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

Eldora was great And Darland did good ... Got pretty drunk out also Ya might Know that since I didnt have my camera they had an old race car show ! Joah i talked to Dan the mechanic and Tom Hoffman. I really enjoy talking to tom he has some great stories.. They wanted to kno if we were gona make winchester next sunday but we cant do berlin saturday night then make winchester on sunday
Dave

 

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.[/quote]

You got that right. My Dad helped assemble, and owned the 4th Kurtis midget built. Shilala was not employed by Kurtis when it was built. When I called Montgomery on the errors regarding the 4th car, he said he "believed his research was correct". My Dad was sitting in the office with me, giving me the story as it happened, and still Montgomery chose to "believe" his facts. The book has some great pictures, but take the text for what it's worth. From what I see, the research was not complete.

 

Dropped by the CVOR vintage assn. get-together today, beautiful weather, 15-20 race cars and lots of bench racing. Enjoyed talking with oldtimers like Leroy Beyers telling storys of 1940-50s midget racing, v8-60 vs. Offys and beating the feared Kenz/Lesile midget. Renewed some old aquaintances, ate some burgers, told some lies, and took some pics:


No. 25 is a east coast v8-60 of some note, that found its way west. Recently I posted about a Ambler I/O-Q/C box that was on E-bay, that I hadn't heard of before, lo and behold, here's one in front of me. The owner confirmed it worked as I had suspected, but is such a PITA to change he doesn't mess with it and just runs a conventional Q/C rear.

 

A Offy and V8-60 and no.76 is a 1960 homebuilt powered by a 3?? Lincoln. Primarily a PP hillclimb car but saw duty on the midwest ovals, complete with 40s Ford 3 speed with 1st gear removed. Got some attention when he would put it in reverse and back into his pit though.

 

Can't seem to wrap my mind around what is "vintage" nowdays. It seems like it was just a couple of yrs. ago I was elbow deep in cars like these. I guess that must make me "vintage"

 

Josh,
Look at #200254988533 on ebay. It is a 1958 1/4 midget[he says]. I will bring some pictures on my 1/4 midget to Winchester for you to look at and compare. I can not find any markings on mine to tell me what it is. Maybe you can help?
Jim Graybeal

 

Cool. See you all there.

 

Jim & Josh, have fun up there, and say Hello to all the other old farts for me. Tell them I miss 'em.

 

These are pic of Joe Saldana's, Don Brown built roadster being restored by John Layne and Mark Randol.

Curt Grogan

 

The Mechanical Rabbit, now that's allright!

 

I know that Johhny Suggs drove a car very much like this one at the Bowl around 1980. He is still around.

 

Does anyone on the west coast (Bay Area racing) remember a car owner named Jim Burtoncini (spelling?), he owned a shop called "Reliable Garage" on Gateway in Madera, Ca. (right next to the "Fruit Basket" resturaunt). From what I have been told, Jim owned two Kurtis midgets, 1 V8-60 and 1 Offy powered car. Vucovich drove for him on a regular basis. Any info at all? Thanks! Kenny.

 

From the All-American Vintage Classic, Roseville, California, Sept 13, 2008:









www.westcapitalraceway.com

 

Great stuff Marty!!!

 

On the subject of roadster sprints, I saw this car a few weeks ago at Calistoga during the USAC/CRA race:



It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but the engine was mounted on an angle so that the driveshaft would clear the driver's feet.

 

Here is quick bio on the Elder Indy Roadster that will be a Manifolds on Main this Saturday.

1961 Stearly Motor Freight Special

"The car was built by Mr. Edgar Elder of El Monte, Ca. He built two cars side by side in his garage. They were completed early in 1961. Edgar built one for himself and the second one for Mr. Ray Crawford. Elder crewed for Crawford for many years and built a total of two cars for him.

This was entered at the '61 Indy 500 by Elder with no sponsorship. It qualified, raced, and finished 24th after experiencing mechanical problems. Cliff Griffith was the driver."

Come see us if you are in the DFW area.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291886&highlight=hillegass

Bart

 

Marty,
Thats a very interesting car, Do you have any more piox of that roadster?

 

I neglected to get a side shot, there was also an information card about the car, (you can see it leaning against the tail bars) which I also missed getting a shot of. I believe the car ran with the CRA, if I remember the info correctly.

 

Nice pics.. Thanks
Dave

 

Is this a tribute car to the one that Bettenhausen test drove in '61? It is a beautiful car. Saw it at Wichita Falls in '06.


For the record, I got what it meant to have it there. Great story

 

I wonder if it could be this car, much modified, that Wally Pankratz drove in the CRA in the 70s. Theres a lot of differences but it does appear to have holes in the cowl for a roll cage.

 

This car (#34) was built by Don Thomas and ran with CRA in the early 60's.
The one pictured here with Wally Pankratz driving was originally built in the late 60's by Jon Ward and had undergone a lot of modification by the time Wally was driving it (probably the early 70's).

 

A Larry Rice, Ricky Hood driven champ car taken in Kansas City last Sunday

Curt Grogan

 

A couple of the Dr. Dunseth ,Lefler restored by Mark Randol, and John Layne for Greg Weld.

Curt Grogan

 

I get the idea it is the original car. The owner is from Marble Falls.

As Paul Harvey would say, "Here is the rest of the story..."

"Subsequent to the '61 Indy race, the car was sold to Mr. Doug Stearly of Trapp, Pa. He took it back to Indy in 1962 but was bumped from the field on the last Sunday of qualification. From that point forward, the car raced mainly at the USAC races held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Trenton, New Jersey. In those races spanning 3 seasons it was driven by Ronny Duman, Troy Ruttman, Eddie Sachs, and at it's last Trenton outing in 1964 by a young upstart racer named Mario Andretti.

Eventually, the car was cut down to become a Modified Sprint car. It raced at local events in Pennsylvania until the early 70's. I found the car in Dover, Delaware in the early 90's and restored it back to the configuration that it was in when Doug Stearly owned it in the early '60's."

Are you going to come down to the show Saturday?

Bart

 

Anyone know BILL HOLDER. Does he have an E-mail address?

Thanks,

JD

 

Wish I could go. I keep buying more old race car stuff and can't seem to get out much right now. Might get to go to Goodguys.?

 

Cliff Griffith put the car in the show on the last weekend[last day I think]. Edgar brough two cars and sold one. He put together a half junk engine and hired Cliff. He had no sponsor and the car was solid white. Cliff's time was real good but had to start in the back of the field. They got McCullochfor a sponsor. Cliff worked his way up close to [if not] in the top 10 by 50 laps. They had a caution and under the caution the crankshaft broke and ended what could have been a great run. Cliff never ran Indy again.
Jim Graybeal

 

This car is immaculate in person.

 

What car was Bettenhausen driving when he got killed? He was doing a shakedown run for Russo.

Tony's car in the race was to be the Autolite no.5, which went to Ruby.