"Wild" Bob Burman (1884-1916) -- once the fastest driver alive

Informal three-quarter length portrait of automobile driver Bob Burman sitting in the driver's seat of a Buick automobile parked in front of a building in Crown Point, Indiana, during the Cobe Cup Race, holding on to the steering wheel. Automobiles are parked in front of the building in the background, and men are standing in front of the building. One man is sitting in an automobile.

NOTES

This photonegative taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer may have been published in the newspaper.

Cite as: SDN-055225, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

Automobile driver R Burman standing next to an automobile parked alongside a pit on the side of a road during an automobile race]. 1913

Informal portrait of automobile driver R. Burman standing next to an automobile parked alongside a pit on the side of a road during an automobile race. Crowds are standing in the background, and automobiles are parked in the background. A tiered structure is visible across the road in the background. Banner advertisements are visible on the structure. This image was probably taken in Elgin, Illinois.

NOTES

This photonegative taken by a Chicago Daily News photographer may have been published in the newspaper.

Cite as: SDN-058718, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago History Museum.

[Auto driver, R. Burman sitting behind wheel of race car with number eight painted on side].

Hi folks, for those who read the blog from time to time, you know I am getting interested in the history of racing, including the years prior to WWII. There still remains much to be done in the period and with this topic, particularly related to the social history of racing. Who were the fans? The owners? The drivers? Why is speed so addictive? I have already expressed an interest in Frank Lockhart, and here is another figure worth more than a side glance- "Wild" Bob Burman. Long forgotten by most, Burman was one of the greats during the period before WWI, especially on dirt tracks. He died at the wheel of his Peugeot race car in California in 1916, and is buried in Imlay Cemetary, just north of downtown Imlay City, Michigan. His headstone reads: "A Buick race driver without peer, on the track he knew no fear."

According to the husband of a granddaughter, "His motto was that he won, finished the race or broke down; there was no in-between for him."

Young Burman left Imlay City, Michigan in 1903 and moved to Flint to paint wheels at the Durant-Dort Carriage Company on Water Street. While in Flint, he became known as a handyman and a year later,in 1904, while still in his teens, he moved to Jackson, Michigan. There he worked at Billy Durant's Jackson Automobile Company. By the time he won his first race in Detroit, Burman knew cars mechanically and in terms of handling. He took several years to sharpen his driving skills before he won a 50-mile race in Detroit in 1906, which followed with victories in Grand Rapids and St. Louis. The St. Louis race was a test of endurance, in which Burman was at the wheel for nearly 24 hours. (How can anyone drive that long?). He kept winning and, consequently Billy Durant's Buick Motor Company recognized his talents.

He formed Buick's race team, and he won the first race he entered after that -- a 187-miler on New York's Long Island -- in a Buick Bug. From then on, "Wild" Bob Burman -- increasingly known for his aggressive driving style, won races, and broke records. Burman beat Louis Chevrolet to take the checkered flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's inaugural race in the summer of 1909, and he returned the next year to beat Chevrolet again. During the spring and summer of 1911, Burman smashed the one-mile world speed record (at more than 141 mph), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track record (35.25 seconds) and the world dirt track record (48.72 seconds). His one-mile mark would stand until 1919.

After a crash in the summer of 1912 put Burman in the hospital for a week, he returned to the track to break his own records. That fall, he was clocked at 129 mph in San Diego before his car, a Blitzen-Benz, burst into flames and rolled into the Pacific Ocean. Burman won 33 of the 43 races he entered in 1912,and finished second eight times. He narrowly escaped death numerous times during his career, including a frightening crash in San Antonio in 1909 in which he was thrown out of his car as it hurdled down the track.

Burman died in 1916 on an oval track in Corona, Calif., after his open-cockpit Peugeot skidded off the track and flipped over at more than 100 mph. He died alongside his mechanic, who rode with him, and at least three spectators.

The above photographs were taken from the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress.