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

I do understand some of what you are saying. Numerous times I would say something to Dad about So and So's sprint car and he'd say: It's not a sprint car it just looks like one. The ones I talked about earlier were a little different: Dickson drove a Trevis, Reed drove a stretched midget, Burriss drove an old champ car, and Dad eventually drove a Trevis.

 

The Dils #2 that Burriss drove was KK #354 that was shortened to a sprint. Gordon White ID. it from pics I showed him. The car stayed in the area for a while then dissapeared and everyone that had anything to do with the car had passed by the time I tryed to find it. The car always had the original torison bars which split my finger open to the bone one night at the Hilltop Spdwy. When we got the car it had no weight jacker for the frt. spring only a big bolt that you ran down to the spring about 1/2 way to the Rt Frt.. I later put on a wieght jacker bought from CAE. Sure wish I had that car now. ;-( There are some pics of it on my FB. One with Ron Lux as driver before we bought it.

 

I think I saw some photos before it was shortened. Maybe racerjim had them.

 

Here it is after shortening - at Hilltop, too, I think.

 

Hilltop is right. We had Algon injection on that 427 Ford by that time. Started out with the 2-4s on gas.

 

I didn't say that "sprint cars" changed, although adding the cages was a major technical change. I said that "sprint car racing" changed. Almost immediately, the consequences for reckless driving were eliminated. It was no longer necessary to complete a pass as the blatant slide job became the new way to get around somebody.
The quality, attitude and bravado of the new drivers was totally different.

 

The 14 car that Fizer is driving was a dirt car too. I did some work on the car and I remember the Offy header cutouts was still in the hood. Tryed to find it again but too late-dead ends.

 

I remember Gary B. saying that the roll cages was going to make sprint cars so safe that anybody can drive one. Dee Jones was another cage hater and told USAC quite often.
They were a different breed.

 

Hey Mac Miller - Here's an old post of mine to show you where my heart is. Somebody posted some "post 1970" cars and all hell broke loose on this thread. Sorry for the repetition, but I think it is still appropriate.

 

That post nails it, Easter. I remember thinking that the first time I read it. Home run.

 

Thanks pal. Ok, I like Watson's, too. Damn.

 

Okay, this is an INCREDIBLE thread! I'm REALLY enjoying the build photos of the various projects here, as well.

I've scanned approximately 100 pages and then my eyes started to bleed! HAHA! I didn't see much in the way of seat/upholstery and dash/controls pictures. Can you guys posted some interior pics? I'm mostly interested in interiors with snaps and pleats, stuffed rolls, etc. Sorry if it's already been posted, just didn't see it in the pages that I scanned.

Thanks guys! Incredible projects and topic!

 

Found this shot on the Syracuse Nationals picture thread, posted by Bucksnort.......Rich

 

I have to add my two cents here, I too ran in the uncaged era and when cages came along it appeared to me some of the respect between drivers was lost. Folks got real brave now that they had cages. Now having said that I agree cages have saved lives and that's good but cages did change the style of driving. Denny Z

 

I agree with Denny. I also GOT to race without a cage[only in a midget], but I am proud to have done it. I remember several drivers were against cages[Tat and Bobby Grim being two of them], they said it would make everyone braver than DICK TRACY and it did and changed how people drove. Yes the cages have saved many lives but the average talent of racers before cages[in my opion] were better than after cages. I ran after cages but am proud to say I drove without them. Got upsidedown 5 times only once with a cage.
Jim Graybeal

 

I think the cars look a lot better without cages. I also think you guys look
better above ground! But what do I know? I'm just some kid who never got a chance to see any of the golden years.

 

Remember back before cages when the yellow would come out - all of the drivers would stick an arm straight up in the air to signal the driver behind him. Now, they have to stick their arm out the side - and the left side only. I remember seeing 24 arms pointing straight up signaling one lap till green, too. Just a small observation.

 

Throughout the various regions of the country there are many different types of vehicles that call themselves "super modifieds"....... They all have one thing in common, they all have roll cages....... real sprint cars do not.

