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

BZ, Whatever you do, tape/grease/cover/whatever all threads, bearing surfaces wheel drive pins and the hub surface that the wheel mates against.
Believe it or not, the best finish for hubs, etc. is to warm the hub and spray it with cheap silver, gold or black "rattle can" auto store paint. I looks fine, its cheap and it is easy to get off if you need to work on it.

mac miller in INDY

 

That is the new plan Mac, once I get the nickel taken back off it is rattle can city!

 

Jud and AJ 1964

 

Your right Rootie, that is a one and only. A lot of work to save a few ounces of weight. This picture looks like it could have been taken the same day as the Jud Larson and Mario picture. Is the track Eldora? and in the picture the guy on the left looks like Sonny Beck, the mechanic could be Glen Niebel and the man with his back to the camera could be Paul Mead. Just guessing? The car sure looked a lot nicer after it was painted for Seibert olds.
Much thanks Rootie, these are great pictures.

 

Too much time on your hands and a sharp drill bit will result in things like that. Eldora for sure, early season by the looks of the trees, probably the same day J.R. took his famous header outa the park.

 

Hello All:
I just added 3 new galleries to my web site...Vintage Indy cars from 2009 Carb Day and Winchester 2008 & 2010 Vintage cars from the Oldtimers weekend.
Thanks for looking!


http://www.ricklanemotorsportsphotography.com/

 

That is Bud Taylor driving the 82 Indy car on Carb day. Bud has a recreation of the 1964 Foyt roadster. He has run the Foyt car all over the country for years and has supported the vintage races from coast to coast. I have the highest respect for Bud and Connie as they do what they can do, he as most of us can't aford a real Indy car, so Bud has his beautiful roadster recreation and has a hell of a good time. Now to Indy, Bud has been helping Dave with the 82 car at Indy for years, and anyone else who has needed help. They are at Indy and Dave turns to Bud and says get in. Bud couldn't beleive it. I would Like to thank Dave for giving a friend a chance to take a few laps at the INDIANAPOLIS MOTOT SPEEDWAY!!!

 

Question for you Oklahoma guys, why did they run 100" cars as opposed to Sprint Cars in that area and that area only? About when did they start running them and when did they stop?

 

Roy, I believe that they went from from stock framed cars to tube chassis in the mid to late 60s. I'm not sure when they went to the sprint car wheelbase cars, as I moved out of the area before then. I always wondered why they ran 4bbl carbs with gas, instead of fuel injection. I guess it kept the costs down. brian26 and Little Fauss probably have a better answer. It seems I always heard that the 100" cars were considered safer.

 

I need some help again. In the 70's there was a small building outside turn 3 and 4 at Ascot with the word Ascot painted on the roof. I would like use that building in my drawing. I have a very bad photo of it in black and white. If anyone has photos of it with colors and possibly with detail enough to show how the building was constructed, windows, doors, etc.
Thanks

 

Back to the Sterling Plumbing Car, here is a picture from 1967 out of JJArthur's collection.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jamesarthur22/AntiqueRacing#5401141952633332226

 

Coupes had become popular in the early 50's. They could start, move forward, backward, and the parts store was the local junkyard for the most part. Quick-change rear ends, tube frames (usually square), and even Halibrands were beginning to appear.

in 1967 the rule became 50/50-meaning the back of the engine had to be 50" from the front kingpin, and cars could now run with narrow bodies like the Edmunds. 100" wheelbase was the rule.


By 1970 it was obvious we were heading to sprint cars, and promoters were wanting to keep the clutch , starters, and transmissions- so they formed the NCRA (National Championship Racing Association) to get all the major tracks from Kansas to North Texas on the same page with the rules.

We had "customized sprint cars, with the graceful length of a Champ Dirt Car". We had our own thing.


In 1988, we went to sprint cars.



This is who we were









part 2

 

My name is Brian Satterwhite, and I am a Supermodified fan from the day I was born and until the day I die.

But I love all open wheel cars from days past too.

 

Near as I can tell, Herks Sterling Plumbing car was parked (usac wise) in 64, then in 67 the Barnetts brought it out for one last fling and finished a creditable 5th in the standings. Numbered 3 that season it was wheeled by various drivers including Bobby U., Bud Tinglestead and others. Fittingly Herk drove it at Oswego his "home" track.(photo above) May have been Herks last sprint car ride. (?)

