Bill's blog

The black hair on Luigi Chinetti’s head was slicked back like he was about to put on a helmet. It barely moved in the ocean breeze from the deck of the Conte di Savoia as it made its way across the Atlantic Ocean. He was dressed fashionably, as usual, in his leather jacket, fine pants, and leather shoes. Chinetti who grew up near Milan, Italy, was pretty much required to look dapper at all times. The only indication of the 38-year-old Chinetti’s feelings that day were the sly smile on his impeccably shaved face. Luigi Chinetti was escaping a war. 

Four French people joined him – 32-year-old Rene Dreyfus, 25-year-old Rene Le Begue and his new wife, Marie, and 19-year-old Harry O’Reilly Schell – who were on their way to New York and eventually to a faraway place called Indiana. They were the Ecurie Bleue racing team. They were going to represent France in the biggest race of 1940: the Indianapolis 500. Dreyfus and Le Begue were the team’s drivers for the Indianapolis 500. Luigi Chinetti was a successful race car driver, having won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1932 and 1934. On this trip, he was the team manager, mechanic for the two Maserati cars, and relief driver if one of the Rene’s needed help to finish. Chinetti was willing to do any job so that he could get to the United States. 

The press was portraying the party’s journey as a strictly sporting proposition. They reported the group would return to France as soon as possible after the race. Some of the team members may have thought they would return to France. Chinetti knew he was not going back. He was leaving everything behind: his family, friends, and all but the few possessions he brought on the boat in his luggage. 

Chinetti and his traveling companions had not been sure if they could board the Conte di Savoia for the ride to New York. They had to travel nearly 1,000 kilometers from Paris across a country that was under attack by the German army. They crossed the border into Italy and on to Genoa to get on the ship on May 15, 1940. Five American sailors who had escaped imprisonment in Egypt already were aboard, as were other fleeing U.S. citizens. The ship briefly stopped at Gibraltar and picked up more U.S. citizens who had been warned to leave by the U.S. consul. The Conte di Savoia then set off across the Atlantic Ocean for the United States.

Luigi Chinetti forsook his homeland of Italy years earlier. Born in Jerago con Orago, Italy – about twenty-five miles outside Milan – on July 17, 1901, Chinetti was a child prodigy as a machinist. He earned a lathe operator’s license at age 12, and by age 17 was an aircraft mechanic in the Italian army during World War I. But he was discovered to be underage and thrown out of the military. With the rise of the Fascist government in the 1920s, Chinetti grew wary of their policies and decided to leave. As a mechanic with the Alfa Romeo racing team, he travelled to the July 26, 1925, French Grand Prix in Monthihery and never went home. Instead, he started a garage from where he could work on high-end sports cars in Paris and turned it into an Alfa Romeo dealership. When trade between Italy and France was restricted in the 1930s, Chinetti turned to selling French-manufactured Talbot Lago’s. 

The plan for a French team to race at Indy was hatched by Laury Schell. A Swiss-born man of American heritage, he lived in France for most of his life. After meeting Lucy O’Reilly, an American ex-patriot living in France, at a race, they married and settled outside of Paris. They raced frequently, then formed the Ecurie Bleue racing team. That team found success on the European Grand Prix circuits. In the late 1930s, European countries were being pulled into World War II, which caused racing to dwindle on the continent. Schell decided the best way to keep his family safe was to go to the United States. 

But on October 18, 1939, Lucy and Laury Schell were being driven by chauffeur to Paris from their Monaco home when their car collided with a van. The Schells were seriously injured in the crash. Laury died a month later. Despite the acceleration of the war in France, Lucy Schell decided to continue her husband’s plan.

Rene Dreyfus, a successful Grand Prix driver, joined the French military after Germany invaded Poland and was assigned to be a truck driver. Rene Le Begue, a rally and endurance racer, enlisted and became a tank commander. Getting them out from their military commitments seemed impossible. The French military was suffering massive losses and was on its heels. Despite Lucy O’Reilly Schell being hospitalized in Monaco, however, she convinced the French government to get them each 45-day furloughs.  

