I am older and I also know what I am talking about. There is no doubt that the photo shows the 309 inside a diamond and no lightening bolts on the car BUT when I was a kid I hung out at Turners Alignment Shop, sweeping floors-going for coffee--making go-fer runs, I helped push this car off the trailer and inside the shop. In fact one time O Connor let me sit in the seat and steer the car while it was pushed. At that time the car was BLACK with lightening bolts down the side. On top of the hood was DUTCH HURST MOTORS 309 N. HIGH STREET MUNCIE INDIANA. I am trying to find a photo of this color scheme and name on the hood. Dusty Goggles might have something when he mentioned another car that did have the DUTCH HURST MOTORS 309 N. HIGH STREET MUNCIE INDIANA painted on the hood.

what ever!

It has taken me nearly two years to sort through and come up with an answer to a post with SUPERDUKE and myself. Originally he had asked if anybody ever attended racing at the old 5/8 Ft. Wayne Speedway. I answered and stated that I had watched Pat O Connor in the Dutch Hurst Motors #309 run at Ft. Wayne with the Mutual Roadster organization. He replied that I was wrong and that the #309 car was owned by a man named Joe Zimmerman who had a car lot at 309 S. Jefferson in Muncie. I answered back that Dutch Hurst had a DeSoto dealership at 309 N. High Street in Muncie and I vividly remember the wording 'Dutch Hurst Motors 309 N. HIgh Street Muncie, Indiana' painted on top of the hood. Duke produced a photo from another reader that did indeed show the car with a 309 inside a diamond which matched the description he had described. 'Dusty Googles' produced still another photo of the car and again it was as Duke had described. I was confused for sure because I did remember that car and that name on the hood although it was over 60 some odd years ago. The last post that I left on the subject was that I would contact my cousin, who still lives in Muncie and is married to Dutch Hursts granddaugher, to see if I could produce a photo of the name on the hood. She had no interest in her grandfathers racing activies and no memorbila but my cousin was more than a passive fan of the roadsters and midgets back in the day. He said he thought the car that Pat O Connor drove was owned by a man whose last name started with a 'Z' (Joe Zimmerman) When I told him of my confrontation on the IOW site with another old timer because I could remember the Dutch Hurst Motors name on the hood of this roadster, he said he thinks he knew how I got confused. He told me that Dutch did have a car in his garage on High Street with either a DeSoto or Chrysler engine and it did have the number 309 the same as his address and was painted on the hood and was black but he didn't remember any lightening bolts painted on the side ( which I had told Duke I remembered) He also told me he didn't think ( but he was not absolutely sure-he is 81 years old) that this particular car was ever raced but used only as a show car for the car agency!!! So, with apologizes to Duke sort of, the mystery has been somewhat solved. At my age your mind struggles to remember exact details and even with the explanation from my cousin I still think I watched this car race.