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I consider myself a traditionalist. Some say I’m just old and like old things. While that’s really quite true, as AJ Foyt would say – I was a traditionalist even as a teenager. I was told I am old in my ways, many times while I was in college. That’s partly where my “Change is Bad” mantra comes from.

Traditionalists do not like to see familiar landmarks go away. Every time a chunk of history is wiped away, it’s another deep jab to my being – especially when the history involves the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s another stark reminder that everyone and everything has a finite shelf-life. Monday delivered another jab as demolition of the Mouse House began at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Many people who consider themselves serious students of the history of the Indianapolis 500 will scratch their collective heads and wonder what in the world I am talking about.

If you have ever driven down 16th Street headed west, you have driven right past the Mouse House. But it is quite certain you overlooked it, since the very imposing SE Vista Grandstand most likely had your attention as you were approaching it. While modest in stature, the house holds significant historical value when discussing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

If you google IMS Mouse House, not a whole lot comes up. I know some of the history of the place, but I’m not real sure why it is called the Mouse House. If any of you know, please share with all of us.

From what I can tell, the house may actually pre-date the track. I don’t think the house was original to the old Presley Farm, where IMS sits today; but the house was already shown as being there when the blueprints for the track were drawn up in early 1909.

T.E. “Pop” Meyers, who served as Vice-President and General Manager of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for over forty years, lived on the grounds in the Mouse House with his wife. The Speedway offices were actually downtown at that time. Donald Davidson loves to tell how every day, his wife would make breakfast for him. He would leave the house and turn west on Crawfordsville Pike, which is now 16th Street. He would make another right-hand turn and go onto the track surface. Each and every morning Pop Meyers would do one complete lap of the track, before heading east to the Speedway offices.

Pop Meyers was still living in the house when he died in February of 1954.

More recently, the Mouse House served as Mari Hulman George’s home for the Month of May for most of her adult life. Some have speculated that Mari’s housekeeping skills may have been suspect, and that the house was filled with mice as a consequence. Not surprisingly, the Hulman-George family has refuted that theory.

Over the last couple of days, I have called, texted and e-mailed several people for an explanation of why this modest home that sits in what is now essentially a parking lot, is called the Mouse House. No one really seems to know. Monday evening, I even e-mailed Donald Davidson and asked him. He finally responded on Tuesday morning, but it sounded as if he really wasn’t completely sure. His response was; “I believe it is because a critter or two were supposedly spotted in there years ago”. Hmmm…Maybe there was something about Mari’s housekeeping habits, after all.

But the most pressing question is not why it was called the Mouse House. The biggest question is why was it torn down?

I realize that nothing lasts forever. Sometimes, things have to be removed in the name of progress. Yes, the house looked out of place, surrounded by a parking lot with the Turn Two grandstands just a stone’s throw away. But there was over a century of history in that house. Two of some of the more iconic figures in the fabric of IMS took up residence in that house.

Pop Meyers’ tenure as IMS General Manager spanned three owners – Carl Fisher, Eddie Rickenbacker and Tony Hulman. My understanding is that Meyers lived in that house through his entire tenure until his death in 1954. It was about this time that Mari Hulman George was entering adulthood. In fact, she and Elmer George were married just three years later and always claimed the Mouse House as a residence. Supposedly, she still lived there throughout each Month of May until the last few years before her death in November of 2018.

Now, for whatever reason, the Mouse House is being razed this week. I am sure there is a good reason for it, and we will probably learn why over the next few months; but it baffles me why Roger Penske would demolish such a tangible piece of IMS history. Perhaps it was in disrepair, or the cost to maintain it simply didn’t justify saving it.

I haven’t questioned much that Roger Penske has done since he bought the place a little more than a year ago. Lord knows that he is having to keep more of a watchful eye on the bottom line than he expected this time last year. That’s what missing out on the bulk of a year’s worth of ticket revenue can do to you. So was the Mouse House a victim of COVID-19, or was it doomed to be demolished anyway?

Something outstanding may be going on the site where the Mouse House stood for over a century. Perhaps they are going to construct a much-needed new museum in that parking area, that will be much bigger and better than its outdated predecessor that currently sits inside Turn Two. Time will tell, but this week the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is losing one of the landmarks that just oozes history. I find that just a little sad.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on November 18, 2020 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.