The Case #9 of William Jones is seen before the first Indianapolis 500. This was the team car of Joe Jagersberger. Jones was a Milwaukee native. - Indianapolis Motor Speedway Photo

The Joe Jagersberger Story

by Kem Robertson
5/2/2011



In the 1920s and into the 1930s early Milwaukee Mile racers that ran Model-T Ford blocks used special designed overhead valve cylinder heads that made a competitive engine from the stock flathead Model-T. There were three major manufacturers of the special heads for the Model-T. Robert Roof based in Anderson Indiana (Roof heads). In Indianapolis, the Chevrolet brothers (Arthur and Louis) produced the Frontenac and/or Fronty heads. Additionally, there was the Rajo heads built in Racine WI by Joe Jagersberger. Joe was the local merchant of speed for local racers. His racing cars and equipment were the starting point for many of early racecars of Milwaukee-based Carl and Trudy Marchese, Bill Laudon, Stan Norwicki and Russell Trudell to name a few. Rajo heads were sold all over the US and also in foreign markets.

    Joe Jagersberger as a young man. - Kem Robertson Collection
The weekend of June 2-3, Joe Jagersberger will be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame for his contributions to racing as an engine builder and manufacturer of racing equipment, but Joe was also a racer also. This is a short look at Joe's history in the sport.

Joe Jagersberger was born in Vienna Austria, February 14, 1884. The son of a baker, Joe was a mechanical prodigy and by 1896 while in his early teens after finishing our equivalent of high school, became an apprentice at Daimler Motor Works (later known as Mercedes). His mechanical aptitude landed Joe in his first race seated next to Carmelle Janatzy in a Daimler running an endurance race from Vienna to Salzburg Austria in 1897. It was Joe's job to keep the single cylinder, four-hp engine running at peak capacity. They were the only ones to finish the 90 mile race averaging 15 miles an hour.

Joe Jagersberger would be part of many races in Europe from 1897 to 1903 as a riding mechanic or driver, most of these early races were capital to capital events. It was the 1903 Gordon Bennett race in Ireland that Joe met a pair of American millionaires, John Jacob Astor (New York Fur Baron) and Harry Harkness (Vice President of Standard Oil). It was John Astor who persuaded Joe to come to New York to be his chauffeur.

Little is known of Joe Jagersberger's early racing career in America but we do know it started almost immediately after he arrived here in 1903. Joe teamed with Harry Harkness for several races in the New York area. Joe's first race in the United States was Monmouth Fair track in Long Beach, NJ. Later, Joe drove a 40 HP Mercedes up Mount Washington, NH in 20 min. and 30 seconds in the "Climb to the Clouds" race. On June 20, 1904, Joe and Harry Harkness ran the Boston to New York 254 mile race in 6 hrs and 55 min. They teamed up again later that year to run from New York to Pasadena CA in 3 weeks. Joe also drove the four-cylinder Walter Christie front-wheel drive car on the sand at Daytona Beach Florida as well as an 8 cylinder car Joe built for Charles Borden. Joe continued to build race cars, building cars for Harkness, Astor and J. C. McCoy (The Copper King). Joe also built and raced motor boats, one was the Dixie 2 owned by Ed Schroeder. In 1910 Joe rebuilt a wrecked 90 hp Mercedes automobile of Ed Schroeder and entered it in the Saturday October 8, 1910 Quaker City Motor Club Philadelphia, PA 202 Mile road course Fairmont Park race finishing third.

In 1910 the Racine, WI based J. I. Case Thrashing Machine Company entered the automobile business through a marketing arrangement with the Pierce Motor company, maker of the Pierce-Racine automobile. Case advertising manager Merrill C. Meigs persuaded Case to promote the new Case cars by developing a team of race cars. Meigs, the former publicist, sports writer, and promoter of early speed demon Barney Oldfield took on the duties of the team's manager. An all star team of drivers were hired. The 1908 AAA National champion Lewis Strang was hired as the team captain. It was through Strang that Joe Jagersberger, nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman" was hired. Louis was the nephew of Walter Christie and knew Joe from earlier racing days. Lewis knew that Joe not only was a powerful athlete, but also had the capability to build cars as well as drive them. The third member of the Case team was Milwaukeean William Jones known as "Wild Bill" Jones. The Case team of three cars was entered for the first Indianapolis 500. Strang had the pole position Jagersberger was 8th and Jones 9th for the 200 lap race. On the homestretch on lap 87 the #9 Jagersberger car had a steering component failure that splayed the front wheels shuttering the car. Riding mechanic C. L. Anderson found himself on the track causing the following Wescott driven by Harry Knight to veer into the pit area striking the #39 Fiat of Caleb Bragg and the #35 Apperson of Herb Lytle seriously injuring Knight, causing minor injuries to others, but no fatalities. The #1 Strang car had the same failure on lap 109 and the concerned Case team withdrew the Bill Jones car at on lap 122 with the concern of a third similar steering knuckle failure. Shortly after the 1911 Indy race Case purchased the "B&L" castoring front axles for its race cars. B&L claims were "it is impossible to break a steering knuckle, turning pin or spindle."

