page_title: 1915 Grand Prix season
section_title: Season review
hierarchical_section_title: 1915 Grand Prix season / Season review
caption_attribution_description: English: Ralph DePalma (1882-1956) won the 1915 Indianapolis 500
context_page_description: The 1915 Grand Prix season saw Grand Prix motor racing continue in the United States. Racing was suspended in Europe due to the outbreak of World War I. The American Grand Prize was held in San Francisco for the first time, in conjunction with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.
  Several of the latest European cars had been imported to the USA before the war started. Briton Dario Resta had a Peugeot and Ralph DePalma raced one of the Mercedes GPs. While Resta won both races at San Francisco and DePalma won the Indianapolis 500, just ahead of Resta it was Earl Cooper, running a Stutz, whose consistency gave him the unofficial AAA national championship.
context_section_description: With no racing in Europe this year because of the Great War, the only motor-racing of note was the AAA National Championship. It ran for virtually the whole length of the year, from January to November held at seventeen separate venues with a total of 27 races. Most of the venues were now wood-board or dirt ovals that gave the spectators a full view of the racing. The series was very popular with nearly 150 drivers contesting the series. Naturally the biggest fields were at the three blue riband events, the American Grand Prize, the Vanderbilt Cup and the Indianapolis 500.
  The first two were held together again. This time they were in San Francisco, staged on a temporary road-course through the grounds and grand pavilions of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Unusually for a road-course, most of the surface was covered by wooden boards.
  A big field of 30 cars was entered for the Grand Prize. A number of American manufacturers were now producing racing cars and running works teams. Stutz had signed Howdy Wilcox, Earl Cooper and Norwegian-American Gil Andersen. Billy Carlson and Eddie Rickenbacker ran Maxwells for the United States Motor Company team, while Barney Oldfield ran one for the Maxwell company. The Duesenberg brothers had former riding mechanics Eddie O'Donnell (for Rickenbacker) and Tom Alley (for DePalma); Case ran with Harry Grant and Eddie Hearne. At the end of the abbreviated 1914 season, a few of the leading European cars had been purchased and shipped across to the United States. Ralph DePalma had upgraded his older Mercedes with the 18/100 car that Louis Wagner (or Lautenschlager) had raced at the French Grand Prix. Peugeot Auto Import entered a 7.6-litre EX-3 for Dario Resta (which had been raced by Georges Boillot at the previous year’s Indianapolis race), which had been overhauled by Harry Miller. Just prepared in time, it was still in its primer-white colour. Claude Newhouse was running a Delage Type Y.
  Barney Oldfield was fastest in qualifying, but it was British driver Dario Resta in his Peugeot that dominated the race. Half-way through a heavy storm swept across the circuit, making the wooden boards very slippery. A dozen drivers retired due to the treacherous conditions. Resta carried on to win by 6 minutes from Howdy Wilcox, with Hughie Hughes third in his FIAT Special (fitted with a Pope-Hartford engine). Only two other cars ran the full distance.
  The bad weather stuck around, forcing the Vanderbilt Cup race to be postponed. Virtually the same field assembled again for the race a week later. Bob Burman ran a third car in the Case works team for the race. This time the day was sunny and warm with 100,000 spectators coming out for the event. Rickenbacker briefly led at the start until a fuel line broke, whereupon Alley took over in his Duesenberg. An exciting duel for the lead then ensued between Resta and Eddie Pullen in the Mercer as they built a two-minute lead over the chasing pack led by Burman. Then a series of accidents occurred. Alley went wide and ripped up 50 metres of fencing along the roadside, then his teammate O’Donnell hit a hay-bale and rolled but was uninjured. Soon after Cap Kennedy lost a wheel that went into the crowd injuring a spectator. The worst accident was on the 44th lap when Burman crashed and rolled his Case. Although Burman was thrown out unhurt, his mechanic suffered a broken leg and ribs.
  In the latter part of the race, it was the Mercers of Pullen and Ruckstall that led the pursuit of Resta out in front. But with only five laps to go, Ruckstall’s car broke its axle and then Pullen had to pit to tie down his fuel-tank that had been shaken loose. The pressure off, Resta cruised to a consecutive victory seven minutes ahead of Howdy Wilcox who inherited a lucky second place. Pullen got running again to finish third while DePalma came in fourth.
  Over fifty cars were entered to qualify for the twenty-four starter places for the Indianapolis 500. This year the maximum engine size was 300 cu in, meaning that many cars in the regular AAA Championship were ineligi
caption: Ralph DePalma, winner of the Indianapolis 500
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