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

11 years later and Carl Williams is pedaling hard to hold off Big Al and Vuky II.

 

And in 1968 (that's right, 1968), Gary Bettenhausen passed the first two phases of his drivers test at the Speedway in the Hunt #47 turning laps of 149+. Probably the fastest official laps ever turned by an upright champ car at the Speedway.

 

Hi Mac,

I'll be there with my 1959 Watson #16 Simoniz Spl. I'll be traveling with Steve Bonesteel and his #34 Don Thomas roadster sprinter. Don will also join us. Bruce Revennaugh will be there with his 1963 Elder #28 Stearly Motor Freight Spl., and Bud Taylor will be there with his 1964 Watson #1 Sheraton Thompson replica.

Good cars, a great track, and some wonderful people -- it will be a fun weekend!

 

If You see these two guys trying to sell You the Chevy sprinter engine RUN in the opposite direction FAST!
aXe

 

Larry, I remember Johnny Parsons Jr. driving some laps in an "upright" in about the same time frame. Not sure which car he was driving..??? Could it have been the same car?????

Lugie was purty much the last guy to build "spring front" champ cars. The last one I ever saw was Parnelli's Agajanian #98 that Wynns#1 restored a few years back.

Yea! Texas World Speedway is gonna be fun!

 

Ken and all,

Those are directions to Stan`s old place!

I`d hate to see any of you end up at the wrong place.

He is now on St Rt 940 just north of where 940 branches off from 309 when coming north on 309.
Maquest still directs people to his old place.

The new one is near the Church Hill Mall and a Chevy dealership.

This quote is directly from Stan

This is directions coming in from the south.

"Take100 to 309 and 309 to 940 .We are in back of the church hill mall.
1090 state route 940. Hazleton, Pa. 18202"



If you come down 940 from the north,Lobitz Catering Hall would be on the rt side 1/4 or so mi before 940 ends at rt 309.

If you come down 309 from the north,I would turn LT at W 28th St and make a rt onto 940 and watch for Lobitz Catering Hall on the rt.
If any questions,I would call Lobitz Catering Hall and Ask for more directions.
Sorry I don`t have his number,but you can get it from directory assistance .

This is the address: 1090 state route 940. Hazleton, Pa. 18202


If you use my mapquest,click on the plus sign several times to enlarge it to street detail then drag the map around to see the north part of Hazleton the star is the approx location although Stan`s is on 940,not 309.

I have no idea why Maquest tries to send you to his old place,but it does. This almost happened to me last year but luckily I talked to Stan and got things figured out.


http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Spr...44:-76.43628:0:::::1:1:1::/io:1:::::f:EN:M:/e

 

Finally got some pictures posted in my Album section....hope you all enjoy them. Curt

 

Gary B.- Phx. 1967, finished 19th out of 24.

 

"King of the Hot Rods" Jack McGrath ran his last lap 54 yrs. ago yesterday.

 

Right on, Mac (and Rootie). I know of three times Johnny wheeled the Hunt #99 Lujie champ car: Sacramento 9/28/69, 14/7 (Johnny's first USAC champ car start). Riverside 12/7/69, 27/30 (broken Jag tranny at start). And Phoenix 11/21/70, DNQ. The photo shows JP in the cockpit at Riverside with Sammy Sessions standing by the car.

Regarding the Aggie #98 champ car restored by Wynns #1, that car is actually a 1960 Kuzma, not a Lesovsky as incorrectly identified in Wallen's '60s book. One of my very, very favorite cars. As you may know, Joe recently sold it to a good home.

Rootie, thanks for the photo of the Hunt car at Phoenix in 1967 -- I've never seen that shot before...

 

THANKS MUCH TONY!!!

Not only does MapQuest have the wrong info .. but if you Google Lobitz Catering it seems that all the Web Sites it points you to also have the old address listed. I just tried Google Maps, that has the wrong address too.

Stan or someone has to work on getting all that changed.

I wonder if .... 1090 State Route 940. Hazleton, Pa. 18202 .... is a GPS friendly address? My GPS usually wants something with a street/road name .. lIke (examples only) 1090 Racers Way .. or 1090 Speedway Place .. or 1090 Caterers Drive .. rather than the number of a Route or Highway.

Can anyone post the phone number of his catering facility .. in case some get's lost & needs it?

THANKS AGAIN TONY!!!

 

Standby-I have to get this right.

The only thing I know for sure is the address 1090 St Rt. 940 Hazleton PA.

I don`t know if He has multiple locations,all the map guys show the wrong place.

