It is ...
's car broke down after 42 minutes, Monckmeier was left to carry the flag, taking third place in the
Fox River Trophy
Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush").
Twelve species ...
in just over three hours before more than 50,000 spectators. From there, he was off and running, sparkling at the Algonquin Hill Climb and notching a perfect score in the roadster division at the Chicago Motor Club's 1,000-mile reliability run.
Ned Crane didn't make it back for the 1911 season, killed while testing a Buick in April, but Monckmeier continued to win efficiency contests, hillclimbs and endurance events, soon joined by driver Emery T. Knudsen. Monckmeier, Knudsen and famed driver
Ralph Ireland
Ralph (pronounced or ) is a male name of English origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Old High German ''Radulf'', cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf").
The most common forms are:
* Ra ...
were all on the slate for Staver at Elgin that August, when on August 21 Ireland was killed in practice as a result of a burst tire. "I'll never ride in a racing automobile again," said his mechanician (
riding mechanic
A riding mechanic was a mechanic that rode along with a race car during races, and who was tasked with maintaining, monitoring, and repairing the car during the race. The various duties included manually pumping oil and fuel, checking tire wear, ...
) Joe O'Brien, who was thrown from the vehicle and spent a week in a hospital. "This once has been enough for me. Ireland was as good and as careful a driver as they make—it was simply chance that killed him. I'm not going to take any more of those kind of chances."
Monckmeier wasn't scared off—motor racing deaths weren't exactly front-page news, and with Knudsen and Californian Joe Nikrent (longtime holder of many Speedway Class B and C records in a Buick), did very well for the rest of the year, dominating September racing at Amarillo and Peoria.
Nikrent returned to Los Angeles for the 1912 season, but 1911 came back to haunt Staver. In the middle of another successful Around Lake Michigan run on October 21, 1912, the
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Gaming
* AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games
*'' TripleA'', an open source wargame
Mu ...
suspended them from all competition through June 1, 1913, for a rule 75 violation: Their 1911 entries, run in the Stock class, had been revealed to be less than stock. Monckmeier and Knudsen, hundreds of miles away from Chicago and incommunicado, completed the race anyway, Monckmeier winning the W. E. Stahlmaker cup for touring cars. It appears the victory was allowed to stand, as Monckmeier was pictured as winner of the Touring Car Class on the cover of ''Motor Age''.
When they started racing again in the summer of 1913, it was now the 70 hp Staver 65s that took the limelight. Monckmeier set a record in front of 35,000 spectators at the
Illinois State Fair
The Illinois State Fair is an annual festival, centering on the theme of agriculture, hosted by the U.S. state of Illinois in the state capital, Springfield, Illinois, Springfield. The state fair has been celebrated almost every year since 18 ...
in October, 54 seconds on the mile track (eclipsed that same day by the
Louis Disbrow
Louis Arthur Disbrow (September 23, 1876 – July 9, 1939) was an American racing driver.
Life
Disbrow was born on September 23, 1876, in Richmond Hill, Queens, New York. He came from a wealthy family.
Disbrow was indicted for the 1902 mur ...
's fantastic
Simplex
In geometry, a simplex (plural: simplexes or simplices) is a generalization of the notion of a triangle or tetrahedron to arbitrary dimensions. The simplex is so-named because it represents the simplest possible polytope in any given dimension. ...
Zip), and won the ten-mile club championship race for Chicago:
*" onckmeierin his Staver-Chicago, was the surprise of the days, as he made a valiant fight against the field of special racing cars and finished in the money in all his starts. In his first appearance of the day he smashed the track record by negotiating the distance in :54 in the mile time trials, but this time was later lowered by Disbrow 50 Monckmeier also walloped
enz driver
The Enz () is a river flowing north from the Black Forest to the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg.
It is 106 km long.
Its headstreams – the Little Enz () and the Great Enz or Big Enz (''Große Enz'') – rise in the Northern Black Forest, th ...
Eddie Hearne
Edward Ames Hearne (March 1, 1887 – February 9, 1955) was an American racing driver from Kansas City, Kansas who was active in the formative years of auto racing.
Early life
Hearne was born on March 1, 1887.
Racing career
Hearne partici ...
in the club championship race when he carried home the cup for the Chicago Motor Club."
He continued to race a Staver 65 through the fall of 1913 in the South, but Staver's fortunes were in decline and the company never won another race.
Monckmeier wasn't quite done winning in a Staver, however: On October 1, 1914, four months after Staver ceased making automobiles, he won a 30-mile race on a one-mile dirt track at Johnson County Fairgrounds Racetrack in
Iowa City, Iowa
Iowa City is the largest city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's List of cities in Iowa, fifth-most populous c ...
, with a time of 36 minutes, 34 seconds, beating two
Buick
Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
s and a
Mercer
Mercer may refer to:
Business
* Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925)
* Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US
* Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...
, along with taking two other first-place trophies over two days of racing. The 30-mile race is considered his sole recorded American open-wheel, track racing victory.
Inventions, later life and death
After his career with Staver finished, Monckmeier settled in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 137,710 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Iowa, second-most populous city in Iowa. The city lies o ...
, where he began marketing a "Universal Piston Inserter" of his own design. His was used in the development of the automotive
disc brake
A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the #Calipers, calipers to squeeze pairs of #Brake pads, pads against a disc (sometimes called a
rake
Rake may refer to:
Common meanings
* Rake (tool), a horticultural implement, a long-handled tool with tines
* Rake (stock character), a man habituated to immoral conduct
* Rake (poker), the commission taken by the house when hosting a poker game
...
rotor) to create friction. There are two basic types of brake pad friction mechanisms: abrasive f ...
. While most of his inventions were for automotive applications, he also registered a and in common use today.
By the 1920s, Monckmeier had relocated to
Tipton, Iowa
Tipton ( /ˈtɪptən/) is a city in Cedar County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,149 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Cedar County.
History
Tipton was platted within Center Township in 1840 and was named for ...
, then to
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...
, in order to market his inventions as the Ever-Tite Manufacturing Co., which also offered plating and machining services. They may also have produced goods for the US Government during the Second World War.
In 1961, he recreated the 1911 Around Lake Michigan run with reporter
Hal Foust
HAL may refer to:
Aviation
* Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia
* Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL)
* HAL Airport, Bengaluru, India
* Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of fight ...
, detailed in a four-part series of articles in ''
The Chicago Daily Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN radio and WGN tel ...
''.
Monckmeier died of a heart attack on October 14, 1962, aged 73.