Lucy also decided to send the older of her two sons. Harry had some experience in working on race cars. He also had volunteered as a pilot in the Finnish Air Corps, fighting the Russians when they invaded that country. Lucy was afraid he wanted more war. She decided it would be safer for Harry in the United States.

To compete in the Indianapolis 500 with two cars should have required a dozen mechanics or more. But most of the team’s mechanics were in the military.

Luigi Chinetti met Laury Schell in 1939 when Schell wanted to field Talbot-Lagos at Indy. Chinetti convinced Schell he needed Maserati 8CTFs, like the one that won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939 driven by Wilbur Shaw. Chinetti had connections with the Maserati factory. Unlike the rest of the Ecurie Bleue team members, Chinetti did not need permission to leave France; he wasn’t a citizen. In 1939, Chinetti received a telegram, informing him the Italian military was conscripting him. Chinetti sent a telegram in reply, insisting that he had already performed his military service. And Chinetti had a pass that allowed him to travel between countries in Europe. 

In 1939, Schell fielded the Maseratis in a few races in 1939, including the Swiss Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix with Dreyfus and Comte George Raphaël Béthenod de Montbressieux driving. But the cars were outpowered by the German-fielded, Nazi-branded Daimler-Benz and Auto Unions. 

To people who lived in Europe, the Indianapolis 500 was only American race that mattered. Chinetti read and dreamed about the race since he was a child. A handful of foreigners had competed in it, but it had been decades since any of them won. European races frequently were won by aristocracy and the well-heeled like Carlo Alberto Conelli. American races were won by criminals and scoundrels like Kelly Petillo. 

The Conte di Savoia docked in New York on May 23, 1940, a day later than expected. It would be the last ship from Italy to arrive in the United States after World War II broke out. Once in New York, the Ecurie Bleue team members were taken to Curtiss Airport, where they met Bernard Musnik. Lucy Schell had arranged for the French journalist to document their exploits for French newspapers that were desperate for something positive to print. Schell also hired him to serve as interpreter for the team. Between the five people on the French team, they spoke little English. They soon wished they had learned more. 

Before they could depart New York for Indiana, though, the team was required to give a press conference. The American press wanted to know about these soldiers who were away from war. Asked questions about the war, Rene Dreyfus and Rene Le Begue gave answers like loyal soldiers. “Our place is there,” Dreyfus said. “No matter how dark the outlook, we know that France will triumph,” the group said in unison.  

They boarded a plane for the ride from New York. But their pilot first gave them a sight-seeing tour of the country from the American Airlines plane on their way west. They flew over Washington D.C., and farms in the Midwest. Then the pilot flew over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As soon as they saw it, the men huddled to figure out the racing line around the track. Finally they descended to Indianapolis’ Municipal Airport. Hundreds of people greeted the French refugees at the airport. Among them were Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Pop Meyers, chief steward Harry Bennett, and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Wilbur Shaw. A band awaited them on the tarmac and played French songs like “Le Pere la Victorie” and “The Marseillaise.” People in the crowd yelled “Vive la France.” It brought tears to the eyes of the Europeans. 

Instead of being able to get to work on the cars with precious few days to go before the May 30 race, they were given a police convoy to the Spink-Arms Hotel in Indianapolis to give another press conference. 

The first time Luigi Chinetti rode into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the seat of a passenger car, he was awestruck. Chinetti had been to most of the great tracks of Europe including Nurburgring, Monaco and Circuit de la Sarthe (the home of the 24 Hours of Le Mans), but there was nothing like this place. This two-and-a-half-mile oval track had four distinct low-baked turns with straightaways over a half-mile long and short straights connecting the other turns. 

Owned by World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, the track had been almost entirely coated with a fresh layer of asphalt in time for the race. About 600 feet of bricks that originally made up the racing surface remained on the front stretch. There were long rows of grandstands around both sides of the track. There were enough seats that 145,000 fans could crowd into every nook and cranny of the track on race day. It was a big, American place built for maximum splendor, and it was everything Luigi dreamt it would be. But he had no time to spend gawking at this palace. The Ecurie Bleue team was hopelessly behind schedule. 

