Dunham called ‘poster boy’ for hallowed race

Santa Maria resident Jimmy Dunham, who was the winning riding mechanic at the Indianapolis 500 race 73 years ago, has died at the age of 96.

On Wednesday, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Web page had a story telling of Dunham’s July 25 death and place in the site’s history, along with pictures from his racing days. Dunham, the on-board mechanic, and his partner-driver Kelly Petillo won the race in 1935.

“Dunham had an extraordinary memory and described his 1935 experiences in vivid detail,” wrote Donald Davidson, historian for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Riding mechanics generally tended to be a rather rough-and-tumble lot. The gentle, eloquent Dunham was almost professor-like in his approach.”

Making the story “truly remarkable” is that the 1935 win marked the first, and only, time, Dunham served as riding mechanic for the big race, Davidson wrote.

The 96-year-old Dunham, dubbed the “poster boy” for the Indy 500, was interviewed earlier this year for a video in conjunction with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s upcoming centennial celebration. Construction began in 1909; the first race occurred in 1911.

Formerly a resident of Nipomo, Dunham had lived for the past year at the Merrill Gardens assisted-living facility in Santa Maria.

Dunham exhibited a passion “for racing, technology and everything life has to offer, according to Jamie Pitts, community relations director for Merrill Gardens.

“He was a man who woke up and said, ‘What does the world have to offer today,’” Pitts said. “That was his motto.”

Pitts added that Dunham also was a fabulous storyteller, who shared memories of his racing days.

Unlike today, in 1935, mechanics didn't stay in the garage or in the pits. They actually rode with drivers, fulfilling a role that wasn't entirely mechanical. And in those days, the cars rattled over the original bricks that got the legendary race track nicknamed the Brickyard.

“It was a pretty rough ride,” Dunham told the Santa Maria Times in March.

Along with helping look out for traffic and keeping an eye on tires, Dunham recalled, his tasks included massaging the arms of the driver “because in those days that was pretty rough on those bricks from all the vibrations.”

Dunham returned to the track in 2005 — the first time since his win 70 years earlier. He took a spin around the track at 40 mph, not nearly fast enough for a speed-loving nonagenarian.

“I would love to get out there, get in one of the cars and see it go up to 210 mph,” Dunham said four months before he died.

While his children were growing up, Dunham didn’t talk much about his racing days, although he had a scrapbook.

“Quite frankly, when he went back in 2005, that’s when we learned most of it about him,” said his daughter, Barbara (Dunham) Jones of Cupertino. “I think a lot if was modesty.”

Dunham worked in real estate sales, and lived in the San Gabriel Valley prior to retiring to the Central Coast 18 years ago in a house in the Blacklake community of Nipomo.

His daughter recalled “what a remarkably strong man he was. And (his) brilliant, brilliant memory.” He was a “very, very hard worker” who adored and worshipped his wife, Phyllis, who died in 2003.

“He always liked to say he was still farm boy a heart,” Jones said.

Survivors include a son, Bruce Dunham of Stanwood, Wash.; a daughter, Barbara (Dunham) Jones of Cupertino; two grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and a brother, Calvin, of Southern California.

The family will hold private services in Carmel, a special place to Dunham and his wife as that’s where they began their life together and spent their 50th wedding anniversary in 1989.

Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or janscully@santamariatimes.com.

August 7, 2008