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

Haha! I think it had to be a 15/16" socket if you used a Hein Warner jack. Nowadays racing go karts use digital scales and carry on board telemetry systems.

 

You aren't dumb! It is the brake!

 

My comment on the power steering units wasn't meant to mean that the first units were invented in the 70's, only that they became more common at that time. I remember that most of the cars in the east still had regular steering in the early 70's, but became more and more popular as the decade wore on. And the comment about the "Popeye" arms was dead on! Rich Vogler had giant forearms from driving without power steeering before it became real common. Sleepy Tripp also.

 

Well what a weekend, I went to Indiana for the USAC three race deal and all I got was rain. Gas City canceled Friday as I just crossed the Ohio Indiana boarder around 11 am, Saturday the same deal for Lawrenceburg, and then Sunday morning I get up and we have SUN shine, and as we're heading to Indianapolis to make our second stop at the Museum this weekend I get the call that Kokomo has canceled. Oh well thems the breaks. On an up beat note the museum at Indy is filled with nothing but Indy cars, all winners. If you haven't been there this year yet you gotta go. I'll post some of what was there to get your engines going. enjoy!

First we have Troy Ruttman's Kuzma/Offy on loan from Bruce Meyer. The 1952 Indy 500 Winner. 1952 marked the last year in which a dirt track-type championship car would win the "500," the Eddie Kuzum-built, Offenhauser-powered machine being driven by Troy Ruttman, who, having just turning 22, remains the youngest driver ever to win at Indianapolis. This car, which won several other Championship races, made its debut at Indianapolis in 1951 when a late run by Walt Faulkner resulted in one- and four-lap qualifing records (but not the pole position), the single-lap mark being raised to 138.122 mph. The chief mechanic in both years was Clay Smith.

 

At the Museum 2011! enjoy!

1928 This is an outstanding example of the artistic workmanship created within the shops of legendary car builder Harry Miller. Louis Meyer, destined to become the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was a virtually unknown 23 year-old when he captured the 1928 race with this chassic rear-drive 91-cubic-inch Miller. Although he'd served as a relief driver for fourth place-finishing "rookie" Wilbur Shaw the year before, Meyer had never before started in a "500." Having learned during practcie that driver/entranr Phil Shafer had this car up for sale, he convinced a wealthy friend, Alden Sampson II, that they should take it over. They did so and Louis won the race, taking the lead only 19 laps from the end.

 

Get on the Nish web site. WWW.NishMotorsports.com They still sell the adapters, and are listed on this site. Lonnie

 

Does anyone have any pictures of Buck Buckley in his URC days ?? Bucks health is not so good these day, anything would be great. Thanks Marty.

 

very nice , got to love it cool pixs

 

Miller27, There are quite a few pictures of Buck in Buzz Rose's book "Tow Money" the history of URC the first 30 years. Not sure if my wife can scan them, the best bet would be get the book. Denny Z

 

For Bob Cicconi and anyone else whose interested they also have a cageless midget sight on here with great old midget and TQ pics.

 

Mechanical Rabbit at Whiteman
Whiteman Stadium was a very unique track, it was a 1/3 mile paved track built for the private use of the Whiteman brothers, Marv and Gary. They owned a manufacturing company on a small airport in the North East San Fernando Valley and they decided that they wanted to go stock car racing. So they hired the best people to build cars, bought the best motors from Traco and then built a track on there property to work on setups. They wanted to focus on racing at two tracks in the Southland so they built turns 1-2 to duplicate San Gabriel Valley Speedway (later to be called 605) and turns 3-4 were patterned after Saugus. Turns 1-2 were banked with a large radius and 3-4 were board flat with a smaller radius. So the bottom line was that there was a ton of compromise in a set up to run the whole track.
Walt James promoted races there and I sold programs for pocket change. I think it failed because the grandstands and parking were across the street from low income housing and car theft and vandalism was a huge concern. This cool photo was taken there, you will notice Don is wearing a t-shirt and I am sure no gloves!
Oh yeh ! I was going to tell you all about the lack of injector stacks.

Al Bartz had brought to the shop a casting of a cross ram manifold he got at work "Traco" ? It was raw with no guts and much bigger butterflies than the standard Hilborns everyone used. They made a complete system and installed that on Don's car, they latter took it off as they never did get it to work as well as the Hilborns. That's what I remember!
Dan Ruth

 

There's a interesting thread concerning Al Bartz that can be found here:

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=143699&hl=bartz

 

Al was a super nice guy, I only knew him because he and my dad were friends and their shops were only a 1/2 block apart. I would go to work with my dad on a Saturday and I would be riding my bicycle or mini bike around the neighborhood, and stopping by Al's was one of my favorite things to do.

