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Irvington's Indianapolis 500 Mile Race Car Owner
By Steve Barnett,
Executive Director of the Irvington Historical Society

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Barber-Warnock Ford Special, Number 27

Indy race car owner Roger Penske probably doesn’t have an Irvington connection, but this month of May’s festivities celebrating the centennial of the world famous Brickyard brings to mind the Classic Suburb’s own Indy 500 race car owner Hale C. Barber who came to Irvington around 1917, living first at The Audubon Court Apartments and later at 99 N. Hawthorne Lane.

Hale Barber was born in 1879 in Oxford, Michigan.  A salesman with the Ford Motor Company, he came to Indianapolis in 1914, and three years later joined with Indianapolis native Clarence O. Warnock in forming the Barber-Warnock Company, a Ford automobile dealership located at 819-23 E. Washington Street.  The company entered a Fronty-Ford Model T race car in the 1923 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, the Barber-Warnock Special, Car 23.  Three brothers, Louis, Gaston, and Arthur Chevrolet, who had been providing speed equipment under the name Frontenac for years transforming the humble “Tin Lizzy” into America’s most competitive dirt track racers, built the car in their Indianapolis shop.  It was driven by 24-year old Indianapolis native Lora Corum who qualified the racer at the sizzling speed of 86.650 miles per hour placing it seventh in the field.  Corum finished fifth in that year’s 500, receiving a purse of $3,000.  On August 2, 1924 at the inaugural Gold & Glory Sweepstakes held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, a 100-mile race organized by the Colored Speedway Association, 23-year old Indianapolis African-American chauffeur Malcolm Hannon drove the same Barber-Warnock Special to victory at an average speed of 63.5 mph.

Three Barber-Warnock Specials qualified for the 1924 Indianapolis 500.  Again the racers were Fronty-Ford Model Ts built by the Chevrolet brothers.  Car 26, driven by 33-year old Indiana native Bill Hunt qualified 19th with an average speed of 85.040 mph.  Car 28, driven by 28-year old Englishman Alfred E. Moss, the father-to-be of racing legend Stirling Moss, qualified at an average speed of 85.270 mph and placed 20th on the starting grid.  Thirty-three year old Indianapolis native Fred Harder made the field in the 22nd position driving Car 27 to an average qualifying speed of 82.770 mph.  All three drivers were Indianapolis 500 Mile Race rookies but came to the Speedway oval with racing experience.  All three cars were running when the race ended and placed 14 (Car 26), 16 (Car 28), and 17 (Car 27).

Hale Barber continued as president of Barber-Warnock Company until 1925 when the partnership was dissolved.  Shortly after that, Barber and his wife, Katherine, left Irvington.  Barber lived in Indianapolis engaging in real estate until 1929 when he retired, and he and his wife moved to Martinsville, Indiana.  He remained active in civic affairs in that community until his death in 1948.

Photo from:  http://www.mtfca.com/HOF/Fame.htm