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{{Infobox person
| name =Ralph De Palma
| image =RalphDePalmaTomAlleyElginIL.jpg
| caption =DePalma with his riding mechanic Tom Alley in August 1912
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1882|12|18}}
| birth_place = Biccari, Italy
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|3|31|1882|12|18}}
| death_place = South Pasadena, California
| death_cause = Cancer
| nationality = Italian-American
| known_for =[[1915 Indianapolis 500]]
}}
[[File:DePalma1912.jpg|thumb|right|DePalma and his riding mechanic pushing their car at the [[1912 Indianapolis 500]] ]]
[[File:1912 Indianapolis 500, Ralph DePalma pushing his car.jpg|thumb|DePalma and his riding mechanic pushing their car at the [[1912 Indianapolis 500]] ]]
[[File:Ralph DePalma in his Packard 905.jpg|thumb|right|Ralph DePalma and his Packard V-12 in 1919]]
[[File:Rc05640.jpg|thumb|right|DePalma in his Packard '905' Special in 1919]]
[[File:N041916.jpg|thumb|right|DePalma in a crowd after setting the World speed record in 1919]]
'''Raffaele "Ralph" De Palma''' (December 18, 1882 – March 31, 1956) was an Italian-American racecar driving champion who won the [[1915 Indianapolis 500]]. His entry at the [[International Motorsports Hall of Fame]] estimates that he won about 2,000 races.<ref name="IMHoF">{{cite web|url=http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1991/Ralph_Depalma_main.htm|title=Biography|publisher=[[International Motorsports Hall of Fame]]|accessdate=2009-02-05}}</ref> DePalma won the 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911 American AAA national dirt track championships<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /> and is credited with winning 24 [[American Championship Car Racing|American Champ car]] races.<ref name="MHoFoA" /> He won the Canadian national championship in 1929.<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /> DePalma estimated that he had earned $1.5 million by 1934 after racing for 27 years.<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /> He is inducted in numerous halls of fame. He competed on [[board track racing|boards]] and [[dirt track racing|dirt]] [[road course]]s and ovals.<ref name="MHoFoA" />
==Biography==
Born in Biccari, Apulia, Italy, DePalma's family emigrated to the United States in 1893.<ref name="IMHoF" /> As a young man he tried bicycle racing with mixed success, but at the age of twenty-two he began racing motorcycles before switching to the automobile dirt track racing circuit in 1909, the year that the [[American Automobile Association]] established the [[American Championship Car Racing|national driving championship]].
DePalma was immediately successful in car racing. In 1911, DePalma won the first [[Milwaukee Mile]]<ref>[http://www.milwaukeemile.com/track_info/aboutEarlyYears.asp Early years at the Milwaukee Mile]</ref> Championship Car race. However, he is still remembered for the dramatic manner in which he lost the [[1912 Indianapolis 500]]. After leading the race since the third lap, for some 196 of the 200 laps, his [[Mercedes-Benz|Mercedes]] cracked a piston and with only 2 laps remaining, he and his mechanic had to push the car across the finish line to take eleventh place.<ref name="MHoFoA" /> At that time, only cars completing the full 200 laps received any prize money. This Mercedes remains on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
He went on to earn the U.S. national driving championship that year,<ref name="IMHoF" /> but was almost killed in an accident at on October 5 at the Grand Prize held in a road course in Milwaukee. After being impaled by a corn stalk, he was hospitalized for 11 weeks;<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /> he recovered and was back to racing the following spring.
In 1912 and again in 1914, DePalma won the Elgin Trophy at Elgin, Illinois<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /> and in 1914 he scored what he called his greatest victory when he beat [[Barney Oldfield]] to capture the [[Vanderbilt Cup]] on the roads of Santa Monica, California.<ref name="MHoFoA" /> He entered the [[1914 Indianapolis 500]] but was not able to finish the course.
