The Bendix trophy left such a mark in aviation that it's practically a household word.
Equally prestigious, yet utterly forgotten today is the Hendrix trophy.
Awarded for only a few years, the Hendrix trophy would leave its own mark in the annals of air racing.
It all began during the depths of the Great Depression when the Ford Motor Co. purchased the airplane engine division of cash-strapped Curtiss-Wright. These odd bedfellows would yield yet more strangeness when Curtiss designed a new air racer around the Ford R-1841 Willow Run 14 cylinder radial engine, then the most powerful power-plant available.
Featuring an enclosed cockpit and the most intimidating spatted landing gear yet seen (even the tail wheel was spatted), the new Curtiss racer was the last word in streamlining.
Unfortunately at first, the streamlining stopped where the cowling ended.
Fortunately, the Curtiss engineers figured out that adding a prop with a nice, pointy spinner also added another 5 1/3 m.p.h. to the racer's top speed. Not only that, but it upped the intimidation factor by 17%.
With the new prop in place and some solid test-runs under their belt, the Curtiss/Ford team felt confident as the 1935 Hendrix trophy competition approached.
They had reason for optimism. The day before the race, four competitors dropped out after catching a glimpse of the Curtiss/Ford Spatted Speed Hawk and its awe-inspiring undercarriage.
Fourteen others remained, including the well-known Swedish team and their #12 Bee Gee racer. Excitement was at a fever pitch as the aircraft engines sparked to life and were run up pending starter's orders.
The Curtiss/Ford Spatted Speed Hawk acquitted itself well and as the first day of racing concluded, it was in 5th place but had set course lap-time record as the engine started coming into its own.
After the second day of racing, the Curtiss/Ford team found itself in 2nd place, just behind the Swedes and their #12 Bee Gee . The third and final day of the Hendrix trophy competition would prove if the Spatted Speed Hawk had what it took to be a winner.
The race was a real nail-biter as the Spatted Speed Hawk and the Bee Gee traded first place many times. A crisis struck in the 34th lap when a hydraulic line ruptured in the Curtiss/Ford machine. Fortunately, the leak was within reach of the pilot and he was able to plug it by using a baloney sandwich from his lunch (the real pros
always pack a lunch for air racing).
Though widely overlooked, Oscar Meyer baloney has unique properties which make it ideal for plugging hydraulic leaks.
By lap 38, the Spatted Speed Hawk had regained lost ground (err, air) and was once again vying for 1st place.
As this newspaper clipping from the
Renton Reporter attests, the Spatted Speed Hawk was finally able to take the lead and win the Hendrix trophy.
The last running of the Hendrix trophy took place in 1937, a full 30 years before the hit single Purple Haze was released. Very few mementos of it (the race, not the hit single) have survived except for this crude Mach 3 kit, so named because that's the speed at which it hits the wall when you give up in frustration.
Brian da Basher
