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

A.J. Shepherd having much less severe problems in the Schmidt 44.

 

Rootie-
Is it the picture angle or does he seem to have very long arms?
I always liked that flat tail Schmidt #44. I saw Johnny Thomson flip it one year at Langhorne. We all thought poor Johnny was gone, but he made it through that one.
Thanks again for another great one!

 

He's in Indy still I think.
We are from the same area upstate NY) originally.
Bryant and Lew Parks are friends.
I'd like to catchup with Bryant too. Good guy..
Left UPS to go to Indy & get on a team.
He did it.

 

Now that you mention it, his arm does seem to be dis-proportionatly long, probably the result of steering those big ol' rigs a 100 miles at a time without power steering
I agree, Schmidt always fielded beautiful, top shelf, equipment, high among my favorites.

 

FYI- that pic of Shepard is of 1 of 2 drives he did in the #44 1960. DNQd at Phoenix and then there at Sacto, where he apparently limped it to the pits, got a new wheel and still finished 8th out of 13 finishers, 2 laps down. Good drive considering!

 

Fourd this one on another website in my continual searching. No idea when or where it was taken, but maybe somebody on here can identify it by the church in the background. Obviously somebody got through the fence at one time...

 

Springfield 52 & 63

1952- #73- Nazaruk #4- McGrath -Shindler-Rigsby-Ruttman -Hartley

1963- #2 A.J.- #46 J.R.- #5 Marshman- #1 Ward- #4 Branson #98 P.J. #37 Sutton

 

Rootie-
More good ones; have a question for you, or anyone who has an answer;
These Sacto pics were from the oqiginal mile track i assume.
Why then did the state build a new Cal Expo, complete with mile dirt track, run on it a few years and recently have had no racing, as far as i know?
BTW- All the pics from there are fantastic!

 

All the Sacto pics I've posted are before 1970, which was the last year they ran at the old track. They revived the race in 89 and it looks like the new track is a fine facility and don't why they haven't raced there more, probably all about the $$$, like everything else. Don't have a clue as to what happened to the old track, "progre$$" I suppose.

 

Just got an e-mail from Betty Packard saying Lloyd Ruby was in bad shape and is on life support. Hang in there, Rube!

 

I hate to hear that. Lloyd is very special to us down here.

 

indybigjohn-
Was Betty Packard related to Jimmy Packard? He wasb such a nice guy back when he drove for Doug Stearly.

 

Betty is Jim's widow. She has remarried, and her name is actually Betty Packard Voris. Now lives in San Francisco, I believe. We got to be friends while I was at IRP and was a member of the Thursday Evening Conversation Club. That was a group who got together in the Flag Room to drink and talk racing, which included some neat people, like Ralph Ligouri, Len Ashburn, and others depending on who was in town. Ziggy was a regular member during the summer. She learned that I remembered Jim from when I was much younger and we kind of hit it off. We stay in contact now.

 

I wonder if this great shot is from the Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ track? There still exists a church nearby where the track was. Do you recall the site where you found this shot?
Joel

 

Just read an old artical regarding a motor that I have not ran across before. It was a V8 60 180 degree crossfire motor. It was ran by John Hobel and Danny Kladis in the MMARA circut in 1948 and was banned because the other flathead motors could not compete. It also said John purchased this motor from Johnny Parsons which had ran it in the northwest in an asphalt midget. Did this motor fire two cyl at a time? and did it require the crank shaft and cam to be redesigned? If it fired two cyl at the same time it sure would have had a sound of its own back then.

 

sidways27, if you do a search here, the 180 deg. flatties have been disscused before. Here's one thread to start:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242893&highlight=180+degree+flathead

 

Race Artist, I think I found that on the jimmiesoldtimeracing site. If it is Ho-Ho-Kus, you can bet that Chris E. would recognize it. I'll e-mail the photo to him and see.

Thanks...

 

Indy, not to confuse the matter, but quite a while back I came across this pic on a, now gone, photo site and it was labled as HO HO KUS. Of course that doesn' mean that it is, but just a point of interest-FWIW.

 

Thanks Rootie. Looks like you follow the same philosphy I do. Copy everything you find that you can.

And Race Artist, I just remembered while surfing. It was on the Racers Reunion site. For some reason it and another were in the Stock Car Racers Reunion section. I've e-mailed the photo to Mike Kerchner at NSSN to show to Chris.

 

Rootie, you win a prize. The LaVilla car & the Hoover w/Foyt are 1 & the same. If you can, refer to Wallen's 50's, pg 407. Sold to John Wills/ Hoover. It also said it was orange but the pics w/Foyt in it are all a dark color(black???). mlight9.

 

I hope that car has just won and is going to carry the flag on a victory lap. Doubt that he would lean over that much down a straightaway! lol
On a more serious note, does anyone have any pics of the Sprints on the mile tracks? Sure would love to see some.
Thanks

 

Thanks Rootie,
That is what I was looking for and your right I should have done a search. I just did not recall reading it on this thread because I was thinking midget engine.

 

The columbus spy cam was in action this weekend

 

Hey I know that guy in the black Tshirt
Dave

 

Thanks mlight, I'd never put 2+2 together except that I noticed both were listed as a Templeton chassis, which I'm not familiar with.

 

He's probably leaning over to get a better look at those spiffy pants and socks the starter's wearing

The late great Greg Weld in fine form in his champ car at DuQoin 1969.

 

Black Shirt Everyday...

Yep, That's me and Racer5c. Racer5c is having to use a "land line" cause I just threw so much Racing history info down that he had to get outside help to keep up!

...yeah right!


Had a great time!

Joshua Shaw

 

Re-reading my post, I didn't mean to come off as castigating you for not doing a search, just meant it as a tip.

 

I believe that's a champ car Rootie.

 

Yep, you're right, I missed that.