Amateur driver Arthur Greiner Drove for National team in September 1910 Photo courtesy: Indianapolis Motor Speedway C 301. Photo from www.chuckstoyland.com.

On this day in 1916, race car driver Arthur Greiner passed away. Although largely forgotten through time, Greiner achieved early fame as an amateur driver racing National Model 40 automobiles in several events. His goal was to achieve success as a professional racer and jumped at the chance to race any of the larger events in the midwest. In 1910, Greiner won the Best Amateur Trophy award behind the wheel of his favorite National cars.

View of Arthur Greiner and passenger in Thomas racecar no. 29 at Indianapolis racetrack. Press stand and spectators in background. Handwritten on back: “Thomas, 1909. Greiner, Thomas, Ind. Aug. 1909.” Photo from www.flickr.com

Greiner continued to work as an early car dealer while promoting his racing skills. Even in this early age of motorsports, people in the industry realized that winning on Sunday meant selling on Monday. Grenier would likely have had a successful career and long life if he had not entered the first Indianapolis 500 race, then known as the International 500-Mile Sweepstakes.

The starting grid of the 1911 Indianapolis 500 was determined by entry date  and not by time trial qualifications as the standard eventually became. On Tuesday, May 30, 1911, car driver Arthur Greiner, and his riding mechanic Sam Dickson, lined up in 38th position on the starting grid in their #44 Simplex Automobile Company’s Amplex, a four-cylinder sportscar.

Car# 11, Driver Arthur Greiner in a National. Photo: THE AUTOMOBILE magazine September 8, 1910 Page 387. Photo from chuckstoyland.com.

Future motorsports hall-of-famer and Indy 500 winner, Ralph DePalma also entered in a Simplex Auto Company Amplex sportscar, as a teammate of Greiner.

The race got underway with Greiner and Dickson attempting to work their way to the front from the back of the pack. The pair were doing well as they passed the start/finish line on the 12th lap. After turning through turn one and beginning to enter turn two, one of the front wheels lost a rim, the car skidded sideways and rolled over in the middle of turn two.

1911 National Speed Model 40 Race Car. Photo from classiccarpicturesalmanac.com.

Greiner was thrown from the vehicle and knocked unconscious. He suffered a broken arm but had no other serious injuries. The riding mechanic, Dickson, was also thrown from the vehicle. Sadly, he was slammed into a fence and was killed instantly.

Greiner became the first man to finish last in the Indy 500, and the 24-year-old Dickson became the first Indianapolis 500 fatality. Sam Dickson is buried in Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois. His mother also died in 1911 and his father passed in 1913. They are buried next to him. Sam’s grave has no marker.

Arthur Greiner’s health continued to decline after the crash. He suffered from chronic back pain and his mental health took a downturn. He was taken to a Milwaukee sanitarium following a nervous breakdown during which he tried to kill himself, his wife, and destroyed their home. While there, he suffered another nervous breakdown that was linked to his back pain. Complications to his injuries set in and he died shortly afterwards.

Arthur Greiner and the Amplex #44 Indy 500 car. Photo from historymuseumsb.org.

Greiner’s teammate, Ralph DePalma, finished the 1911 race in sixth place. He would return the next year in a Mercedes and is still remembered for leading the Indy 500 for 196 of the 200 laps before losing a piston. DePalma and his riding mechanic pushed the car around the track and across the finish line for the remaining two laps, finishing in eleventh place.

The American Simplex Motor Car Company was sold in 1916 to the Gillette Motor Company and gently faded into memory.