page_title: 1920 Grand Prix season
section_title: Season review
hierarchical_section_title: 1920 Grand Prix season / Season review
caption_attribution_description: English: Auto racer Art Klein at the Tacoma Speedway. He is aboard the #8 Frontenac along with his riding mechanic, or "mechanician," S. McGarigle. Mr. Klein drove one of the two Frontenacs in the 1920 225-mile race at the Tacoma Speedway; the other was helmed by Chicago millionaire Joe Boyer, Jr. The Speedway had been spruced up with large new grandstand (shown above), fences, pits, water tower, renewed board track and three automobile entrances for spectators. Top drivers including Cliff Durant, Ralph DePalma, Tommy Milton, Roscoe Sarles and Ralph Mulford made the long trek to Washington to compete in the ninth annual event. Art Klein finished fourth after eventual winner Milton, Ralph Mulford and Eddie Hearne. (TDL 7-6-20, p. 1+-article; Tacoma Sunday Ledger, 7-4-20, 1C, 3C-History of the track)
context_page_description: The 1920 Grand Prix season saw further activity in motor-racing gradually increase. Europe was still recovering from the end of the war and the terrible pandemic that swept the continent. Automotive companies were gradually re-establishing themselves after re-tooling from a wartime footing and getting production lines rolling again.
  A new 3-litre formula was adopted on both sides of the Atlantic and the Indianapolis 500 would be a close contest between the best of the new designs from France and the USA. Ralph DePalma led for over half the race in his Ballot, only for it to catch fire with four laps to go. Gaston Chevrolet inherited the lead and held on to win by six minutes. His Monroe-Frontenac was the first American car to win the great race since 1912. DePalma got his revenge later in the year, winning the last Elgin Trophy, on the only road-course in the AAA Championship. Chevrolet was later recognised as the season champion, but he was killed at the end of the year in a collision at the Beverley Hills race.
  Racing was gradually returning to Europe, although there was no Grand Prix. Club racing started again at Brooklands.
context_section_description: With a $20000 first prize, and lucrative bonuses, a strong field was entered for the International Sweepstakes. It essentially turned out to be a showdown between two French and two American teams. Works teams arrived from Ballot and Peugeot, both with their new 3-litre cars and strong driver line-ups. Ballot had former winners  René Thomas and Ralph DePalma with Jean Chassagne. Peugeot had current holder Howdy Wilcox with Jules Goux and André Boillot.
  There were five Monroe-Frontenacs present. The four ‘works’ team cars were driven by Louis and Gaston Chevrolet, Roscoe Sarles and Joe Thomas, as well as three cars from the Frontenac factory (Joe Boyer, Art Klein, Bennett Hill). There were also four new 3-litre Duesenberg cars entered for their team – to be driven by Tommy Milton, Eddie Hearn, Eddie O'Donnell and a rookie Jimmy Murphy.
  This year, a new qualifying system was used with a four lap, 10-mile, time taken. A record crowd of 120000 arrived on race day. Ralph DePalma had been fastest, sharing the front row with the two Chevrolet brothers. But he lost all advantage when Barney Oldfield, in the pace-car left the line early before he was ready. Then a tyre problem lost the veteran driver a lap straight away. This left Boyer to set the early pace from his team-mate Klein, Gaston Chevrolet and the Ballots of Thomas and Chassagne, though Thomas briefly took the lead during the pit-stops. 
  The Monroes and Frontenacs were then affected by the same issue: Klein slid into the wall on lap 58, then Sarles and Louis Chevrolet did the same. They were traced to badly cast steering arms. Then Sarles then took over Hill’s Frontenac but the same fault spun him out – this time right in front of the Ballots of Thomas and Chassagne who narrowly avoided him.
  By the halfway point DePalma had not only made back the lap but overtaken Boyer to lead. The race built up to a dramatic finish. DePalma was leading from Chevrolet, with Chassagne and Thomas close behind. Then with thirteen laps to go, DePalma’s engine caught fire. In the pits he found a faulty magneto was leaving unspent fuel in the cylinders. He rejoined the race in fifth, running on four cylinders. A few laps later, the steering arm on Boyer’s Frontenac broke, then in his pursuit of Chevrolet, Chassagne hit the wall. With the pressure off, Gaston Chevrolet held on to win by six minutes from the Ballot of Thomas, with Milton and his Duesenberg barely ten seconds back in third. DePalma was fifth, thirty minutes behind and Chassagne seventh. All the Peugeots had retired. Chevrolet had got through the race without taking a single tyre-change, and his Monroe-Frontenac was the first win by an American car at Indianapolis since 1912.
  On 25 November, Gaston Chevrolet and Eddie O'Donnell collided when racing at the last race of the championship, at the new Beverley Hills track. Both drivers were killed. Chevrolet’s win at Indianapolis gave him sufficient points to be posthumously awarded the AAA championship from Tommy Milton in the abbreviated season of five races. For a long while Milton had been named as champion when a revision had been made for an eleven-race season. But further research showed that, at the time, the AAA had indeed only proscribed the five races in their championship. 
  Motorsport was gradually returning to Europe. Racing restarted at Brooklands in April with its Easter Handicap, won by Malcolm Campbell. At the end of August, a meeting was held at Le Mans for smaller cars - le Meeting de la Reprise - with a race for cyclecars on the Saturday and another for voiturettes up to 1400cc on Sunday. With limited finance, the ACO could not afford to repair their former long course used from 1911-13. So a far shorter 17km course based on a portion of it was set up. This would subsequently be used for the classic 24 Hours of Le Mans.
  Twenty-two cars were entered, including works teams from Bugatti, Bignan, Majola and Eric-Campbell (who had René Thomas as a driver). From the start, the Bugatti team was dominant. Pierre De Vizcaya, Ernest Friderich and Michele Baccoli moved stra
caption: Frontenac (Art Klein at Tacoma)
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