The 1911 racing season looked promising for the Wisconsin based group, but was a difficult time for the Case team. On June 8, they ran the Chicago area Algonquin Hill Climb. Joe Jagersberger finished first in two events in the #27 and the #51 Case. At the Chicago Hawthorne dirt oval on June 11th, Joe finished 2nd in the three-mile event. He went on to finish fourth in the final three-mile heat and first in the ten-mile E-class event.

Next event was in Milwaukee at Wisconsin State Fair Park where Jagersberger finished third at the June 19th event and second on June 21st. The mid-summer day of July 20th brought a blow to the Case team with the death of Lewis Strang as a result of an auto accident when his car over turned on a bridge embankment pinning Strang. Joe was a passenger in the car and sustained a sprained ankle and a bruised back. Joe and the Case team returned to racing on September 9th, 1911 in Minneapolis and later in the month in Peoria. October 30, 1911 saw the Case team leave Chicago in special rail cars for the Vanderbilt cup race in Savannah GA. Newspapers of the time noted the Case group had enough "spare parts to start an automobile factory." The Case driving team had only two drivers, Joe Jagersberger and Jay McNay of California. The first stop on this trip was for a race at Columbia SC. The team arrived November 1st and was practicing when Joe's car lost air in one of the rear tires sending Joe's Case through the board fence. Joe's riding mechanic jumped free of the car before impact receiving minor injuries, but Joe did not fair as well. Joe was first stuck in the face by one of the boards embedding Joe's goggles into his face damaging an eye. The car rolled over on Joe pinning his right leg causing a compound fracture between the knee and ankle. Months later due to complications, the right leg was amputated 5 inches below the knee. Within a month the remaining Case driver, Jay McNay would loose his life in practice crash at the Savannah road course.

Joe returned to Racine in March after a four month hospital stay in South Carolina. He now had plans to build a new car he could drive with his wooden leg. The driving plans fell through due to the long recovery time from his injuries. The accident finished Joe's career as a racing driver, but not a builder or manufacturer. Joe would continue to work for Case building race cars as he had prior to the accident and would work on other Case projects from 1912 to 1914. In June of 1915, Louis Disbrow won the first 100-mile race held at the Milwaukee Mile, driving the Jay-Eye-See Special built at the J.I. Case factory. The car was named after Mr. Case's famed trotting gelding. It was one of the most famous horses early in the twentieth century.

1914 was a new beginning for Joe Jagersberger that would impact many racers of the Model T Ford era. He left employment at Case and started the Rajo Manufacturing Company building various automotive parts and manufacturing spark plugs. By 1919, Joe had developed an overhead valve conversion for the flathead Ford block that would almost double its horsepower. The company was restructured on October 13, 1919 and Rajo Motors was incorporated with the capital stock of $25,000.00. Joe Jagersberger who didn't want to be one of the "racing joes" of his era, so the name Rajo was an abbreviation of Racine Joe.

    Joe is seen later in his life tinkering on one of his popular engine heads. - Kem Robertson Collection
Joe Jagersberger went on to design and manufacture the following heads for the Model T Ford. Almost all the heads were 8 valve cylinder heads and were used with great success in racing.

Model 30-4 exhaust ports and 1 intake all on the right side of the head

1920 Model 31-2 intakes on the right and 4 exhaust on the left this head was discontinued in 1924. This was the cylinder head that Noel Bullock used to win the 1922 Pikes Peak race.

Model 35C or "Improved Rajo Valve-In-Head"-2 intakes and 3 exhaust ports on the right side. After 1924 this head was known as the Model C.

Model A-4 Valve "F" head 2 exhausts on the right side of the head, used the stock intake ports in the block.

Model B-2 intakes on the right and 4 exhaust on the left side of the head. There are three versions of this head. The BB had higher compression. The BB-R had high compression and two plugs per cylinder.

1923 or early 1924 Joe developed a double overhead cam head design and casting patterns. This was sold to Jack Gallivan who modified it to produce the Gallivan DOHC. Joe Jagersberger also sold Gallivan a single overhead cam Chevrolet conversion. Later in 1925 or early 1926 Joe redesigned this head and produced at least one DOHC Rajo that aforementioned Russell Trudell raced with some success.

Joe continued to dabble in racing and also owned a service station in Racine, WI. Joe passed away in 1953.