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1947 1947 1947

Larry’s racing season began in the winter of 1947 in Havana, Cuba at Stadium Tropical Carreras De Automoviles. There are no programs or race results from this trip. Larry and Don Avery who was the younger cousin of Mavis, towed the #177, now painted red and renumbered #11, to Florida. They left their passenger car and trailer at midget driver Lloyd Christopher’s house in Miami where all the midgets and drivers shipped out to Havana. Larry and Lloyd had begun competing at some of the same tracks in the early 1940’s. Lloyd was driving mostly for Rosco (Pappy) Hough, whose midgets Larry also chauffeured. Both Lloyd and Larry were more the quiet type and took to each other. Although they talked briefly about being in the war, Lloyd said nothing about the bad and obvious injury to his arm and hand that he had sustained in the war. His driving ability and strength of will were admired by other racers.

Larry was sending money home to Mavis and in one letter wrote that he wished she were there because the rum and Cokes were only 15 cents. Nothing was written about the racing except that Larry was unsure as to whether it would be a “profitable deal”. The racers were required to let a Cuban drive their midget in some races. Larry came home unscathed, but Don was ripped up with red ant bites.

Back in the States, Kingsbridge Armory began the season. In her racing records Mavis noted the name of the hospital the injured drivers were taken to and sent them cards and sometimes surprises. Towards the end of May, Len Fanelli was injured in a race. While in the Connecticut Hospital, Mavis sent him a gift of chewing gum. In the memorabilia, I came across a letter they received from Len thanking them. He wrote “BUT, I have a broken jaw.” Between the dry sense of humor Mavis had and Len’s equally dry response in his thank you, it’s hard to tell whether anyone actually laughed. Certainly not Len until he could get his mouth open.

Larry was working full time with his father at the family lumber mill, plus racing and trying to maintain the three Midgets. They were too much work and too much money, so he sold the #2 and #11 to Bud Marl and Bill Meredith. (A personal note from Raecine: Along with Larry’s claim of the extra work and expense of being a car owner I feel that Johnny Nardillo’s death influenced the decision of not being a car owner and all things considered Larry and Mavis thought it best to simplify their obligations. While I had heard the Nardillo story a number of times; it was late in Larry’s life that for the first time he added, “we went through the war together…I didn’t race for a month after Johnny was killed.”) He continued to drive his own #11 through April, but then sold the car and drove for various owners.

On August 19th at Hinchcliffe Stadium, Larry got into Bob Muir’s #50. The engine was a V-8 60 Ford. He came in second behind Bill Schindler in the Heat, won the Semi, got tangled up in the Feature, but continued to have success with Muir’s #50 until the end of the season.

On September 21st, Larry finished eleventh in the Goshen 100 mile championship race. The field had 32 cars (14 Offenhauser’s, 17 Fords, and 1 unknown). First, second and third went to Henry Renard, Chet Gibbons, and Dutch Schaeffer. Their midgets had Offy engines. All the top finishers except position 8, 10 and Larry’s 11th position, were Offy’s. The fastest time in the time trial was 43:59 by Ted Tappett driving a Curtis Offy. It was difficult for the Fords to compete with the Offy’s. An Offenhauser starting price was about $3000. Larrys’ #2 and #11 Fords cost $500 each; the Howie #177 cost $1300. Successful drivers made approximately $5,500 a year. (As reported by Life Magazine, Dec, 1947)
Some tracks began to schedule special races to balance the earnings more evenly: events were either all Fords or all Offys. Generally, the top winners drove Offy’s. They were owned and/or sponsored by speed shops, auto shops or a business associated with vehicles. They had the benefit of parts at wholesale prices, public relations and advertizing. Levels of success in most careers depends not only on talent, but intertwines endlessly with luck, or lack of it, being in the right place at the right time to meet the right people and the ability to, as Larry said, “sell yourself”. He felt that inability hampered his racing career. Mavis never started a Larry Shurter Fan Club because both of them felt that Larry’s driving should speak for itself. Drivers would commit to an owner and whether or not the midget stayed in good mechanical shape or a better offer came along, some were gentlemen who honored the handshake.

