History Classic Indy roadsters: Most beautiful oval racers ever?

In the mid-west anyway, they evolved from the fastest classes of modifieds... but were strongly influenced by their "brother" sprint cars of the day. Sooner or later, both kinds of cars became so much alike that there really wasn't any reason to have two nearly identical classes on the same bill, and the supers faded away. Now, Super-Modifieds are another whole can of worms altogether! Gary

 

replica I'm building

 

More info desired. A lot more.

 

My choice for wheels suddenly seems validated...;-)

 

just getting started, have to get motor plate and body work before i can make much more progress

 

There has been silence on this thread for quite a while, and I’m hoping that’s not for lack of interest.

I am new to this thread, and I hope you all will allow me to stretch the time span a little, to cover roadsters that appeared after 1964.

And the first that comes to mind is Mickey Thompson’s Challenger Wheel Special of 1965, which was quite extraordinary in many ways: chassis, suspension and engine, maybe transmission as well.

Does anyone have pictures, drawings, contemporary magazine articles or any other material that shows or describes that car? So far, I have seen only a couple of low resolution pictures.

And that naturally leads on to Thompson’s 1967 Wynn’s Spitfire Special, which was different again; strangely, information on this car is even harder to come by. About all I know is that it was fitted with M/T’s three-valve stock-block Chevrolet V8 and front wheel drive. But again, like all M/T’s creations, it must have been chock-full of innovations that might be apparent from pictures, drawings etc.
Thanks for your time.

 

here's some

 

At Oswego NY the super modified were modified with engine size, induction, wheelbase and weight were relaxed into a run what you brung deal. Some folks brought in repowered usac big cars (ex Indy, Sprint cars etc. Then they sprouted wings went to tube chassis (no requirement for a stock frame) tire size restrictions went away, fuel injection tion, forced induction etc started. They started building cars with engine offsets and driver location changes. If you go to the Oswego Speedway website there are quite a few historical photos illustrating the changes over the years. There are several other sites dedicated to North East supermod racing.

 

Not exactly "roadsters" just early Indy cars

Roo

 

Is this the 'Novi' I've heard so much about?

 

No it's Mickey Thompsons car 1965.

 

And that engine is a ? I see 'M/T' in some of the castings, did he make his own engine?

 

Here's one of the Novi's....

 

Wasn't Mickey's front engine car 4wd and 4 wheel steering also? I think that all of them from '65 on were aluminum blocks based on small block Chiverlays also, and those patterns were used later by Rodeck or one of the other aluminum block manufacturers. Also, Sammy Sessions drove the front engine car one year.

 

Looking good guffy! Are those Lawson's Front wheels? I bough a set but have not mounted them yet.

 

Pics of my Dad's ( now mine) Roadster Tribute car . After reading this post I think Tribute car is the best way to refer to it Mac Miller in Indy did the fiberglass and my Dad in Crawfordsville, Indiana built the rest from scratch. It's now with me in NC.

 

No texting while racing. Either that or he nodded off.

 

Red flag....just takin' a little "nap"....

 

here's a few pics of a car I loved from 2018 SpeedWeek - car set new record for class, too... Impound on pre-dawn flog to back up the qualifying run, then in staging...

 

Wow! Thank you Rootie for those wonderful pics of the Challenger Wheel Special. That will keep me busy for hours, there is so much detail. You have made my day!

 

Would the first six pics be of the same car at different times in its life?

 

They're waiting in line at Oswego to get pushed off (supers don't have starters), so he might actually BE asleep.

I know I have fallen asleep in the staging lanes while strapped into a racecar on more than one occasion.

Happens easier than you'd think, as the cars are very comfortable and you naturally get a little groggy as the tension leading up to a race bleeds off. Until someone nearby decides it's time to get some heat in the motor.

Talk about your rude awakenings.

 

He's rollin' one up

 

Thats some awesome background, in a world far far away, where I was rich, I’d build a replica!


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Mr. Miller would be glad to put one together for you. He has built several nice tribute roadsters over the years.

The roadster shown in the Bonneville pictures is one of his builds.

 

Like CoolHand. I too have fallen asleep on the false grid. You're comfy, relaxed, and calm. The wait can seem forever, the next thing you know someone is waking you up to race.

 

Dumb questions:
In the fifth pic, showing the front end, the quick-change box has a large cylindrical projection at input-shaft level, towards the right side of the car. What could this be?
And its input shaft appears to project through the casing, and could be splined. What for? The radiator appears to block straight-line access to this shaft.

 

The shaft at the rear is for a starter, and I'm guessing that cylindrical thing might be an in and out deal for the lower spur gear. So it appears that you would put the gearbox in high, with the clutch engaged and the spur gear disengaged to start it.

 

That sounds like a good guess! Thanks very much.