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

Thanks Bill-that is the one I was talking about. Normally aspirated Offy there.
That car is different from the #36 from 1961.
I tell you this Caruso Midget/sprint car thing is a real puzzle!


Bill,I believe this car may be the same car as the 1966 #3





And this one is clearly a different car, the 1961 Caruso #36 which is closest to our(Karl#15)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3618/3490258110_50eec7bc13_o.jpg

 

Here is The Caruso car now at the Collings foundation-this is the 1966 #3 in my opinion.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrittmuller/1503611862/sizes/l/in/set-72157602300460709/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertrittmuller/1502838425/sizes/l/in/set-72157602300460709/

 

I have had these wheels for sometime now and would like to know if anyone knows what they were used on. They are super light and I think the centers are magnesium. Any feedback is appreciated.

Rootie, 37Kid,

Thank you for the quick answers, gives me a great direction to research. Any guess on the value of the set?
Chris

 

You need to read Kevin Olsen's column in the Sprint car & Midget issue that just arrived to fully appreciate the arch. Ascot's gone and now my other home away from home.

 

The dia.and width make me think formula car, maybe Formula 5000.

 

I agree, very close to the wheels on a friends Lola Formula 5000.

 

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/gallery/amelia2009/15549.jpg



http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/images/gallery/amelia2009/15678.jpg

 

More on the Caruso 36 in 1961-1962. 1) At Syracuse 100 after Lancaster race, 1961; 2) Dutch Schaefer 1961; 3 and 4) Johnny Mann 1962; 5) Chuck Arnold.

 

Thanks Bill-these photos re-enforce my belief that there were at least two different Caruso Stretched Midgets. I still think there may have been three of them!

Bill,do you remember what color that Ron Lux car was? In the photo it looks like it is still striped like an early Caruso Midget. That is if it was black with white nose stripe.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2201/2234719258_3412007abe_o.jpg

I also find the color photo of the #36 very interesting-red steering wheel and frame. I believe the deuce Midget may have had a red wheel and frame.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=651032&d=1241181916

This 36 might have been put together from the wreckage of the Deuce.
The other one may have been the original #3 Midget.

I`m thinking Caruso 36-Lux39-Karl 15-same car?

I`m also thinking that the car was changed from friction shocks to tube shocks,and that is when the roll bar would have been moved forward.
The car still had a Midget rear in it after Dad and Jerry put the Chevy in it!
That ended up being a problem,as the rear broke apart at Harrrington Del. My dad had to find the part of the rear that went over the fence and they welded it back together because they had no money to buy another rear end...

 

Buildy-Interesting question. 1965 Lux car at Allentown was black with white trim outlined in red and black upholstery. At Reading in July that year it was painted in gray primer. 1967 Caruso No. 3 was black with no trim, gold leaf numbers and red upholstery!

 

The thing is I believe the Caruso 3 of the late sixties was the car he ran in the mid fifties-the one with the supercharged Offy and with the later KK nose,etc.

I think the sixties 36 was a totally different car from that one.

Pretty sure the Lux car from 65 ended up being our #15. The 15 had black upholstery too.

The Lux car sure has the Caruso look to me. It is most similar to the photos of the 36 you posted.

Like I say-the whole thing is hard to figure out.

You have an amazing collection of photos -thanks very much for posting these!

 

I'm new here and would like to add to this particular thread. The photo shown is my Uncle in one several Midget race cars he drove during 1951-52. This photo should be 1952 and possibly at Sacramento.

 

Hey Bill,

Here is a detail photo of Jerry`s cockpit- See the word LUX on the tail cover?

Maybe in Magic Marker???
I always wondered what that word meant on there!

It looks to me like the tail cover is red with the word Lux written on it and the rest of the upholstery is black.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/2282571471_9467e7a52d_o.jpg

Pretty sure that seals the Lux-Karl car connection along with all the other spotting features.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2295/2178615606_64bbdbf6c2_o.jpg
The louvers on the hood seem to be a Caruso spotting feature....
My dad is the guy in the cowboy hat. 1966 Flemington NJ.

WG 1966-Jerry`s first race in the car-3rd place in the feature. Tommy Mc Andrews is in the Tasney #7.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2116/2199816674_3fe9f52df8_o.jpg

 

And a few more of my cousin's midget. Taken in Sacramento.

If memory serves me correctly, this midget was once Doris Koster's #74 car driven by Ed Zimmerman with a Koster Volvo engine and later changed to OHV Ferguson and then Ford V8 60 power. Later owned by Gil Goliday.

 

And one more for now. This one is Johnny Parsons. Just a few of the photos from my uncle's old shoe box.

 

Great stuff Northeast metal!

Welcome to the HAMB and to the greatest thread ever!

 

Welcome to the HAMB Neighbor! Noticed the Drake on the cowl, that was a water cooled Harley conversion wasn't it?

 

Welcome aboard... I'm looking forward to seeing more pics from 'the ole shoe box'
PK

 

That's my Dad's first Kurtis!! Chassis #4. He sold it to Frank Armi for $4000 in 1946. Frank changed the grill, and painted it that god awful lavender. Frank's dad owned Armi Auto Parts in Hanford,Ca.

 

35 minutes for a HAMB car ID, that could be a record!

 

Dale Drake made watercooled head/barrels for the H-D knuclehead case. Notorious vibrators but lightweight and a whole lot cheaper than a Offy.

