This year brought a change of venue for the Harry A. Miller Club annual event. It’s always held at the Milwaukee Mile but construction at the Wisconsin State Fair Park sent the event to Indianapolis Raceway Park. Traditionally held on Friday and Saturday this year it was changed to Thursday and Friday and I don’t know if it was the location or the different days but attendance of both cars and spectators was low. There may have been a race on the oval track scheduled for Saturday (?) that required the area be vacated by 7PM on Friday. Even so there were some great cars there, some previously seen and a few different ones making for a good day. This Durant had a straight eight under the hood, but unfortunately the hood was never open and I couldn’t find the owner. Durant’s were six cylinder cars and I think maybe this had a Locomobile eight since Billy Durant acquired that brand at some point. No engine shot but I thought the brake shoes were interesting. Factory original? Made for racing? I don’t know. Bob O’Connell from Ohio brought out a few cars this year, his Belanger Special is one of my favorites with the striking blue paint and real gold leaf. His Gilmore Red Lion Special is just peeking out there. Next up are a couple of Miller-Fords, ten were built under the direction of Harry Miller for the 1935 Indy 500. The car without its body was serial number 3, many of the parts were stamped with that number and according to the gentleman I spoke with that car was driven by Ted Horn. I’ve read previously that Horn did not like the quartet of experimental Strombergs and switched to the Hexagon Engineering manifold and standard 97’s. The first picture shows an oil tank up high just behind the firewall and in the second photo there’s a br*** gate valve. I’m thinking if the riding mechanic saw a drop in oil pressure he could open that valve and add oil to the crankcase. Or maybe not??? This next photo shows a Miller-Ford with its beautiful body work. The Riverside Special was another car that I didn’t see the owner around, I think it was Chrysler flathead six powered. It’s a beautiful restoration and in particular I liked the olive drab frame contrasting with the perfect body work and paint job. More to come tomorrow.
The Belanger Special, my favorite Indy Car ! https://speedwaysightings.wordpress...ns-indianapolis-500-winner-the-belanger-99-2/
I believe Miller pitched the idea of a stock block car at Indy to Tucker. Tucker being a master salesman, as evidenced by the Tucker automobile dealings of selling radios and luggage for the car, stock in the company even before the design was finalized and even dealer franchises to those wanting to “get in early” it was Preston that pitched the race cars to Edsel and other top executives. Somehow they got Henry on board, but no doubt the Old Man had a fit when the cast exhaust headers cooked the lube out of the steering boxes and the cars failed to finish the race. Preston was the brains behind finance, Harry had the concepts and with Ford machinery and likely engineering help the ten cars were built in record time, I think it was something like four months!
The real story below. They were built in 3 months. https://www.museumofamericanspeed.com/1935millerford.html
Love these Race cars!! Always a treat to see these old steeds, mechanical wonders and Beautiful works of Automotive Art. Thanks, look forward to seeing the rest.
Sure the one year I had open and was ready to go and they move it. I'll try again next year and back in Milwaukee.
Thank you for the great pics. Yet another year of not going! And here Indy was only one half the distance for me compared to Milwaukee. Dumb me!
@Fordors Thanks for the great pictures of the event. I did not make it to IRP this year but for sure I will be at the ‘Mile next July. Here is a video of the event I found last night:
Looks like a fun event. Interesting cars. Might possibility the attendance be diminishing because of the age of the participants? I'm 78 and without my scooter doing venues like this would be a struggle. Find my self trailering to more events than driving.
I brought a Nikon DSLR, took a couple of pictures with it and found it easier to just use my iPhone 14. My wife prints some of her photos and prefers her Nikons. Thanks for the compliment.
Here’s another Bob O’Connell car, the Leader Card Special built by A.J.Watson and driven by Len Sutton. I have no idea how many Indy cars Bob has but I bet there are more back home in Ohio. Lettered as the Bob Estes Special #38 there was no placard near this car and I couldn’t find any info online. Offy power, it was very well done and period correct. Here’s the Lobitz Catering Special, most likely home built with the exception of the body work. Primarily early Ford parts and it was banger powered. They are still out there, all we have to do is find them. Keith traveled to the event from New Jersey. He showed a lot of stuff and fired up this 110 Offy Midget engine but I’ll be darned if I can get the video to load Here’s a shot showing the attention to detail and machine work on this ‘50’s-‘60’s Indy roadster. The Wilwood caliper makes me wonder if it’s new construction or just a desire for different brakes than the Halibrands. I’ve shown the Gilmore Special before but it’s one of my favorites so here it is again. I’m far from being a Miller expert but I believe this V16 is 122 cu.in. and it uses four separate cylinder blocks with a common crankcase. When a rules change mandated 91.5 cu. in. all the 91’s were supercharged. The venerable flathead Ford as used in the Miller Fords had 9-1 compression from special Bohnalite (Ford’s aluminum casting supplier) heads, better cam timing and initially four carbs that were single throat like a Miller carb. Some of the cars were changed to two Strombergs as seen here. Lastly there were a few cars that were not Indy cars but still notable. One was a car that was purportedly driven by Barney Oldfield to some early speed records. That’s all and I hope to make it to the Milwaukee Mile next year. Hopefully more cars, better photo opportunities and they will be able to use the club’s tents that lend themselves to better pictures. If you can, come out to see historic cars, the changes in technology and some great, approachable people willing to answer your questions.
I watched the video and was surprised by the cars that weren't seen on Friday, or maybe they were in trailers when I was there. Nice video, thanks for posting.
Thank you for everything. Really great photography of really great cars. It was always an easy and wonderful event for me as I am just 25min. West of the Milwaukee Mile. Really missed it this year, but hope to make it in 2024. Thanks again
No doubt a lot of these guys are older but I’ve seen plenty of 40 and 50 year olds showing and driving their cars, while I did not see it on the track the guy driving the 1928 Indy 500 winning Miller looked like he was in his 40’s. Unfortunately that car went in the trailer and I didn’t get any photos. And age isn’t always a detriment, there have been 70 and 80 year old drivers on the track at every Miller Meet I’ve attended. I spoke with the owner of the Huppmobile Comet last year, I was 73 then and he had a few years on me. Oh, and he drove the car on the track this year too.
The Jalopy Journal