The Maseratis had been stored at a rail freight car since arriving at the track weeks earlier. As soon as Chinetti, Harry O’Reilly Schell, and the Rene’s arrived, they got to work on getting the cars ready for the race. Chinetti and the rest of the boys tore their cars down so they could magniflux them. That involved magnetizing the metal and looking at it in black light. They needed to test the metal for problems such as cracks that might have occurred while being shipped across Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, and much of the United States. They barely got the cars back together in time for Dreyfus, who finally got on track May 25, a scant five days before the Indy 500. 

Where most European races involved a few days for qualifying, the Indianapolis 500 had two weeks leading to the race. It was an intricate process to gain a starting spot, and one that baffled the men. Musnik was the only one who could read the rule book, putting the Ecurie Bleue at another disadvantage. And Dreyfus and Le Begue struggled to find speed once they got on track. 

On the final day of qualifying, Le Begue timed in 31st to make the 33-car field with a speed of 118.981 miles per hour. Dreyfus, the more experienced and respected driver, was slower at 118.831. He qualified for the field. But another driver went faster and bumped him out. Dreyfus wanted to try again to make the race. Although he should have been given two more chances, the language barrier was too great and Dreyfus never got to take another shot.  

That meant the lesser of the two drivers would make it in the race. The two agreed they would split the driving during the race. And it meant Luigi Chinetti would not drive. 

The day before the race, Dreyfus took Le Begue’s number 49 car out on track for a practice session and turned laps at 123 miles per hour. But the engine broke a connecting rod, and the rod went through the crankshaft. The engine was done. Chinetti was feted as an “expert” on the Maserati engines, but even he could do nothing with this one. As Dreyfus’ car was not in the race, the engine in his car was available. 

Chinetti, wearing white mechanics coveralls over a stylish suit, spent the entirety of that night and the next morning, with help from a couple mechanics supplied by Augie Duesenberg, swapping engines between the Maseratis so the Frenchmen could race. With minutes before the race was to start, Chinetti and Harry Schell, sleep deprived and still buzzing from the night’s work, pushed the car to the grid. 

When the race started, Rex Mays and Shaw battled for the lead. Meanwhile, Le Begue drove the first 45 laps, easily passing cars and moving forward. Le Begue pulled in as scheduled on lap 46 and hopped out while Chinetti and Schell were adding fuel and Dreyfus got in. Dreyfus drove the next 50 laps before pitting and giving the car back to Le Begue, who continued to move forward until coming back in the pits on lap 128. 

Then drizzle hit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Unlike in European races, drivers were not allowed to improve their position in the rain at Indy. Dreyfus passed cars seemingly at will, but soon received the black flag and was sent to the pits. The marshals informed him passing was not allowed. That trapped them in 10th place as the rain never relented. Wilbur Shaw, driving the only other Maserati in the race, won his second straight Indianapolis 500 after the engine in Mays’ car soured. 

Even though the Ecurie Bleue team was in Indianapolis a little over a week, the money supplied by Lucy Schell was gone by the time the race finished. The 10th-place finish earned them $1,488, just enough to pay the team’s hotel bills. After Laury Schell’s death, Lucy decided to sell the two Maseratis after the race. Luigi Chinetti found a willing buyer in Lou Moore. Moore would have far more success with them.

By the time the Indy 500 ended on May 30, Germany had almost completely occupied France. The French were close to surrendering. When the team returned to New York a few days after the race, getting back to France was impossible. Dreyfus, Le Begue, Marie Le Begue, and Harry Schell were welcomed in the United States as refugees. 

Luigi Chinetti was not. He was labelled an “enemy alien” by a U.S. immigration official due to his Italian citizenship. They wouldn’t allow Chinetti to return to France or Italy. He didn’t know if his home and possessions remained in France. He had little money and nowhere to go. He was a man without a country. So he ended up in a hotel in Queens for the next two years.