 

After you historians get the Caruso cars' history sorted out I have your next assignment. I've lost track of the Traco sprint car. Here's some of its history as I understand it. It was originally built in the early 60's at the Speedway by Lujie Lesovsky for Elmer George. Foyt owned it next and then it became a Wagner Plumbing team car out of the Twin Cities and was driven in USAC events by Jerry "Scratch" Daniels and Jerry Richert. Russ Laursen from WI owned it next. In fact he lost his life in it at Fairmont, MN in 1970. It had a cage on it by then. Another Minnesotan, Ron Larson, bought it next and ran it, also caged. That's how it was when I drove it. Larson stored it in a barn for several years in a small WI town. I tried on a couple of occasions to purchase it with no luck. Finally a guy in the Twin Cities, Greg Schneider, bought it from Larson and, the rumor goes, he sent it to California for restoration by Lujie Lesovsky. That's the last I heard of it.

Anybody here have any further info on this car ?

 

"After you historians get the Caruso cars' history sorted out I have your next assignment."

I hope you packed a lunch-LOL Just kidding.
We can work on more than one mystery at a time.

 

Bill here is the answer on the Dick Kelm car you asked about.


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=650766&d=1241130040


A fellow on the WG BB has a color photo of the car in his collection.


"I have a photo of that car at Beltsville, Md. on 8/6/66 and it was painted blue with white lettering with red outline. The engine was painted red and the front wheels gold."

 

"After you historians get the Caruso cars' history sorted out I have your next assignment. I've lost track of the Traco sprint car. Here's some of its history as I understand it. It was originally built in the early 60's at the Speedway by Lujie Lesovsky for Elmer George. Foyt owned it next and then it became a Wagner Plumbing team car out of the Twin Cities and was driven in USAC events by Jerry "Scratch" Daniels and Jerry Richert. Russ Laursen from WI owned it next. In fact he lost his life in it at Fairmont, MN in 1970. It had a cage on it by then. Another Minnesotan, Ron Larson, bought it next and ran it, also caged. That's how it was when I drove it. Larson stored it in a barn for several years in a small WI town. I tried on a couple of occasions to purchase it with no luck. Finally a guy in the Twin Cities, Greg Schneider, bought it from Larson and, the rumor goes, he sent it to California for restoration by Lujie Lesovsky. That's the last I heard of it."




"Anybody here have any further info on this car ?"

I heard the owner of the car doesn`t have the money to finish the car and it is just sitting. In pieces...

I heard this last year from a friend that knows,at the Hershey Car Show

I would LOVE to see this car restored to it`s AJ Foyt Traco Spl configuration.

 

Thanks for the color data on the Kelm car. That was quick! Buildy, it seems pretty likely that the (late) 36, 39 and 15 are the same. I say "late" because the original "early" Caruso sprinter (which crashed at Salem) was also No. 36. The No. 3 was used after that. Thanks also for posting the other photos of No. 15. For a while the post-crash car, whichever it was, was also No. 22.

 

Glad I was able to help with the Kelm car.

Here is a question-was the Eathier crash in a sprint or still a Midget?

In the early #36 I have photos of Mike Nazaruk,Ernie McCoy and Johnny Thomson,
I haven`t seen photos of Schindler in the 36??
Then mostly Russ Klar when it was #3.


Here is the 22 Midget-Johnny Zeke driving-Imlay photo at old Bridge in 1955.....



No louvers on hood-goofy nose. Looks Like red upholstory and steering wheel to me.

 

This is the car #3 that I think Caruso kept running until he quit(the one you posted from 1966)

1954-Reading-Supercharged Offy-Russ Klar driving. looks like the Buckskin upholstery like the #2 and #3 Midgets had.

 

'NorthEastMetal, 'That is some REAL treasure you've got there! The one picture you showed of your cousin's midget, has the names Koster, Zimmerman and Gil Holoday. 'Actually it was Gil Golliday (sp?); hence the "G" on the grill of the car. My Father worked with Gil in Sacramento thoughout the 1950's and 60's until Gil died in a plane crash in early 1963 attempting to land his plane on the Highway 99 freeway after the engine had quit. Gil was a very, very interesting man. Among some of his inventions was the very first eight-port, aluminum head for the Chevy II midget engine. When Gil died, the heads, patterns, etc. were "acquired" from his estate by Ansen Automotive in Southern California. The other gentlemen, Gary Koster and Ed (E.G.) Zimmerman are still around today and actually still involved in racing. 'Very busy now; more later but, wow, keep those pics coming and if you can w/dates and cities.

 

Dean Lowe- Small world. Simply amazing. The Kurtis my uncle raced for Frank Armi was your Dad's first Kurtis. Wow. Keep in touch.

Little Fauss- Yes, you are correct on the spelling. My uncle gave me the shoebox of photos back in 1970. He was good friends with Gil and drove for him a few times. They both were pilots. I've been looking for old Kurtis for some now but no luck yet. My uncle had to quit racing in 1953 after a wreck while riding an Indian m/c on the "wall of death" in a carnival. He was one wild dude.

The37Kid- The Johnny parson midget. Yes, water cooled Harley. No rad and pump as I recall, just water jackets are the cyl's. Others guys here likely more about this setup. I recall my uncle calling those Harley Drake cars "poppers" and also "shakers".

Here's a photo of my old Kurtis.....the 1/4 version. The dark blue one on the left. This Kurtis replaced my first race car which is the other photo. Seem to recall it was called a Luther which the other kids said was heavy and outdated. Even so I managed to win my first two races in it. It was a good car until we got the dk blue Kurtis. Photos are from 1966 at the Hayward Calif track. I will get back to the full size midget's in the next post.

Glad I signed on with H.A.M.B