1925 photo via Kristopher Strebe

An Iceboater at Indy? The Mel Jones Story

Until recently, few in the sailing or iceboating worlds knew that one of our own, Mel Jones, raced in the 1925 Indianapolis 500. As far as we know, he remains the only iceboater and A Scow sailor to have ever taken the starting flag at Indy.

That remarkable fact came to light thanks to Kristopher Strebe, a racing historian from Seattle and native of Janesville, Wisconsin. Kristopher has made it his mission to uncover the full biographical details of every driver who has competed in the Indianapolis 500.

A few days ago, Kristopher contacted me to ask if I had ever seen a photograph of Mel Jones. Fortunately, the Carl Bernard scrapbook provided what we needed, as Carl had pasted a large picture of Mel on one of its pages.

Kristopher also sent two black and white images from the 1925 Indy 500, one of a driver seated in car number 7 and another standing trackside. He had a hunch that the man in the photos might be Mel, the longtime sailmaker and a former Commodore of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club.

When we compared the photographs, it became clear that the man in the 1925 image was Mel Jones. Lake Geneva Yacht Club members Ellen Bentsen and Susie Pegel, both of whom knew Mel personally, immediately recognized him. Additional details from the LGYC yearbook and sailing community archives began to align. Kristopher’s research, combined with local knowledge, confirmed what none of us had known before: Mel Jones took the start of the 1925 Indianapolis 500, driving in relief for car owner Harold John Skelly.

Mel Jones: Sailmaker, Iceboater, and Indy Driver

Melville C Jones was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1901. A sailor from a young age, he raced A Scows and iceboats out of the Lake Geneva Yacht Club and eventually became a respected sailmaker with Murphy and Nye, Joy Brothers, and later his own loft, Jones Brothers. He was a charter member of the Skeeter Iceboat Club, sailed a Skeeter named GREEN GHOST, and served as Commodore of the Northwest Ice Yachting Association in 1947.

But in 1925, his name briefly surfaced in another arena: automobile racing. That year, a 21-year-old named Harold John Skelly built and entered a car for the Indianapolis 500, powered by a Frontenac Ford engine. Skelly, also from Oak Park, was a student of engineering and had no prior racing experience. He qualified impressively at over 88 miles per hour, but on race day, the track physician ruled him ineligible to compete due to a heart condition.

Mel Jones took his place behind the wheel.

Official records confirm that Jones started the race in car number 7 and completed about 30 laps before the car retired with mechanical trouble. His participation was so under the radar that many accounts at the time overlooked the driver change entirely. Even decades later, his name remained disconnected from the event until Kristopher Strebe’s research brought it to light.

A Shared Skillset: From Iceboats to Indy

The story raised an intriguing question: how did a sailor and sailmaker end up racing at Indianapolis?

For those in the iceboating world, the answer makes perfect sense. Iceboats demand custom fabrication and mechanical intuition. Several iceboat builders including my father, Dave Rosten, Paul Krueger, and my late husband, Harry Whitehorse, have deep roots in motorsports. Metal parts for iceboats are rarely available off the shelf. Everything from the steering assembly to the runner plank hardware must be built by hand.

It is not hard to imagine Mel Jones moving comfortably between those two worlds.

Not to Be Confused with Milton Jones

It is worth noting that Melville C Jones is not the same person as Milton Jones, another early Indy driver who was fatally injured during practice for the 1932 Indianapolis 500. The two men have occasionally been confused in historical references, but they were entirely separate individuals. UPDATE: “Mel and Milton Jones were confused for so long because most documents and reports referred to them simply as M.C. Jones.” Kristopher Strebe. Mel Jones raced only in 1925 and lived a long life devoted to sailing, sailmaking, and the Lake Geneva community.

Who Built the Car?

One mystery remains. According to the 1983 Lake Geneva Yacht Club yearbook, Mel Jones was the “designer and builder of an Indianapolis 500 race car which finished first among the independent builders at the 1925 time trials.” Newspaper accounts from the time, however, credit Skelly as the car’s builder. It is possible both men were involved. Skelly had a technical education, and Mel certainly had the hands-on experience and design background to contribute meaningfully.

For now, the question of who actually built the car remains unanswered. But one thing is certain: Mel Jones drove in the 1925 Indianapolis 500, making him the only known iceboater to have ever done so.

I am indebted to the research of Kristopher Strebe. Tip of the Helmet to Susie Pegel and Ellen Bentsen for their input.

Skelly seated in the car. Mel Jones standing far right. Photo via Kristopher Strebe.