How It Began
Marmon Motor Car Company was an automobile manufacturer in the early 1900s. The company created some buzz in 1911 when the Marmon Wasp won the first Indianapolis 500 race.
Named for its unique color scheme and shape of its tail, the Wasp secured its place in racing history from the engineering and driving by Marmon’s Ray Harroun and his team.
Engineering A Winner
At the time, racing cars were all two seaters, which allowed the riding mechanic to tag along and watch for approaching cars.
Defying convention, Marmon built a single seater, saving on weight and allowing for a streamlined body. To calm safety concerns, Harroun improvised by adding a rearview mirror, believed to be the first one installed on a car.
Key to the outcome of the race was Marmon’s approach to tires. Blown tires were common and downtime significant. Marmon engineers determined that if their car ran five miles per hour slower than the maximum safe speed, they could double the tire life. It worked! The Wasp had four pit stops and no blowouts on race day, compared to the second-place car with 11 stops and 14 tires changed.
Innovation Then And Now
While the company did not survive the Great Depression, the Marmon business name continued when Walter Marmon started a new company called Marmon-Herrington. By the early 1960s, Marmon-Herrington was one of a dozen industrial businesses owned by the Pritzker family of Chicago. In 1964, the Marmon name was chosen for the growing group of companies.
More than a century after Ray Harroun drove the Wasp to victory, Marmon Holdings is still growing and innovating. Thanks to the quality of our people and their commitment to providing the customer with innovative, practical solutions, we are still winning, too.