Mystery Foto #6 Solved: Driver Bob Burman and his Mechanician Jack Gable at the 1915 Indy 500 Race
Congratulations to Arejan Bos, Jean-Yves Lassaux and Randy Reed for correctly identifying the Mystery Friday Foto: Driver Bob Burman and his mechanician Jack Gable with a Peugeot at the 1915 Indy 500 Race. The photo was sent in by Meghan F., the great-granddaughter of Jack Gable.
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There were several clues in the left-corner of the photo. "Speedway Photo" and "Copyright 1915".
The Burman/Gable team finished sixth in the 1915 "International 500 Miles Sweepstakes".
Bob Burman
Profiles of Bob Burman
Jack Gable
Prior to the May Indy 500 Race, Jack Gable drove the #3 Tahis in the 1915 Grand Prix in San Francisco and finished 11th.
One week later, the racer with Gable competed in the 1915 Vanderbilt Cup Race on the same course and finished 22nd after cracking a cylinder.
The Tahis is now owned by Randy Reed of La Mesa, California.
March 20, 2013 Update:
Randy Reed, the current owner of the Tahis Special, provided this photo of Jack Gable driving in the 1915 Grand Prix held in San Francisco.
March 23, 2013 Update
Jean-Yves Lassaux has provided this image of Jack Gable at a 1915 San Diego race.
Comments
We see Bob Burman in his privately owned Peugeot together with mechanician Jack Gable before the Indianapolis 500 Mile Sweepstakes, to be held eventually on May 31st, 1915.
Hi Howard,
Easy… Indianapolis 500 miles Sweepstakes, May 1915, Robert “Bob” Burman and Jack Gable.
This car was first entered as “Burman Spl.” (chassis Peugeot EX3 from 1914 with Miller engine 287 ci). It was then entered as “Peugeot” which disqualified the Peugeot EX5 of Jack Le Cain (entered by Peugeot Auto Import) because of the rule of three cars maximum by make.
I have a few auto sheet metal pieces and windshields that no one has a clue of vehicle and year. May I send you pics ?
The race is the Indy 500 in 1915. The driver and entrant is Bob Burman. The riding mechanic is Jack Gable. They finished in 6th place. The car was a Peugeot L56. This is the car that Miller built a copy of the Peugeot motor for with a reduced bore size to comply with the 5 Liter limiit in place for the 1915 racing season. The L56 (5.6 liter) engine had blown up in January of 1915 at the Point Loma Road Race in San Diego. The Miller copy reportedly cost $4000 but was done within 3 months. Burman died in this car at Corona in 1916. Jack Gable had been the driver of the Tahis Special in the U.S. Grand Prix and Vanderbilt Cup races at San Francisco in early 1915.
This is a very cool find and will be re-posted to my Facebook as well as my firstsuperspeedway.com blog. Keep it up!
Great post, Howard. Thanks again!
Hi Meghan, it is a pleasure. I hope more viewers will send in images of your great-grandfather!
@Bob: You can try to contact PreWarCar at http://www.prewarcar.com/contact.html . A lot of experts around there.
@Mark: Hi Mark! 😉
From Meghan F.
“Thanks again, Howard! The mystery photo post was a great idea.”