The long life of an Alfa Romeo P3 racecar

Alfa Romeo P3 driven by Louis Tomei in the 1939 Indy 500

I came across a copy of this image in my files and thought it was interesting that this Alfa Romeo P3 Monoposto, driven by Louis Tomei, ran the same year as Wilber Shaw won the Indy 500 in a Maserati 8C. The Indianapolis 500 was truly an international race at its inception with teams such as Peugeot and Mercedes winning in the early years. As the 1920’s emerged the race was dominated by the rivalry between Miller and Duesenberg, and it was this situation that brought the rules changes in 1930 – now referred to as the “Junk Era”. These changes are credited with saving the event by lowering costs, but they also discouraged European teams. In 1937, the rules changed once again and European cars started to compete again. These European cars were most often second-hand purchases fielded by American teams as the Europeans themselves had their hands full with the outbreak of WWII.

Such is the case with this 1934 Alfa Romeo P3 (Tipo B) fielded by Frank Griswold. This car, chassis 50002, is one of thirteen P3’s built and a 2.9 liter car. Introduced in 1932, the P3 was the first single-seat Grand Prix car and was designed by Vittorio Jano. Powered by an eight-cylinder engine built of two four-cylinder blocks, each with its own Roots supercharger; the cars had immediate success. An estimated 215 horsepower and plenty of low-end torque, meant speeds in excess of 140 mph. 1933 saw Alfa Romeo hand over racing to Scuderia Ferrari, and by the following year, these cars were being eclipsed by the latest technology from Germany.

This car is said to have been sold to Count de Villapadierna in 1936. Jose de Villapadierna created Scueria Villapadierna and campaigned this car, in yellow livery, as a privateer doing the majority of the driving. Though not the most competitive car that year, Villapadierna managed to keep the car on the track and had some respectable finishes over five races.

The car was then sold to Frank T Griswold Jr. of Pennsylvania in 1939. Griswold was an aspiring race driver and had the resources to bring a car to Indy. It’s said that he showed up at the Indy 500 with his new Alfa Romeo but without a crew. Unable to qualify to drive the car, he hired Louis Tomei to drive the race. Tomei qualified 30^th at 118.426 mph and brought the car home in 15^th place. Griswold would enter the car again in 1940, driven by Al Miller, but the car would not finish. Griswold’s racing credentials would be affirmed in 1948 when he won the first post-war race in American at Watkins Glen beating out Briggs Cunningham in an Alfa Romeo 8C Touring Berlinetta.

Driver Louis Tomei, a colorful character in his own right, moved to Los Angles in the 1920s to work as a stuntman/stunt driver in motion pictures.  After earning a reputation racing on the AAA Pacific Coast circuit, he got his first Indy 500 start in 1933 and would start the race each year through 1946. Sadly, he was teaching Tony Curtis how to drive on the set of 1955’s Johnny Dark when he sustained a head injury and at the age of 45.

The car passed from Griswold to Tommy Lee sometime during the war years. Lee would campaign the car, without much change, as the Don Lee Special at Indianapolis from 1946 through 1948. Amazingly this twelve-year-old racecar still qualified for the race. Twelve of the original thirteen P3s still survive, including this car which retains its paint from the Tommy Lee years.