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

Just a few photos for you roadster fans..........Tom Bliss

 

You have any Conley pics?
Dave

 

" John Conley,"........... This was the same car (different body) that Jack ran on the Champ trail in the early 60's. Ugly but real FAST!! R. Nielson photo/Retro rockets

 

Mac, thanks for the info on the Iddings. I loved watching that car. Thanks for the photos, Rootie. Gonna put a couple on my screen saver slideshow.

 

Here is a photo I took of LIL John at the Owego oldtimers this past summer. As always a true showman and great story teller.

 

The Conley name rings a bell, was he the one building the monster small blocks, that kicked ass, back east in the early 70s?

 

That chevy II re pop looks good. I know this might sound sacrilegious, but I am toying around with the idea of putting a mini sprint motorcycle engine in my midget. Not exactly as sexy as a chevy II but it will give me self start and a clutch for easy driving around "town". The horse power really isn't that differant and I can still have injector stacks on one side and headers out the other.

 

Thats the man... my old man taught conley how to machine stuff and they worked together on race motors for quite a while till jack went out on his own.
I haven seen him since dads funeral 2 years ago january. Ive called but havent got hooked up.. He has some shit my old man made for him to work on offys and me and my kids want to look at the stuff for old times sake.. Jack is 70 sumpin now but still busy and its all about makin a dollar .. Ive been told he has a farm with a barn with all his old cars in it but ive never confirmed that but if its true id sure like to see it.. Sandusky speedway i think it was the year after jack retired from racing. I was up at his shop in brighton,michigan and there was a kid tig welding headers on a super and i asked ,, Didnt jack retire? The kid said yup but they been talkin shit about him at the track so he is going back one more time... Well he went back and kick their asses .... Then retired again.. I got a lot more stories about jack.. Some great ones..
Dave

 

I have been wanting a vintage midget for the last 20 years, and this post inspired me to buy one! I have just purchased a 1947 Kurtis midget (V-8 60, motor was built by Joe Boghosian), chassis #161. I have been told it is listed in the Kurtis geneology book but the history was only traced back to Eli Vukovich, but when I picked up the car, the late owners nephew gave me some earlier pictures of prior drivers and also each driver sitting in the restored car (as it looks now). The picture of the restored car lifting the left front was taken at Madera Ca. with Jim Lynch driving, the rest of the photos are in what I believe to be in order from the oldest to the most current (but, again, I could easily be wrong!) I would like to hear from anyone that can tell me anything about the drivers or the tracks the pictures were taken. Thanks in advance to all!

 

Actually, I've been kinda toying with a similar idea. Back in the 80s I sold off most of the drivetrain parts from my 70s built midget but ended up keeping the frame and misc. parts. In the 90s I converted it to a midrail mini sprint, but made sure not to butcher it to where I couldn't put it back to its original config. easily. Anyway, I still have the frame hanging in the rafters and have been thinking of puting it back to original and running a T.Q. midget drivetrain with the 70s style LTC/Edmunds bodywork.

 

Sounds like quite a character, your dad must of taught him well, I remember hearing/reading about him building 430+ c.i. sbc iron blocks (or some crazy shit like that) back then.

 

What a beauty! I'm quite jealous. With Calif. being the epicenter of midget racing in the 40s-50s I've got to believe you should be able to track down all it's history without too much problem. The WRA, BCRA-vintage and others out there are real active orgs. with lots of resources.

 

One quick one.. Years ago at flat rock speedway in michigan .. lee petty, all the big guys were there... Jack beat em all. They couldnt believe it so they towed the car to a dealership and pulled a head to cc the thing... It all looked good so they payed him his money and he told dad get the car outta here... Like 30 years later he told dad it was a good thing they didnt check the other side of the engine
Dave

 

I am working on restoring the Kenny Weld roadster sprinter that he raced from 1968 to 1970.
Would there be anyone that may have photos or info on the car. It was raced with the number 31 and then 91 by Kenny in the east and then went to Devils Bowl for the rest of this life as the number 22 car.

thanks for any info.

