Louis Chevrolet Memorial
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum in Speedway, Indiana, features a memorial at the entrance to the building dedicated to the accomplishments of Louis Chevrolet. The memorial, sculpted by Adolph Wolter and designed by Fred Wellman was created during 1968–1970 and installed in Spring of 1975. The centerpiece of the memorial is a bronze bust (32 × 17½ × 16½ in.) of Chevrolet wearing a racing cap and goggles, it rests on a marble and granite square base (59½ × 21 × 30 in.).
A marble and granite exedra (70 in. × 28 ft. 4 in. × 91 in.) serves as a seating area to reflect on Chevrolet's accomplishments which are showcased in four bronze reliefs (each: 19 × 47 × 1½ in.). The reliefs depict:
- Chevrolet with Durant and the first Chevrolet passenger car in 1911.
- Chevrolet's first winning car at Indianapolis, driven to victory in 1920 by brother Gaston Chevrolet, with four Speedway pioneers in the background – Carl G. Fisher, James A. Allison, L. H. Trotter, and T. E. Myers.
- Chevrolet's second Indianapolis winner, driven by Tommy Milton in 1921, with Eddie Rickenbacker, Col. Arthur William Sidney Herrington, Louis Schwitzer and C. W. Van Ranst.
- Chevrolet's 1923 Barber-Warnock Fronty Ford at the Speedway with Henry Ford at the wheel and Louis standing alongside, flanked by Barney Oldfield and Harvey Firestone.
They are all inscribed with identifying text and a bronze black on the back of the base is inscribed:
- Erected Under Auspices Of
- Speedway Old Timers
- Chevrolet Memorial Committee
- William B. Ansted, Jr., Chairman
- A. W. Herrington, Honorary Chairman
- Frank Bain Chairman Ex-Officio
- Charles R. Keogh Treasurer
- Fred Wellman, Secretary
- Al Bloemaker Karl Kizer
- Clarence Cagle F. E. Moscovics
- Herman Deupree Lee Oldfield
- Ray Harroun Louis Schwitzer
- E. V. Rickenbacker/MCMLXXI
The front of the base is engraved:
- "Never
- Give
- Up"
- Louis Chevrolet
- 1878–1941
The original funding plan for the memorial requested 200 gifts at $200 each, and more than 58% of the donations needed to fund it were provided that way. The memorial cost $40,000.
In 1994 it was surveyed as part of the Smithsonian's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program and its condition was described as "well maintained."
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Famous quotes containing the words louis and/or memorial:
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Pulls dat man ‘roun’ by her apron strings.”
—W.C. Handy (1873–1958)
“I hope there will be no effort to put up a shaft or any monument of that sort in memory of me or of the other women who have given themselves to our work. The best kind of a memorial would be a school where girls could be taught everything useful that would help them to earn an honorable livelihood; where they could learn to do anything they were capable of, just as boys can. I would like to have lived to see such a school as that in every great city of the United States.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)