Mapquest still shows Carson. Google shows it too far up 940.

It is right behind the Church Hill Mall on 940.
The way I described it earlier should work. It got me there last year without getting lost.

Stan needs to get with the Map places and get this straightened out.
Everyone in Hazleton knows where it is,but the rest of us need help to get there.

 

THANKS AGAIN TONY!!!

Do you have a phone number for his catering facility?

Not sure (yet) whether I'm going to go or not. The guy I was going with backed out (family reasons that came up) .. I'm not sure I want to drive 3 - 3 1/2 hours (one way) by myself .. THEN not being able to find the place easily. Others from Long Island are going .. but much too late to call them.

I've been there before .. but it's been a good number of years.

 

Hi Ken,

Sorry to hear that. It is a long ride from LI.

The only number I have is this <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td width="100">
</td><td>(570) 455-2037 </td></tr></tbody></table>

However it has the wrong address and Says Lobitz Catering Service.

I cannot find anything accurate for the Catering Hall on the Net.

The place it pretty easy to find coming from the South on 309 to 940.

My directions for ones taking 309 FROM the north should work,too.

One thing is sure,anyone who makes it to Stan`s has reached vintage open wheel bench racing Nirvana!

 

GEEZ!!!! ........ This has turned out to be WORK!!!

That phone number above for Lobitz is correct it seems and that could be a great help to someone a bit lost &/or confused.

Now this is a BEST GUESS. Coming from Route 80 (the way I'd be coming & the way someone else had asked directions from) and using the address .... 1090 NORTH Church Strret in WEST Hazleton PA .... the street view .. using Google Maps .. it shows both a mall & a tad further down the road a Chevrolet dealership on the left. ... Now IF that's the right mall & the right Chevy dealer .. Lobitz's place should PROBABLY be in between & behind the two??????

Tony .. if you have a cell phone & if you don't mind (and are still on) would you be kind enough to private message me with it. IF I go and especially after all this .. I'll call you when I get there .. I wouldn't want to miss meeting you.

 

Is that a four-bar radius rod setup on a spring front? I've never seen that before...

BTW, congrats everybody on 400+ pages. What an amazing thread.

 

So named because he cleaned up in the CRA (California ROADSTER Ass'n at the time, A.K.A. Hotrods). Though only three when he died, a real hero of mine, as evidenced by my avatar.
Would have loved to have seen him run. All the old Indy films I've seen him in, he was always at the front, usually battling it out with Vuky and O'Connor.

 

Yo---CORNGROWER 32-- your post of --OLd #23 in the pits -- should tell us all some thing-- they didn't haul a whole lot of extra stuff to the pits in those days---All I see is a red tool box )

 

You bet.. Here's a couple pics of the "rig". Not exactly a double stacker Kenworth.


...and one of Ron Hart in his shop at home during the week..

 

cool Watson Dolly wheels on the trailer

 

Supposed to be the real deal.. An actual Watson Trailer. Ron was a good friend of A.J.'s, hence the chassis being "Watson copies" We have the Trailer also, but doing away with the Dolly wheels. (not pullin' it with a station wagon)

 

noooo leave em on trailers are only original once!!

 

'Rootie, 'Awhile back, you posted that pic of Al Unser in the Retzloff Chemical car. I've always thought, 'they don't get any prettier than that. And yet, it was a Dunlop chassis??? Who was Dunlop?........'Must have been a guy working for Grant King in the daytime and moonlighting at night as a genius car builder!!!....................................................................

 

I know! Practice what you preach!!

The trailer was original, unrestored.. and the previous owner had it blasted, and painted white. So, it's cherry has been popped!

JD

 

Very cool! Good looking stuff.

 

LF- That would be Andy Dunlop, loooong time wrench out of Ohio. Probably best known as Chief Mechanic on the Salemi/ Central Excavating cars in the 50s/60s. Didn't build a lot of cars, but built some very good ones.

 

Speaking of C/E cars; Len Sutton picking up his first Champ car win at the 1st 58 Trenton race after dueling with Tony B. and J. Thomson #7 throughout the race.

 

Little Faus, I recommend you get a copy of " Damn Few Died in Bed ". This is a bio on Andy Dunlop & his career as a mechanic & car builder, before working for Pete Salemi & then as chief mechanic for Salemi, I think you'll enjoy it,
mlight9.

 

From Hershey Fall Meet 2009

























I didn't have my super wide angle lens with me and the crowds were pretty tight around these old circle warriors made to look way prettier than when new, but they still run and sound great.

- - - -later.