 

This one?

 

No - He's talking about the #31 Don Rice Ford.
I have some color photos of it somewhere.

 

Hope this helps, I have a new fiberglass tail for this style car if you need one. Tom Bliss

 

This one is listed kinda funny on Ebay.. It might get missed...


..but the way its set up, nobody is gonna steel it. $65,000 or make offer.

BEAUTIFUL car non the less.

Looks like there's one in front of it as well.. Hmmm????

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Othe...oryZ6472QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Here is a riddle for you guys... What is the Indianapolis 500 Brass Hammer? There is one on ebay for $240 AND it has a broken handle. Any thoughts?

My mother and I came across on while going through the garage.

 

Brass hammers were used to remove and tighten wheel knockoffs at one time. Why Indy 500-(?)- why$240-(?)- /Got a ebay item #?

 

Man oh Man, I've got a drawer full of those Indy Brass Hammers! I think I will sell them and Retire LOL
"Doc" Parsons

 

This is the car at Olympic Stadium in Kansas City with Jerry Weld in 1967.

Curt Grogan

 

Have these been posted yet ?
Ray F. Kuns K8 Special, 1939

 

I have a lead on a CAE car. How can I tell if its a copy or the real factory car ? I know they [CAE] sold plans. The man said it was orignally from calif and then moved to Indiana. now its in a collection in ky.he wants to down size. He said it was open drive shaft with a in and out box. This threw me off as I thought the CAE were closed. also has 1 carb not injected. Before I drive a 900 mile round trip tell me somthing.. that way I know what I am looking at. Thank You very much for any help. Bobby..

 

What year was it built? This is a pic of a mid-60s CAE single tube frame, but of course builders constantly changed designs over the years. If it is a factory frame it may still have the s/n tag on it, but they have a way of getting lost over the years. Generally speaking, open drives were used when there was a lot of offset in the rear and wouldn't rule out it being a CAE. Maybe pm Corngrower32, (Josh) he may be aware of the collector/car as he is in that general area.?

 

I've never seen them, but they are way cool, Thanks!

 

Im heading to eldora at 9 am on the harley .. anyone else going ??? we should be camped on the track side of the road .. silver colorado 4 door and a pop up with a black and a burgundy harley. (Both baggers)... Michigan plates sprint car sticker on the rear window... We will have beer...
Dave

 

No... Thank you! There filed away.

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I heard Darland set fast time in a Midget and a Sprinter at the four Crown. He is also coming off a $30,000 win at Oscalusa (sp?)

Good for him!! I love the seeing an old man showin the kids how its done!

 

Re: VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1969 and older only please.
<HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100&#37;" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by casper
I have been wanting a vintage midget for the last 20 years, and this post inspired me to buy one! I have just purchased a 1947 Kurtis midget (V-8 60, motor was built by Joe Boghosian), chassis #161. I have been told it is listed in the Kurtis geneology book but the history was only traced back to Eli Vukovich, but when I picked up the car, the late owners nephew gave me some earlier pictures of prior drivers and also each driver sitting in the restored car (as it looks now). The picture of the restored car lifting the left front was taken at Madera Ca. with Jim Lynch driving, the rest of the photos are in what I believe to be in order from the oldest to the most current (but, again, I could easily be wrong!) I would like to hear from anyone that can tell me anything about the drivers or the tracks the pictures were taken. Thanks in advance to all!
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

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Don't put too much faith in what's written in the book. I've owned my Kurtis Offy for twenty years, and probably for at least ten years before the book went to print. The author has my car belonging to some guy in Idaho (I'm not even going to look for the book here to confirm). In the case of my car (I can't speak for others) he obviously didn't do much research to verify what he put in print.

My car is the "3n'1" car that launched Andretti's career. You'd think it would've deserved more research considering it's rich racing history.