In 1950, the automotive and racing monthly “Speed Age” presented achievement ...

In 1950, the automotive and racing monthly “Speed Age” presented achievement awards to people from motorsport who’d done notable things during the just-concluded season, in keeping with annual custom. The watches that the honorees were presented were made by Univeral Geneve, one of the first Swiss watchmakers to popularize the thin-movement wrist chronograph.

Some of the recipients’ names are pretty recognizable. Henry Banks was a former Midget champion who became a founding USAC official. Clay Smith, the camshaft genius who turned a cigar-chomping woodpecker into a hot rod icon, would be killed four years later by an errant dirt car in the pits at Du Quoin, Illinois. Don Cummins, brother of Clessie, helped bring diesel power to the Indianapolis 500. Tom Marchese promoted Indianapolis-type racing at the Milwaukee Mile. Tommy Milton was the first to win the Indy 500 twice. Johnny Mantz raced at Indy, too, but had also just won the inaugural Southern 500. Lee Petty was already an established NASCAR star. Julian Buesink fielded the car that Bill Rexford drove to the 1950 NASCAR Grand National title. Briggs Cunningham and his longtime sideman, William Frick, competed against Tom Cole in post-war road races. The obscure name is that of Oscar Fraley, in the middle. Circa 1950, Fraley was a New York-based freelance sportswriter of some note. In 1957, he ghostwrote the memoirs of Prohibition-era racket-buster Eliot Ness, which were later adapted as the basis for the TV gangster drama, “The Untouchables.” True story. The photo is from an archive of former “Speed Age” editor Don O’Reilly, awaiting cataloging at the North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame in Mooresville.

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