 

I've enjoyed browsing the pics you guys have posted. They remind me of the pics my
old friend Bud had hanging in his shop before he passed away last month. Bud was a
USAC engine builder and mechanic for years. He built the engines for "Pancho" Carter's sprint cars the years he won the USAC sprint championship.

 

Rootie: Thanks.......had a nice discourse with Terry Nish. They still sell the parts, and he said the have sold approximately 1500(!) sets of these adapters. Do you think the Hilborne people made a few injectors??? WOW

 

So now I'm curious, what is the advantage of straight up tubes over angled? Better flow? clearance?

 

Even from the body English you can tell these guys are twins!

 

Only thing I know of is the ability to fit the K&N double filter in the straight up paired tubes!

 

The typical modern sports car requires something like 2 turns lock-to-lock, and will turn about 20 deg either side of straight-ahead.
I would not know about your '32 car, but to my ignorant eye, this more recent baby looks to have a good 25 deg either side.


If Mosley's steering range were, for example, 25 deg either side, and so were your car's, that a 25% increase over "typical" sports car at 20 deg.
If instead of 2 turns lock-to-lock, we're talking about 3/4 of a single turn, that's .375 as much as typical sports car. Put the two differences together, and that implies a steering ratio on your and Mosley's cars that is 3.3x what it is on "typical" sports car . No wonder the steering's heavy.

 

Ah, yes. It took me awhile to conceptualize how that worked for KPI, until I realized that the scrub radius will dictate the point where the KPI intersects with the ground, and therefore that point will always be farther inboard than contact patch.

Thanks.

 

The MG "Production" TD, I had in my younger days, had modified steering. I can't remember exactly; but, it sure was a lot less than 2 turns. Then, as now, I find it hard to run quickly, driving a car that oversteers (nowdays they call it "tight"), without "fast" steering. I can't respond quick enough, if I have have my hands and arms all crossed up; or, have to take my hands off the wheel. I've seen many a guy "pawing" helplessly at the wheel of a car needing a bunch of turns of that wheel, to get the car to behave.

My MG is tied to my mom's new '56 Ford "Vickie". I'm the skinny, tall kid on the left. The lower photo is my current car. Note that I've already got the steering in "neutral", after having "pitched" into the car the turn. I don't think I could do that with two turns, lock to lock. The car's been shown many a time on the H.AM.B..

 

Wow! Rubber flying everywhere. Whose tires are you using? I need to choose some for my replica racer.

 

'I find it hard to run quickly, driving a car that oversteers (nowdays they call it "tight"), without "fast" steering.'
If I'm not mistaken, oversteer is "loose"; understeer is "tight", or "pushing".
I think it's been quoted here before, and I don't remember who said it, but the gist of the quote was "if your car is tight, you hit the wall with the nose of the car, and if it's loose, you hit it with the tail."
Nice catch, by the way. Dirt tracking on a road course. Davey McDonald would be proud. If you've ever seen shots of him in the #00 'vette, you know what I mean.

 

I believe that, as factory-standard, that car would have had 2 1/2 turns l-t-l, but big range of movement of front wheels, as turning circle was apparently 31 ft.

 

They're Dunlop Racing tires. I get them from Roger Kraus Racing in Castro Valley. They're tube type; and they're not cheap.

 

Yep, tight or pushing = understeer while loose = oversteer. The best description I ever heard was from Neil Bonnett who said: "If it's tight, you'll see the wreck. If it's loose, you won't."

 

Yeah! You're right! I got it backwards. Understeer is "push". During the races in the mid-fifties, I watched Davy at Santa Barbara, pitching his Corvette through the turns. A friend and I asked him about the technique. McDonald, being an excellent mechanic, explained that it could be accomplished with faster than stock steering. My friend ended up working with McDonald at Shelby. The real "thing of beauty' was watching him "crossing up" through the turns at Riverside, in the King Cobra.

"The conventional wisdom" these days, as it was with some then, is that such tactics are slower. I tend to agree. In that photo, I believe that I was catching the car in a "pitch", when I "over-cooked" it going into Turn 5 at Laguna Seca. If that's true, it was probably well into the race, when braking was less effective. And, I was running slower.

 

From looking at this picture I'd say the car had a "slight" push, but overall it looks more like a four wheel drift - either "neutral" or "not in the track". Make the diameter of the left side tires smaller or soften the suspension and jack the weight to the left rear - but in any case: don't slow down! That's for an oval only, though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMrNqR1B-cs&feature=related

 

I think the toe is in too far!!!