The Studebaker test drivers: Johnson and McDonald at Indianapolis

1930 — 1933

Luther Johnson, born here: Luther Alexander Johnson was born in South Bend on 19 July 1903 and died here on 12 April 1978. He was a Studebaker stock test driver who had raced Studebaker stock cars successfully, in the marque histories' account, and he carried the city into the Indianapolis 500 three times. In 1931, in Bill Richards' Studebaker-powered car, he started 12th and was classified 20th, out after 156 laps in the race's defining accident: the leader Billy Arnold lost a wheel in the fourth turn and struck Johnson's car, which flipped; Arnold's loose wheel cleared the wall and killed an eleven-year-old boy playing in a yard across the street. Johnson was not seriously injured. In 1932 he drove for the factory itself — one of five Studebaker Specials, their President straight-eight engines pulled from the South Bend assembly line and the cars driven on public roads from the factory to Indianapolis — starting 11th and finishing 16th, 164 laps, out with a lost wheel on the mainstretch in the race's own box score. In 1933 he finished 10th, running the full 200 laps, in the year all five Studebakers finished between 7th and 12th. A piece of the 1932 record shows the human machinery behind the factory team: Johnson had first been tapped to drive another South Bend-built special, the Romthe, and refused on superstition — a friend of one of the car's builders had sat in its cockpit, and women in a racing car were a jinx of the era — so J. C. McDonald took that seat instead.

J. C. McDonald, based here: John Charles MacDonald — J. C. McDonald in the record — was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on 23 December 1902, and lived in South Bend, a Studebaker test driver like Johnson. His one AAA Championship start was the 1930 Indianapolis 500, in a Studebaker special: he started 13th and finished 18th, out after 112 laps with a fuel tank leak. The two men are the factory era's whole South Bend line at Indianapolis: one born here, one based here, both driving cars this city built.

Sources:

1. Indianapolis Motor Speedway, official historical stats — the 1931 box score: Johnson 20th, started 12th, car 57, entrant William H. Richards, Studebaker-powered, accident at 156 laps; and the biographical record of Johnson's birth and death in South Bend (19 July 1903 – 12 April 1978).
2. The 1932 Indianapolis 500 box score (from The Indianapolis News) — Johnson 16th, started 11th, car 46, The Studebaker Corporation, Rigling chassis, Studebaker engine, lost wheel on the mainstretch at 164 laps; the factory team's five-car entry and its finishes.
3. The 1931 Indianapolis 500 record (Motor Sport, July 1931, and the race histories) — Arnold's lost wheel, the collision with Johnson's Richards Special, both cars over the wall, and the wheel that killed the boy across the street.
4. Len Frank, "1932 Studebaker Indianapolis Special," Motor Trend, November 1984 (via lacar.com) — Johnson the Studebaker stock test driver; the Romthe Special, its all-Studebaker principals, Johnson's refusal and McDonald's substitution, and the split fuel tank that ended that car.
5. The biographical record of J. C. McDonald (OldRacingCars driver file; Champ Car Stats) — born 23 December 1902, Pictou, Nova Scotia; lived in South Bend; the 1930 Indianapolis 500 as his only Championship start, 18th, 112 laps, fuel tank leak.