DePalma had been let go by the [[Mercer (car)|Mercer Automobile Co.]] racing team in favor of Barney Oldfield.<ref name="IMHoF" /> In a Mercedes "Gray Ghost," he showed he was a master tactician in beating Oldfield's much faster car.<ref name="MHoFoA" /> He ended 1914 by winning his second U.S. national driving championship.<ref name="IMHoF" /> The following year, 1915, he drove to victory at [[1915 Indianapolis 500]] with a Mercedes 4.5 liter Gp car.
DePalma was an intense competitor but one of the most popular racers with his fellow drivers and the fans because of his good sportsmanship, a quality he displayed on and off the track. In June 1917 he lost to [[Barney Oldfield]] in a series of 10 to 25 mile match races at the [[Milwaukee Mile]]. On February 12, 1919 at [[Daytona Beach Road Course|Daytona Beach, Florida]], he drove a [[Packard]] to a world speed record of {{convert|149.875|mi/h|km/h|3|abbr=on}} over a measured mile (1.6 km).<ref name="MHoFoA" /> International competition began following the adoption of the three liter engine limit in the U.S. and [[Europe]] in 1920. DePalma began the year driving for the French manufacturer, [[Ballot (automobile)|Ballot]]. His Ballot vehicle won the pole position for the 1920 Indy race<ref name="brock2">[[Brock Yates|Yates, Brock]] The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Speedway. 1956. Harper Bros., New York. Page 25.</ref> and he led for many laps<ref name="brock2" /> but bad luck dogged him in the race (faulty bearings on the Ballot) and he did not finish.<ref name="brock2" /> Then in 1921 DePalma traveled with other Americans to [[Le Mans]] to compete in the [[1921 French Grand Prix|French Grand Prix]]. There, he finished second to the [[Duesenberg]] driven by fellow American, [[James Anthony Murphy|Jimmy Murphy]]. DePalma won the Canadian national championship in 1929.<ref name="MHoFoA" />
DePalma later competed in [[stock car racing|stock cars]] until he retired from racing in 1936.<ref name="IMHoF" /> In his career, he competed in 2,889 races in America and Europe and won 2,557, according to his Associated Press obituary that appeared in the Detroit Free Press on April 1, 1956.<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956">{{cite news|title=DePalma, Oldtime Racing Great, Dies|date=April 1, 1956|publisher=[[Detroit Free Press]]|accessdate=5 March 2010}}</ref> He was an honorary referee for the Indianapolis 500, the last time in 1954.<ref name="MHoFoA" />
==Death==
He died at his home in South Pasadena, California, from cancer on March 31, 1956 at age 73.<ref name="DetroitFreePressApril11956" /><ref>{{cite news |author=Associated Press |coauthors= |title=Ralph De Palma, Noted Racer, Dies. Driver Triumphed in 1915 at Indianapolis. Elected to Sport's Hall of Fame |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D16F93F5F157A93C3A9178FD85F428585F9 |quote=Ralph De Palma, pioneer auto racer who probably won more races than any other driver in history, died today of cancer. His age was 72. ... De Palma, winner of the Indianapolis classic in 1915 and twice national champion in the era of Barney Oldfield and Eddie Rickenbacker, had been ailing for ... |newspaper=New York Times |date=April 1, 1956 |accessdate=2012-10-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author= |coauthors= |title=Death Comes to DePalma. Famed Racing Driver Succumbs to Cancer |url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/429322881.html?dids=429322881:429322881&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+01,+1956&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Death+Comes+to+DePalma&pqatl=google |quote=Ralph DePalma, whose blazing career as an automobile racer won him acclaim as one of the greatest drivers of all time, died yesterday at his South Pasadena home at 73 years of age. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=April 1, 1956 |accessdate=2010-07-24 }}</ref> He was interred in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
==Media appearances==
Ralph DePalma had a small role in the 1920 Hollywood film, ''High Speed'' and in 1924 played the part of the Champion in an action/drama written by Wilfred Lucas titled ''Racing for Life''. In 1923, he established the DePalma Manufacturing Company in Detroit to build race cars and engines for automobiles and aircraft.
