History Vintage/period correct roll bar photo thread

Sorry I forgot you are so young.

 

Bruce Dostal

 

This is what the roll bar system looks like in the Track Roadsters I have built. It ties the body, at the dash to the frame, and makes a solid unit.

 

The original SWC Willys had a hoop just behind the driver that you can see slightly above the interior panel. It went through the floor on both sides and was welded to the top of the frame. A diagonal brace went down from the top into trunk area and was also welded to frame. This was the early sixties.

 

Bump for an old thread.

 

FraseBook find no history given-

 

Scary!

 

Ralph Earnhardt

 

Hello,

The top drag racers of the early time period of 1958-59 were captured in all of their racing glory. They are the only color movies of the time period at Lion’s Dragstrip and other So Cal race tracks. The Mickey Brown Oldsmobile powered FED, the Merrymen Roadster in the Modified Roadster Class and the top two mid level Modified Roadsters (the red Hunter-Hill Acala Roadster vs Jess Van Deventer SBC roadster) known from racing at other dragstrips all over.

They were all designated tops in their classes. But, as we can see, the 1958 National rules for safety weren’t quite as restrictive as the current standards for hot rod/drag car builds. The helmeted heads barely clear the top of the roll bars and if they did roll over, which luckily, none of those did, safety would be questioned.

Jnaki

So, restricted rules have their day in the limelight to have saved plenty of folks. The early rules were made for the time and were gently increased to protect the racers as the speeds got faster. yes, all race cars are exposed to extremes in speed and handling. So, great protection is necessary. The best thing for drag racers was a progression of designs to help keep the drivers safe and out of harms way.

They are/were period correct roll bars that were approved from the strict (for the times)technical committees.

Here is one last full sound film shot during the Summer of 1959 and the original sound came from the So Cal FED racing at the September 59 U.S. Nationals in Detroit. The FED was well built, but the roll bar left much to be desired... YRMV

The H&H garage MEL supercharged motor FED at Lion’s Dragstrip

 

DON'T WORRY 'BOUT THE WELDS, i'M GONNA GRIND THEM AND SMOOTH THEM WITH BONDO!!!

 

Interweb finds no information-

 

Goober and Goober Welding LLC.

 

at least no one was shooting back

 

sidebars

Q: what are the bars called between front & rear wheels [open wheel car]?

i didn't want to start another thread; thanks.

 

They go by several names-

Nerf bars

Rub Rails

or simply Side Bars

 

Ralph Earnhardt.

You may have heard his son and grandson-

Ralph Dale Earnhardt and Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Yes both of their first names are Ralph!

 

That bottom picture looks like something out of Don Radbruch's book "Roaring Roadsters" !

 

that's the one for me; thanks.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=750859801047570

 

interesting. from some reading, i was under the impression all "armor" had to be in round tubes.

really quite a beautiful clean up on ol' 43; thanks.

 

Many cars used square tubing

Modern clone of an early 60's Lou Lazzaro N.A.S.C.A.R Sportsman, square tube roll cage built like the original car

Bruce Dostal's NASCAR Sportsman-

Bruce flipped the car at Fonda; at one point he was looking down at the flagger!

Devil's Bowl Texas Super Mod-

The main structure of my cage is 1.75" D.O.M., I did work a little 1.75 square tubing in.