Harry Stutz

HARRY STUTZ became associated with racing by organizing the Marion team and, beginning in 1911, he designed and built the Stutz cars that competed successfully in the nation’s outstanding races for a period of eight years. With Earl Cooper and Gil Anderson doing most of the driving, Stutz scored repeated victories in the Elgin, Illinois, road races and won important races on the California road courses at Santa Monica, Corona, and Point Loma. Stutz cars won the 1915 Minneapolis 500 mile race (Minnesota) and major races on the board tracks at Sheepshead Bay, New York, and Chicago, Illinois, while also finishing well in the first five Indianapolis 500 races. While other owners/entrants were going more and more to specialized racing cars, Stutz always tried to remain as close to “stock” as possible. After being ousted from the company he founded in a stock deal, he set up another passenger car firm, using his initials H.C.S. Although he entered two H.C.S. Specials in the 1923 Indianapolis 500, both were one-hundred percent Miller racing cars that he sponsored. One of them, driven by Tommy Milton, won the race, with relief from teammate Howdy Wilcox.