 

I don't have much info on this pic. I think it's from late 1940s, at a Pennsylvania track. The guy with the car is Rocco P. Laquidari, known as "Coke" to his family and friends. He lived in Mattydale, NY, just north of Syracuse. I met him in the 1950s when he had a newer car. Me and my motorhead friends used to haunt Coke's 2 car garage behind his house, "helping" him with the car. We were all in our teens and thought we knew it all, but now realize we were the grasshoppers and Coke was the guru. The car was a fairly straightforward deal with narrowed Ford frame and suspension, running a Model B Ford 4-banger with a Hal DOHC head fitted with twin Winfields. Unfortunately none of us thought to photograph anything, but I'm going to check with his family and see what they have for pics.

Right about the time I was part of Coke's "crew" he and his machinist friend Charlie Westfall were replacing the carbs with their home-brew fuel injection set-up. They copied the Stuart Hilborn design and made some improvements of their own. It ran great on Methanol. They adapted an oil pump as a fuel pump and carved a metering valve out of aluminum and brass. The injectors were made from modified adjustable jets so they could tune the thing without changing "pills" like in a Hilborn of the day.

Coke took us to races in the area, and the car did OK, but wasn't a winner as there were some V8s starting to show up. About 1958-59, Coke decided to go with the flow and swapped the Hal/Ford for a 283. It was stock except for solid lifter cam and 3 Strombergs, and ran nice on gasoline, but still not fast enough. Over one winter, Coke and Charlie built FI for the Chevy, again using Hilborn's as a template. This was a masterpiece of home-built genius. It took about a day of fiddling to get the motor to light up on Meth, and the whole neighborhood knew about it. It had classic sprint car side exhausts which were made in Coke's garage. This set-up ran near the front, but no wins. Shortly after that, wings were being added to sprint cars with some amazing results, but Coke didn't want to go that way. A workplace accident cost him the sight in one eye, and he decided his racing days were done. He sold it all. I would hope that somewhere, someone has preserved his fuel systems, as they are great works of art.

If I'm lucky enough to get some more photos I'll share them.

Frank C.

 

Shots from Winchester. 7/16/67 #54-Luke Easter, #2 Curley Boyd, #21 Ted Wise, #91 Darl Harrison, #14 Benny Rapp, #77 Chick Hale, #95 Karl Busson, #3 Dave Weir - It was announced after this heat race a new World Record had been set for 5 miles on a 1/2 mile high banked asphalt (topping the one set on 6/18/67). However, it was never noted in the IMCA Yearbooks. I was standing right inside turn #1 and I can still hear the engines echoing through the covered grandstand.

 

Here's some more shots of the #54 car back in Coshocton at Howell's garage. The Howell's had two Poodles: Coco and Tar Baby. One was painted on Dad's #54 and the other on Dean Mast's #64. Note the steering arm is on the right side of this car.

 

Here's a picture of Dad with his eyes closed. I'm not sure if he's praying or dreaming. The other photo is from Tampa at the old fairgrounds in 1970. That's Gene Davis' car (from Missouri) with Dad driving. Mac Clingan is standing by Dad. They had been friends since racing along the Ohio River in the mid '60's. Those two white and purple cars were Speedway Motor's cars. I think the one on the right was Opp's.

 

Dad's first Sprint Car. I think it still had 3 dueces on it. He later went to fuel injection. This was probably around 1965 and somewhere along the Ohio River. I just found this picture on Jimmy's Old Time Racing page. Thanks Jim.

 

PHENOMINAL stuff guys. I'm in the middle of Moving my entire shop, House, everything to new location. We have been slamming on the new place remodeling it for Two weeks now. I move in Feb. 1st. Have not been able to keep up with ya'll on here, but I'll be back soon.

Keep it up!

New place is bigger and better and most important.. HARDER TO FIND!

J Shaw

 

This is the start of the Hoosier Hunred, Indianapolis, on September 16, 1961.
A.J. Foyt #1 started on the pole and won the race!
The rest of the field: #44 Marshman, #98 Parnelli Jones, #7 Templeman, ...

 

Mario Andretti in the #2 Overseas National Airways Kuzma Offy and Al Unser in the #5 Retzloff Chemical Dunlop Offy lead the starting field to the green flag of the Hoosier Hundred. This photo was taken during the Hoosier Hundred, September 7, 1968 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

 

I think this photo is from 1963 and the driver should be Bobby Marshman.
Can someone confirm my guess and tell me the place ?