Team story
Origins
Myron Stevens learnt his trade in Harry Miller’s workshop, building bodywork, frames and fuel tanks from 1922. He also worked on Frank Lockhart’s Stutz Black Hawk for record attempts. When his cars entered the World Championship statistics through Indianapolis in 1950, his experience predated the championship’s creation by many years.
The Formula 1 journey
Duane Carter opened the championship period in the Belanger Indy Special in 1950. Ernie McCoy took eighth place in 1953, the best placing of that World Championship period. In 1955 Jerry Hoyt took pole in the number 23 Jim Robbins, but an oil leak stopped him after forty laps: 31st place in the result was not a finish.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Stevens
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · Indianapolis 500
Duane Carter · Indianapolis 500 1950. The recorded position is P12; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Indianapolis 500
Ernie McCoy · Indianapolis 500 1953. The recorded position is P8; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This marks the first win or podium where one exists, otherwise the highest recorded placing for this constructor.
Latest recorded appearance · Indianapolis 500
Cliff Griffith · Indianapolis 500 1956. The recorded position is P10; this number alone does not show whether the driver completed the race distance. This is the last race start attributed to this constructor in the archive, not necessarily the end of the organisation behind it.
A distinctive way of racing
The Belanger, Chapman and Ansted names in the model catalogue also reflect the owners and entries of the American specials. They are not an automatic measure of the number of cars built. Hoyt’s car was a Stevens-Offenhauser: the work on the chassis remained distinct from the engine, as well as from the owner’s sporting management.
What remains
The Indianapolis pole is the principal highlight of these appearances, which continue through to 1956. Stevens’s reputation as a constructor is nevertheless broader than his championship period. The Indianapolis 500 awarded championship points from 1950 to 1960; that does not turn his various customer cars into a European team contesting the entire Formula 1 calendar.