New Book 'The Last Lap' Tackles Mysterious Racing Death at the 1934 Indy 500

For decades, author and historian William Walker has believed that there was much more to the death of cousin Pete Kreis and riding mechanic Robert Hahn in a single-car crash during practice for the 1934 Indianapolis 500 than has been reported.

Kreis, who died at the age of 34, was an established international racer with nearly a decade of Grand Prix-style racing experience. He had started six Indianapolis 500s between 1925 and 1933, finishing a career-best eighth in the 1925 race. There was no question Kreis knew his way around the fast track at Indianapolis.

The report from course workers who witnessed the crash said that Kreis simply lost control, and that there was really nothing more to see here.The Last Lap: The Mysterious Demise of Pete Kreis at The Indianapolis 500Walker knows that while the crash ended the lives of two dedicated racers, it was also the start of what many still call one of the greatest mysteries in racing history.

The car showed no signs of a mechanical failure, and an autopsy on Kreis revealed no pre-existing conditions for which to blame his actions in the car during that fateful final run.Walker's meticulously researched and annotated work, which is filled with incredible racing images of the period, reads as much like a mystery novel as it does a history book. It is truly a heartfelt tribute to family and to the racers and race cars of a fledgling era of speed.

“But on the day he died Pete played the last joke on me. Right before he went out on the track, he took off the ring and gave it to the chief of his pit crew. Pete told him, ‘If anything happens to me, please see that my sister gets this ring.’ And then he went out and the accident happened – just as Pete knew it would.”Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011.

Source: Car News Wire (carnewswire.net)

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