Speaking of gentlemen, this was one of Larry’s favorite stories. Looking through my mother’s records, I think it began in Danbury, Connecticut, September 13, 1947 during the 1st Semi-Final race. The line up was: In pole position #43 Minor, to his right was #83 Todd, then #40 Bill Troutwine, #36 McGrath, #50 Larry Shurter, #37 Chet Conklin, #1 Bob Disbrow, #81 Art Cross, #35 Henry Renard. Starting positions were generally arranged based on which position a car finished in on previous races: if you finished first, you started last, unless the race was handicapped a reverse start. (Handicapping is more complicated – that’s a simplified explanation.) At the green flag, Renard, starting last, was on Disbrow and Cross. Disbrow had the inside advantage though Cross was in an Offy. Ahead of them, Shurter and Conklin were in the same position and right on the tails of Troutwine and McGrath. Minor inched out front, but Todd in second was still on the outside. The action was fast. Semi-finals at the Danbury track were raced in about 2 minutes 49 seconds when there was no accidents. Renard, knowing full well that Disbrow was not easy to get around and betting on his faster Offy, went to the outside of Cross. They were 3 deep. Conklin is in a faster midget than Shurter, but he’s on the outside behind McGrath who is slowed by Todd. Renard knows he can’t continue on the outside and sees a chance to dive in front of Cross. Shurter knowing McGrath is being held up moves to the outside of Troutwine because he knows he has a faster midget and also knows Troutwine is a good chauffer: getting under him isn’t easy. Disbrow is right on the chrome pipe bumper of Shurter’s car waiting for him to make his move, or a mistake, as Renard shoots to the left in front of Cross who rarely gets out drove. Either Disbrow or Renard tap Shurter as he’s going for the hole between Troutwine and Mcgarth. Shurter slides into Conklin. Conklin’s rearend slips out spinning his front end into Disbrow as Cross manages to ease right to miss them. Conklin thinks Shurter knocked him out of the race. Disbrow is out also. Race is half over. The winner was Renard, Shurter second, Cross third, Minor, McGrath, Troutwine, Todd.

Conklin was at Shurter’s pit when he pulled the midget in its spot. With rather anxious pit crews watching, Chet and Larry stood face to face exchanging points of view on what happened on the track. Both walked away: neither were happy. On the ride home Larry and Mavis were talking about the nights’ races when they felt the thumping jar of a flat tire. It was dark but some light shone from windows of the house next to road. Mavis was holding the flashlight for Larry as another flashlight worked its way towards them. It was Chet Conklin: all were taken aback. There was silence. Then Chet helped Larry change the tire. No fanfare. No mention of the race. Two racers getting the job done on a cold night and parting with a warm handshake.

Cars raced in 1947
#2, owner Larry Shurter
#11, owner Larry Shurter
#177, owner Larry Shurter
#91
#36, owner Kennedy
#50, owner Bob Muir

Tracks raced in 1947
Stadium Tropical, Havana, Cuba
Kingsbridge Armory, Bronx, NY
Candlelight Stadium, Bridgeport, CT
Hinchcliffe Stadium, Paterson, NJ
Cherry Park, Avon, CT
West Haven, CT
Rhinebeck, NY
Middletown, NY
Danbury, CT
Thompson, CT
Albany, NY
Springfield, MA
Goshen, NY
Shangri-la, Owego, NY

Race Results for 1947 Season
Cuba—February through March*
United States–March 29th through December 13th
Events Wins Second Place Third Place
Feature 1 1 3

Class B** 1 2 2
Consolation 3 4 1
Semi 5 5 1
Heat 8 5 7

Total Wins (United States) 18

In the 67 midget meets, excluding Cuba, Larry won 18 events

*Statistics not available for Cuba
**Class B is included here because of the fine caliber of the drivers and cars.
· In 1947 Larry finished in fourth place well over 20 times.
· One of the third place finishes was a 50 lap race at Springfield, MA.
· Novelty Races/ Match races are not figured in these statistics.