07/08/2023
Post 2 of 100 years of Babe Stapp Racing History
My Grandfather, Elbert Achilles āBabeā Stapp, was born in San Antonio, Texas on February 26, 1904 and was the baby of the family, having an older brother, Bill, and two sisters, Nellie and Janie. Hence the nickname āBabeā!
(Side note: My Papa chose my name. My mom wanted Susannah Jane and my dad wanted to name me Peggy Sue (either way, I got a song!) Anyway, my mom asked my Grandfather which name he preferred and he answered, āOh, I like Susannah Jane!ā He never really said anymore about it but years later, well after he had passed, I was at least 30-35 at the time, I learned that Babe had another sister who was born before him and who only lived a short time, like 3 months. That sisterās name was Susannah Jane! I donāt know if he even knew about her but I will tell you when I learned about this the hair stood up on my neck to know I had such deep ties in the Stapp family, especially to my Papa!)
In January of 1911, Babeās mother, Minnie Lee (Smith) Stapp, passed away from tuberculosis. Babeās Father, Achilles Pitkin, Jr. (Yes there was another one of those before him! ) then took his 4 children and moved to Los Angeles, California when Babe was just 7 years old. Achilles was a carpenter and he opened a Mercantile in LA and also had a moving company. Achilles had no racing background. At that time auto racing really hadnāt been around that long to even have much of a background. Remember, 1911 was the very first Indianapolis 500! I assume growing up in the LA area that cars and racing became a booming interest and other than Indy, the California coast would have been where to be for a racing enthusiast.
I have always wondered how Babe got his first ride driving for anyone, let alone, George Sherman in the Sherman Special. We have often speculated as to how it came about and probably the most plausible idea is that with him growing up in the car culture of LA, he probably had a keen interest and maybe found a few race shops around town to hung out in and learn. We all think that most likely, whomever had been driving for Mr. Sherman was possibly injured or even killed just prior to that July 4th race and they needed a replacement driver. I figure Babe was probably in the right place at the right time and was just crazy enough to say āIāll give it a whirl!ā Iām betting that just being willing to climb in one of those machines might be half of the battle to driving one. Well, it seemed to work out for him because his driving career went all the way through the Indy 500 in 1940, after which he retired because my dad was to be born in August.
Thanks to Mr. George Sherman for giving a 19 year old a shot in his car! With out him giving Babe a chance, our whole family trajectory might be completely different! Crazy to think about!
Andy Stapp Sammy Stapp Joey Stapp Courtney StappSandberg
