Ray Harroun

Ray Wade Harroun (January 12, 1879 – January 19, 1968) was an American racing driver and pioneering race car constructor. He is most famous for winning the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. Harroun was born on January 12, 1879, in Spartansburg, Pennsylvania to Russell LaFayette Harroun and Lucy A. Halliday. His father was a carpenter. Ray was their youngest child. Harroun served on a U.S. Navy coaler during the Spanish American War. Harroun participated in the original setting of the land speed record driving from Chicago to New York in 1903, and the re-taking of that record in 1904. He and four others drove in shifts non-stop to establish the record of 76 hours at the end of September, 1903. That time was bested by another team nearly a year later, and in October 1904, the Columbia team re-set the record at 58 hrs, 35 min. That record stood for nearly two years.