German based driver, who married Elfreida, the famous lady driver. Did well during his career, but is also remembered well as a promoter, car owner and car builder. Became an American citizen, but died in his place of birth, after suffering a heart-attack, whilst visiting his sister. Often referred to as Johnnie Mais, Mais was born as Johann Anton Mais. He initially worked as a mechanic for Mercedes before emigrating from Bremen to New York in 1909. He moved to Indianapolis and worked for the Hudson Motor Car Company, working on truck design, before founding his own motor truck company in Rochester, Indiana, later that year. In 1914, Mais became a dealer for Imp and Mercury cyclecars before then tweaking his own Mercer car to enter it in the Indianapolis 500 in 1915. Mais then lived in Salina and Dodge City in Kansas, Amarillo and San Antonio in Texas and then Phoenix, Arizona. In San Antonio, Johnnie became the Texas dealer for Winfield carburetors, as well as working as a mechanic. Mais's first ever race was the Indianapolis 500; his last was a dirt oval race in 1926 in Texas. After that, Mais moved to Kansas City, Missouri, Dallas, Texas (where John became a US Citizen), Atlanta, Georgia (Again Mais was the distributor for Winfield). John's first wife died in a stunt crash, but his second, Juanita, died in 1995, just 9 days short of her 100th birthday. Mais' travel continued; he lived in Florida, Pittsburgh, and San Diego, California. In Pittsburgh, Johnnie ran a bar to round off a remarkable working life.

Biography last updated 27 May 2017