by Royce Rumsey
Keep pushing!
After leading 196 of the 200 laps of the 1912 Indianapolis 500, Ralph DePalma’s Mercedes suffered a cracked piston. Rather than pull the crippled car into the pits and retire, Ralph and his mechanic Louis Fontaine, hand-pushed the large Mercedes the remaining 4 laps (10miles!) on the brick-surfaced speedway to finish 11th! This is the stuff that legends are made of and it’s nearly impossible to imagine any contemporary sports personality exhibiting this kind of grit and determination. Ralph’s luck would improve 3 years later.
