This is Grover E. Ruckstell, newly crowned "Speed King" of the 1915 Montamarathon race at the Tacoma Speedway. His winning time of 2:57 on July 4th barely beat out two-time champ Earl Cooper's 2:58:5 as he collected $2500 in cash and the possession of the Montamarathon trophy for one year. He again drove a big Mercer, this time painted red, and wore a jacket advertising Ventura Gasoline. Mr. Ruckstell kept the lead from the 105th lap to the finish as he ran the last three laps on bad tires without pitting to change them. The average winning speed was 84.4 mph, faster than in 1914 but much slower than expected on the new "lattice" track. Mr. Ruckstell, from California, came in second the year before, losing to defending champ Earl Cooper and his Stutz. Later Grover Ruckstell would head the famous Mercer racing team and develop the Ruckstell axle. (TDN 7-5-15, p. 1; TDL 7-5-15, p. 1-article)
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21714431" class="extiw" title="d:Q21714431"><span title="American photographer">Marvin Dement Boland</span></a>
</bdi>
1915<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1915-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p17061coll21/id/6651">http://cdm17061.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p17061coll21/id/6651</a>