Lewis Strang

LEWIS STRANG, who later became manager of the Case team, set several track records in 1907 at Birmingham, Alabama, and Nashville, Tennessee. He also served as riding mechanic for Walter Christie in the French Grand Prix. During the following season, Strang drove in the French Grand Prix, set additional records at Savannah, Georgia, shared the winning car in a 24-hour race at Brighton Beach, New York, and scored major victories in the 342-mile Savannah, Georgia, road race, the 240-mile Briarcliff, New York, road race, and the 254-mile Lowell, Massachusetts, road race to earn unofficial recognition as the National Driving Champion. In 1909, he won important 100-mile races at tracks in Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas. Two months after driving in the 1911 inaugural Indianapolis 500 race (for which he was awarded the pole position as the first entrant), Strang was fatally injured during an endurance (reliability) test run in Wisconsin.