==Family==
DePalma was the brother of 500 competitor [[John DePalma]]<ref>[http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com:8080/var/assets/stats/500/2011-family-participation.pdf Indianapolis 500 - Family Participation]</ref> and the uncle of 1925 Indy winner [[Peter DePaolo]].<ref>Yates, Brock The Indianapolis 500: The Story of the Speedway. 1956. Page 27.</ref> De Palma obtained his American citizenship in 1920 (available at<ref>http://www.ancestry.com</ref>), and as such he is considered the second non-American driver to win the Indianapolis 500 after [[Jules Goux]].
==Awards==
*In 1973, he was made a posthumous member of the [[Automotive Hall of Fame]] in Dearborn, Michigan.
*In 1991, he was inducted into the [[International Motorsports Hall of Fame]].<ref name="IMHoF" />
*He was named to the [[National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum|National Sprint Car Hall of Fame]] in 1991.
*He was inducted in the [[Motorsports Hall of Fame of America]] in 1992.<ref name="MHoFoA" />
==Indianapolis 500 results==
{{col-begin|width=auto}}
{{col-break}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Year
!Car
!Start
!Qual
!Rank
!Finish
!Laps
!Led
!Retired
|-
![[1911 Indianapolis 500|1911]]
|2
|2
|—
|12
|6
|200
|4
|Running
|-
![[1912 Indianapolis 500|1912]]
|4
|4
|86.020
|5
|11
|198
|196
|Rod
|-
![[1913 Indianapolis 500|1913]]
|21
|12
|76.300
|24
|23
|15
|0
|Bearing
|-
![[1915 Indianapolis 500|1915]]
|2
|2
|98.580
|2
|style="background:green;color:white"|1
|200
|132
|Running
|-
![[1919 Indianapolis 500|1919]]
|4
|4
|98.200
|10
|6
|200
|93
|Running
|-
![[1920 Indianapolis 500|1920]]
|2
|style="background:green;color:white"|1
|99.150
|style="background:green;color:white"|1
|5
|200
|79
|Running
|-
![[1921 Indianapolis 500|1921]]
|4
|style="background:green;color:white"|1
|100.750
|style="background:green;color:white"|1
|12
|112
|108
|Rod
|-
![[1922 Indianapolis 500|1922]]
|17
|3
|99.550
|3
|4
|200
|0
|Running
|-
![[1923 Indianapolis 500|1923]]
|2
|11
|100.420
|5
|15
|69
|0
|Head gasket
|-
![[1925 Indianapolis 500|1925]]
|8
|18
|108.607
|6
|7
|200
|0
|Running
|-
|colspan=6|'''Totals'''
|1594
|612
|
|}
{{col-break|gap=1em}}
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Starts
|10
|-
!Poles
|2
|-
!Front Row
|5
|-
!Wins
|1
|-
!Top 5
|3
|-
!Top 10
|6
|-
!Retired
|4
|}
{{col-end}}
*DePalma's total of 613 laps led stood as the all time Indy lap leader record until bested by [[Al Unser]] on the 200th lap of the [[1987 Indianapolis 500]].<ref name="MHoFoA">{{cite web|url=http://www.mshf.com/index.htm?/hof/depalma_ralph.htm|title=Biography|year=1992|publisher=[[Motorsports Hall of Fame of America]]|accessdate=2009-02-05}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://www.historicracing.com/drivers_alpha.cfm?driverID=1687&AlphaIndex=D Profile on Historic Racing]
* [http://thegreatest33.com/default.aspx#selecteddrivers?s=ralph_depalma The Greatest 33]
{{s-start}}
{{succession box|before=[[René Thomas (France)|René Thomas]]|title=[[List of Indianapolis 500 winners|Indianapolis 500 Winner]]|years=[[1915 Indianapolis 500|1915]]|after=[[Dario Resta]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Indy 500 winners}}
{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = DePalma, Ralph
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = American racing driver
| DATE OF BIRTH = December 18, 1882
| PLACE OF BIRTH = Biccari, Italy
| DATE OF DEATH = March 31, 1956
| PLACE OF DEATH = South Pasadena, California
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:DePalma, Ralph}}
{{Wikipedia}}