 

Ok, I have to say this but some of you won't like it...but you know it's true.....with todays horsepower and the big tires, speeds have increased proportionately. We all have seen some spectaclular crashes in the last few years where the driver has climbed out and walked away.....as they should. Let's get real here, with the ambulance chasing lawyers and the do gooders watching over all of us, I'll ask you all to look at some of these crashes with experienced objective eyes and know how many drivers would have been killed and it be labeled a 'blood sport' without the cages. This would have ended up with sprint car racing being banned or so over regulated by the 'government'....(that word scares the crap out of me) that we more than likely would have lost the sport that we all love.
Their is nothing more handsome than a single roll bar sprint car from the 60s. The same car today with 900 hp and the big tires at Winchester would be a death trap. The thought of having 6-8 drivers (or more) killed a year just doesn't sound all that much fun to me....but that's just me.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
HG

 

A very weighty subject. I recall talking to Parnelli many years ago and he telling me that in all of his open cockpit racing he NEVER got upside down. That was midgets, sprints, and champ cars, and I think he had a couple of U.S.A.C. Sprint titles in there. I saw him go over in Omar Daniels jalopy, more than once, but it had a top. Mario said in an interview many years ago that cages took the "art" out of driving. A guy that used to live across the street from my dad was a SoCal midget regular and raced sprints occasionally, named Jim Devitt. Jim hated cages and fought them for years. The first time he bolted one on he got up and faced the outside wall at... Orange Show, or Irwindale or ... I really do not remember, but he said without the cage he would have been decapitated. He was a staunch advocate of cages after that. I will always remember the first time I ever saw "Herk" in the pits at Ascot. He had one eye that was green, turning black and the other was red, turning green. I asked my dad what was up and he said "flip-eye". It was then that I began to understand how violent the sport that I had become so fond of was.

I still do not think that wings belong on anything other than a late fifties-early sixties street car or maybe a Seeburg juke box, but I do believe that cages have allowed many race drivers to live into retirement rather than have their children attend their funerals prematurely.



Mike.

 

Soldiers used to stand straight up, shoulder to shoulder and march directly into the gun fire while wearing bright clothing and beating drums. At one time hockey goalies didn’t wear masks. Guns didn’t used to have safeties. Cigarettes were thought to be healthy. Asbestos was a homeowner’s friend. Ships were made of wood and airplanes were covered with canvas. Midgets, sprints, and champ cars didn’t used to have roll cages. Things change and sometimes it’s for the better. I look back with respect, but also I’m thankful for some of the progress.

 

Back lash set.. ready for 500 miles.

 

HA! The more I read these beautiful testimonials about how wonderful and safe current "sprint car" racing is, the more thankful and honored I am that I was able to participate in the days before the safety paranoids and insurance companies took over the sport.

http://macmillersgarage.webs.com/apps/blog/show/2421496-fantasy-features-would-you-pay-to-see-this-

 

ready for Michigan ?????????

 

Very well spoken, Easter. I might quote this in one of my columns on Frontstretch.com.

 

One can still get seriously hurt with the cages. Joey Saldana was hurt recently while wearing the best equipment available. Nobody said this was a sport for sissys.....just don't like funeral homes that much. Yes, sprint car racing is theeee most exciting racing on this planet which coincides with the most dangerous. Once again, if we did away with cages and go back to the single bar with todays HP and speed, we will know the undertaker on a first name basis........and then the lawyers will come......and then the regulations to protect us will come, which will price us right out of business. Society today will not tolerate lots of injuries or deaths. As most of us know, when speeds increased in the early 50s the rate of serious injuries and deaths went up and their was a cry to ban racing. I fear today if that came along enough tree huggers would now have the political clout to get that done.
Don't like the looks of cages anymore than anyone on here but it's just a matter of moving on with the times.
HG

 

Yes.

 

Cool picture.

 

Whaaaaaat?!?!? Can one of you kind gents elaborate and expound upon this? i.e. What, where and when Michigan event?
Please enlighten me...Thanks -Mark