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"Black Beast" Racer to Run Centennial Lap at Indy 500

1909 race car returns for one more lap where it competed in the first Indy 500 in 1911.

The “Black Beast,” an Alco 6 racecar built in 1909 and often , will be going back to the Indy 500 race 100 years after participating in the inaugural race in 1911.

The car will be doing a parade lap with four other cars from the first race on at 9:50 a.m. Sunday, May 29.

Owner and racing historian Howard Kroplick from East Hills has been hard at work preparing the Beast for its historic trip.

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“Because of its successful racing history, it was the favorite to win the race... Unfortunately though the car broke a baring on the 52nd lap and this car finished 33rd out of the 40 entries,” Kroplick said. “We’re very excited that after 100 years, this car will be going back to Indianapolis.”

The car also has an important historical distinction in Long Island racing history as well since the Black Beast is the only racecar to have ever won two back to back Vanderbilt Cup races, run on the Long Island Motor Parkway, which stretched from Fresh Meadows Queens through Mineola to Lake Ronkonkoma.

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In 2008, Kroplick found the car listed for sale online in Brussels, Belgium. He purchased it and brought it back to the U.S. Today he shows it in car shows and events and uses it as a way to teach people about auto racing history on Long Island. 

For Kroplick this will a personal dream come true as well as he says he always wanted to go to an Indy 500 but never got the chance. Now he’ll attend his first Indy 500 on the track in his historic race car.

“I’ll be there doing a parade lap in front of three hundred thousand plus fans. It’s very exciting, I’m looking forward to it, it’s a once in a lifetime experience,” Kroplick said.

During the parade lap, Kroplick will be riding along in the car as the “Mechicinician” (the mechanic who would ride along during early races with the driver to fix the car if it broke down).

Past Indy 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi is scheduled to be driving at the wheel alongside Kropick. Even though it’s a parade lap, Kroplick thinks it’s going to turn into a race, wanting the Beast to finally win the Indy 500 by beating the Marmon racecar, which won the race and will also be among the four other historic cars from the inaugural race to be in that parade lap, even if it takes it 100 years.

“The Marmon car was number 32 and that won the race, and that wasn’t the favorite to win at all,” he said. “And that car’s going to be doing the parade lap as wall. To me it’s us against the Marmon... I'm going to tell Emerson Fittipaldi to floor it at the end.”

For more information about the Black Beast, its racing history and photographs, visit the Vanderbilt Cup Races website.

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