Parnelli Jones Driver Owner 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner

James Ashbury Allison (11 August 1872 – 1928), born in Marcellus, Michigan, was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the inventor of the Allison Perfection Fountain Pen and with Carl G. Fisher a founder of Prest-O-Lite, a manufacturer of automobile headlights. With Carl G. Fisher, Frank H. Wheeler, and Arthur C. Newby he was a founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. Allison formed the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company later known as the Allison Experimental Company, and later as the Allison Engine Company which was eventually purchased by General Motors after Allison’s death becoming the Allison Division of General Motors, a manufacturer of automotive transmissions (Allison Transmission), aircraft engines (Allison Engine Company), truck engines, and other products. Allison died of pneumonia in 1928 at the age of 56 and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana. His Indianapolis home, Riverdale, is now part of Marian College.

James Allison moved to frankfort with his parents, Noah and Myra, in 1880. He quit school and joined his father's business, Allison Coupon Company, at age 12 in 1884. Just six years later, with the untimely death of his father, James assumed the vice-presidency of the company at age 18 in 1890. Allison Coupon Company still exists today as Allison Payment Systems. During the 1890s Allison became intrigued by the bicycle craze that was sweeping the nation. He joined the Indianapolis-based bicycle "Zig-Zag Club," where he met future business partners Carl G. Fisher and Arthur C. Newby. Fisher and Allison would remain confidants the rest of their lives.

James Allison, just 32 years old and already an executive at two companies, Allison Coupon and Allison Perfection Fountain Pens, was drawn into forming yet another when Carl G. Fisher called in 1904. The new company would prove to be the biggest yet, the producer of the first viable headlight for automobiles. Based on compressed acetylene gas as electric headlights were years from introduction, the new technology utilized brass canisters of the compressed gas funneled to the headlight through tubing. Fisher had met Percy "Fred" Avery, the holder of the patent for the product, and the three of them formed Concentrated Acetylene Company in September 1904. They called their product "Prest-O-Lite," which became the company's name when Avery parted with the firm in 1906. The partners hit the market with perfect timing as the automobile industry was growing rapidly and the ability to see at night was naturally a great benefit. Prest-O-Lite brought the already successful Allison and Fisher wealth well beyond what they had enjoyed earlier. When they sold the firm to Union Carbide in 1917 Allison reaped several million dollars.

Allison and Fisher continued to build businesses together throughout their lives. Their styles complemented each other famously. Fisher was the fountain of ideas, but impetuous. Allison was the steady hand and an outstanding manager. Lem Trotter, a mutual business colleague, said of Allison, "Fisher was the dreamer but Allison had the most brilliant mind of any man I ever knew. He was the industrialist."

Allison supported Fisher's efforts to lead the development of transcontinental highways, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Miami Beach. The two men were the senior partners in establishing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with junior partners Arthur C. Newby and Frank H. Wheeler.

James Allison formed the Indianapolis Speedway Team Company to engineer race cars for the Indianapolis 500. The machine shop was located on the same grounds as Prest-O-Lite (directly across the street from the Speedway) until Prest-O-Lite was sold in 1917. The company engineered the car that won the 1919 race with driver Howdy Wilcox. The company re-tooled for World War I, becoming a major defense contractor as Allison Experimental Company. Re-named as Allison Engineering Company in the 1920s, the company was acquired by General Motors in 1929 after Allison's death in 1928.

Allison Engineering became two divisions of GM, one of which was sold to Rolls-Royce Aerospace in 1995. The other division, Allison Transmission, was acquired by a private equity firm in 2007, but still has a close affiliation with GM.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues to evolve and expand as it approaches its centennial year in 2009.

Charlie Patterson car owner "mr. racing everything"

carl wrote and published several books including "I Love To Make The Dirt Fly A Biography of Carl G. Fisher 1874-1939" ,"Go! the Bettenhausen Story The Race Against a Dream" and the Indianapolis 500 yearbooks from 1973 thru 1997

Dale Armstrong nhra driver and mechanic

Jan Opperman usac star

Ron "Sleepy" Tripp midget car driver

Joe Weatherly Grand National Series champion, AMA Grand National Champion

Theodore E. “Pop” Myers Good Will Ambassador indianapolis motor speedway

Floyd "Pop" Dreyer the nation's top motorcycle rider in the 1920s

IRL The IRL was founded in 1994 and began racing in 1996 claiming to offer a cost-effective, all-oval alternative to the PPG CART Indycar World Series. The basic beliefs behind the creation of the series were:

*John Marcum arca founder

ALBERTO ASCARI TWO TIME WORLD CHAMPION

Charlie Patterson car owner "mr. racing everything"

Parnelli Jones Driver Owner 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner

Ernest Schlausky A.K.A. CROCKY WRIGHT Motorsports Pioneer

Charlie Patterson car owner "mr. racing everything"

carl wrote and published several books including "I Love To Make The Dirt Fly A Biography of Carl G. Fisher 1874-1939" ,"Go! the Bettenhausen Story The Race Against a Dream" and the Indianapolis 500 yearbooks from 1973 thru 1997

Dale Armstrong nhra driver and mechanic

Jan Opperman usac star

Ron "Sleepy" Tripp midget car driver

Joe Weatherly Grand National Series champion, AMA Grand National Champion

Theodore E. “Pop” Myers Good Will Ambassador indianapolis motor speedway

Floyd "Pop" Dreyer the nation's top motorcycle rider in the 1920s

IRL The IRL was founded in 1994 and began racing in 1996 claiming to offer a cost-effective, all-oval alternative to the PPG CART Indycar World Series. The basic beliefs behind the creation of the series were:

*John Marcum arca founder

ALBERTO ASCARI TWO TIME WORLD CHAMPION

Charlie Patterson car owner "mr. racing everything"

Parnelli Jones Driver Owner 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner

*Ernest Schlausky A.K.A. CROCKY WRIGHT* Motorsports Pioneer

Ernest Schlausky A.K.A. CROCKY WRIGHT Motorsports Pioneer