Ralph Teetor and Jay Smith in rear of Miss Detroit II.

News Release

SYRACUSE — The Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum is offering an advance preview of “Blind Logic,” a new documentary about Ralph Teetor, a part-time resident of Syracuse and Lake Wawasee. The free showing will be at the historic Pickwick Theater at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 23. Doors open at 6 p.m. The museum will accept freewill donations.

Teetor and his family resided in Hagerstown, but first came to Syracuse in 1915. Seeking a more convenient place to keep their speedboat, it wasn’t long before his parents bought a cottage on Lake Wawasee, beginning more than a century of the family summering on the lake. His great-grandchildren still enjoy the property today.

Although blind from an early age, he preferred not to discuss his disability. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1912, and later a master’s degree in 1930. Teetor’s highly developed sense of touch proved helpful in providing a technique for balancing steam turbine rotors used in Navy torpedo-boat destroyers during World War I.

Between college graduation in 1912 and his marriage in 1922, Teetor pursued a hobby of building motorboats. In 1914, Teetor tested his first boat on Lake Wawasee — a 22-foot speedboat with a four-cylinder Teetor-Hartley engine.

Several years later, he bought a 22-foot racing boat named “Miss Detroit II” whose hull was built by Chris and Jan Smith, founders of Chris Craft Boat Company, for Garfield “Gar” Wood. Teetor and the Smiths became good friends, engineering boat engines for speed and smooth performance.

On Lake Wawasee “Miss Detroit II” achieved speeds exceeding 70 miles an hour. The next year, Teetor built a 30 foot boat named “Siren” powered by two 6-cylinder engines.

During this time, the Teetor family had been staying at the Sargent Hotel on Lake Wawasee. Teetor convinced his father they needed better facilities for keeping boats on the lake, so his parents bought a cottage in the early 1920s.

Teetor took a springtime trip to Florida with his good friend and fellow inventor Clessie Cummins, who was developing the diesel engine. Early automobiles were tested on the hard sands of Daytona Beach, and Ralph usually knew exactly what the mechanical difficulty was by listening to the engine. Teetor loved to be a part of what was new, faster and possibly better in automobiles and mechanics.

Fred Duesenberg, known for his race cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, visited Lake Wawasee enjoying a ride in Ralph’s first Chris-Craft, “Siren II.” In 1931, Duesenberg brought his new supercharged Model SJ Duesenberg automobile, capable of accelerating from 0 to 100 mph in 17 seconds, to Teetor for approval and admiration.

At Teetor became well known for his unique skill in engineering and improving automobiles, he developed close relationships with officers and engineers of nearly all the automotive companies of the time: Chrysler, Studebaker, Chevrolet, Packard, Caterpillar and most notably, Charles Kettering and Ed Cole of General Motors Corporation. Teetor was elected national president of the Society of Automotive Engineers in 1936.

In 1937, Teetor served as chief steward of the Indianapolis 500.

Over the course of the summer of 1962, Teetor; Landrum Bolling, president of Earlham College; and Eli Lilly crossed Lake Wawasee by boat many times as the Lilly and Teetor homes were used to work out a plan for Earlham to take possession of the William Conner estate near Noblesville, known today as Conner Prairie living history museum.

The documentary follows the extraordinary journey of Teetor from childhood blindness through his life of fierce determination and distinctive mental vision to become an inventive, insightful leader and philanthropist. Teetor was a prolific inventor whose invention of cruise control is standard feature in every automobile sold today. His life and relationships spanned the entire period of the development of the American automobile industry. He became president of Perfect Circle Piston Ring Corportation in Hagerstown, which was later sold to the Dana Corporation.

The documentary will touch on his relationship with the leaders of industry during the early period of the auto industry including Henry Ford, Duesenburg, Eddie Rickenbacker and others. He was a regular feature at the famed Indianapolis 500 where his skills were used by many, helping them produce the most powerful racing machines possible.

In addition to featuring the Teetor family enjoying Lake Wawasee, the film credits include three of Dan Teetor’s grandsons who often visited the lake: Composer Jim Andron, former music director for the New Christy Minstrels; Photo Editor Daniel Teetor; and Writer, Director and Producer Jack Teetor.

A preview/trailer of the film may be viewed at: vimeo.com/manage/videos/929881992.