Features VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1965 and older only please.

If that car once had a V-8, it wasn't a V8-60. It's a sprint car which would have had the bigger 85hp V8.

 

SANTA MARIA RACEWAY IN CA ANNOUNCED THEIR PERMANENT CLOSING AS OF TODAY DUE TO BEING UNABLE TO CONTINUE TO AFFORD THE LEGAL EXPENSES REQUIRED TO STAY IN OPERATION. RIP TO ANOTHER RACING VENUE!!! Western Racing Association(vintage open wheel vehicles) has participated in many programs at this track for many years.

 

Well that's a damn shame. I ran my midget there many times with WRA. Perfect size and shape dirt oval. It will be missed.

 

Jets are actually sized for the max fuel requirements at WOT, which are even richer than the numbers 28dreyer quoted, which are the ratios for a stoichiometric mixture. WOT mixtures need to be even richer than that. For example, on gasoline if the stoich ratio is 14.7:1 the leanest fuel for best torque (LBT) will be around 11.5 - 12.5:1 or so, depending on factors such as manifolding and fuel delivery design.
Here's a couple of handy charts that you can use to get a relative idea of the amount of different fuels required, and the heating value of each.



EDIT 6/'24: My name is on the top of the chart because I wanted my copy returned when I loaned it out. In no way do I want to take credit for authoring this report.

 

BTW, check out the stoich values for nitro!
1.7:1
And in a T/F motor the mixture could get as rich as 1.1:1 to prevent a meltdown. Reminds me of the comment a fellow drag racer said to me, "Sonny, if you see the flames disappear from the headers during a run the engine is going lean. DUCK!"

Just to be clear, I did not author the paper which shows the racing fuel data.

 

I love this, any chance of getting a higher resolution scan... Please. My old eyes are having a bit of a problem.

 

I came across this picture in a "girls posing with cars" thread somewhere and really liked the car pictured. I got lost in the 845-pages of Sprint Cars, so decided to just post the pic and see if anyone has any information on it.
Thanks all ...

 

Jeri May in Hoffer's #67 - current owner David Rex - Williamsburg Virginia
HWR - Hoffer's White Rocket at Memorial Day race, Altamont… | Flickr

 

Missing photo

 

This is the best thread on the hole Hamb.

 

I think this is a Josh Shaw car

 

Can anyone help me to identify this in/out box that is in my vintage sprint car, please? Even better, tell me where I can find a clutch assembly for it?
Mark

 

Possible the driver was Charles Miller from Milroy, IN. I find only 1938 their names at Colombus and Franklin CSRA events also twice at Osgood local events at the end of August and Labor Day.

 

I’m not a sprint car guy but what I’m seeing is a brake pedal on the left and a hole in the front of the in & out box where a cross shaft for a clutch could go. I have no idea who made your box, it doesn’t appear to be a Culbert Automotive piece, but regardless, your engine is mounted at the rear with a motor plate and there is a thick plate that the in & out box is bolted to, you have no bell housing.
I think what you have is a dog clutch, the lever pushes the mating part into the other half of the dog clutch that is solidly bolted to the crank flange. There is no flywheel that would accept a clutch.
You engage the dog, the push truck moves the car and when oil pressure is built up you hit the switch and the magneto fires the engine. Get in trouble, or the race ends then you disengage the dog clutch and if you are really good you might get the dog re-engaged by matching RPM to speed like with an old non-synchro transmission.

 

You are correct. This is the best drawing i have found:

What I would like to do is try and find the necessary parts to fit a clutch to it. Or even a suitable replacement gearbox. Winters make a box called the 'Phoenix', with internal hydraulic clutch but apparently they don't have the parts to make one (and no idea when those parts will be available). If i could find a Phoenix box, it looks roughly the right size and would solve my problem of not being able to run the car without a push vehicle.

 

Is there a way to start your engine without a push off? Starter motor?

 

No, there is no starter and nowhere to mount one. The only way to start it is as Fordors described in post #25336

 

Call me "a little-slow" but......
You get a push start....with the clutch engaged??...build oil pressure...cut on ignition...engine fires and UR off! 1:1 ratio and whatever rear gear reduction you have.
Sooo how do you line up (with the other cars) in your positions to start the race??......What about a caution flag?...do you make pit stops?? Is there enough torque to start from a complete stop?? Or do you need a 'pusher' each time?
Just what is the procedure from engine firing to finishing the race?
Thanx in advance!
6sally6

 

Rolling start i guess...

 

A buddy of mine has a vintage sprint car / modified that he is restoring, this is a car that his dad crewed on back in the 60's and 70's but sadly his father passed away about ten years ago. He is looking to see if anyone recognizes the car from its early photos when it was cageless and can find info on the original builder. The car was purchased and raced by John Albrechtsen of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada some time in the mid 60's, but he doesn't have any info prior to it coming to Canada. It was raced all over Canada and the U.S. in a cageless, caged and winged configuration and believe it was raced in the 1971 little Indy 500. Some interesting features that may help identify it are the tail, which is more wedge-shaped like an Indy roadster than a round sprint car tail.

 

Some time in the late 60's or very early 70's the car was repainted red and was converted from a transverse leaf front end to a torsion bar front suspension iI have been told it raced on paved and dirt ovals.

 

this is the car as it sits right now, he has the body and quite a few suspension components. the original roll bar is in place but the braces rearward have been cut off

 

some of the photos are from the IMCA races at the Minnesota State Fair late 60s early 70

 

Most sprint cars do not have a clutch. The input shaft of the in & out box splines into a coupler bolted to the crankshaft. You put it in gear and get push started. You line up while circling the track at an idle. When everyone is in position you circle until the flagman gives you the green flag. On yellow flags you circle the track. If you have to stop dead, you must be pushed to restart. There is plenty of torque to take off like a jet from a rolling idle.

There are rarely pit stops in sprint car races. However, the Little 500 in Anderson, IN does have pit stops. The driver must shut the engine off to be refueled and I think that now he has to get out of the car. They have push trucks ready to restart the car.

 

OK thanks..........so the driver just "jambs" the in & out box stick and it kinda grinds until it engages?! Then to stop just pull it outta gear and brake to a stop?
Pretty simple.
thanx
6sally6