Clarence Cagle, 88; Track Superintendent at Indianapolis Speedway for 30 Years

Clarence Cagle, who served as track superintendent at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for 30 years and also was a consultant and advisor to many other major racetracks in the United States, has died. He was 88.

Cagle died Saturday of natural causes at a nursing home in Daytona Beach, Fla.

When Tony Hulman purchased the dilapidated Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945, he recruited Cagle from his job with the Hulman’s family-owned Clabber Girl Baking Powder Co. to help renovate the track in time for the Indianapolis 500 just seven months away. The track had been closed during World War II, from 1942 to early 1945, and had been totally neglected.

For the next 50 years, Cagle was a familiar figure at the track, often as not sweeping water from the racing surface on race days. He quietly went about his work, finding no detail too small for him to do, even though he had attained the rank of vice president of Speedway Corp.

“It’s my baby,” Cagle always said when asked why he often worked 20-hour days at the Speedway.

After he was married in 1963, he and his wife, Gladys, lived in a small house on the grounds where he could be close to his work.

Gradually, Cagle changed the Speedway from a broken-down wood structure into the modern steel and aluminum stadium it is today with more than 250,000 seats ringing a 2 1/2-mile track that has become one of the most family-oriented racing facilities in the world.

One of Cagle’s favorite stories was about the day he first went to the track with Speedway President Wilbur Shaw shortly after Hulman had bought the property from World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

“We unlocked the gate, and it fell down,” Cagle recalled in a 1998 interview. “Everything was rotten; there were weeds everywhere. It was a terrible mess.”

He added, however, that he knew the track was salvageable, “because Tony Hulman had bought so many broken-down things before and made them work.”

Cagle worked his entire life for the Hulman family. Born in Terra Haute, Ind., the oldest of seven children, he went to work for the Hulmans as a young boy, helping them to harvest their crops.

After completing high school, he was hired to work in their family businesses.

The only time Cagle left the Hulmans’ employ was during World War II when he was drafted into the Army, where he chauffeured generals such as Dwight D. Eisenhower and George C. Marshall around Washington, D.C. Later, Cagle was sent to Europe to become Gen. George S. Patton’s personal driver.

During his 33 months in the service, Cagle suffered wounds to his right side and lung from an exploding German artillery shell and spent nine months recovering in Army hospitals.

One of the last projects at Indianapolis was building the Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, fulfilling a dream of Hulman’s from the day he had purchased the track.

The museum opened just before Hulman’s death in October 1977. After Hulman died, Cagle remained, and in recent years he continued as an advisor on the Speedway for Hulman’s grandson, Tony George.

Cagle was inducted into the Indianapolis 500 Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000 and also was a member of the 500 Oldtimers Club.

After his semi-retirement in August 1977, when he moved to Ormond Beach, Fla., he worked as an acting track superintendent for the now defunct Ontario Motor Speedway and more recently was involved in construction of the Kansas Speedway, which opened in 2001.

A close friend of Bill France Sr., Cagle also worked as a troubleshooter for the France family at NASCAR tracks until he was hospitalized in May.

Survivors include his wife, two stepdaughters, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one sister.

A memorial service will be held Friday at the Ormond Funeral Home in Ormond Beach. Another memorial service is being planned for Indianapolis.