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

My daughter, Judy, and I will be there. EMMR will be bringing name tags for us, too. We might have an old timer with us, if he can make.

Actually, it is a week away from today, 11/6/2011, it being on the 13th.

 

There are more "roadster vets" around than you think as some ran as late as 1968/69 with fairly young drivers. I met two at the Rod & Custom show in Indy in 2010. Gene Hartley and a guy from Canada whose name escapes me at the moment.

Mario is definitely on the list. He took his rookie test in the Dean Van Lines "lightweight" Watson-Offy. Didn't he win the championship in that car?

 

For what it's worth.........it takes some concentration to get a roadster into Turn1 (Milwaukee). That's me right here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mecumauctions/5936719311/in/photostream

Tee shirt = "self-paced session". Runs at speed required long sleeves, pants.

I now remember seeing Michael Ferner with the pony tail and green teeshirt.....he drove a lot of laps!

Bad news here tho...

http://02a1392.netsolhost.com/mcvcg/2011/10/16/gazette-to-cease-publication/#more-5451

McHenry County Vintage Car Gazette is going out of business. Was a great supporter (and skilled journalist/photographer, esp at Miller Meet)

Photo galleries are here...... http://mcvcg.exposuremanager.com/g/eventcoverage
Thank you, Doug, for you passion..............

Jim Grant

 

Guy from Canada might be Eldon Rassmussen ( rather doubt it though ) or maybe Ed Kostenuk.

 

Kind of eerie looking. When did it close down?

 

Thanks Speedwrench!
Eldon Rasmussen was the name I was searching for. I remember him talking about a supermodified he built and I believe he and Bob Harkey discussed driving roadsters in the late 1960s.

 

"Eerie?" You should have seen it when it was open. It was really eerie. The place was very neat and clean when I was there, but it had that "bad feel" to me. A lot of ghosts.

 

CT to PA, You beat me to it while I was searching for my Old Timers Newsletter. You are correct, those are the still living folks that made the race (the 500) in a roadster.

PS of little interest....I practiced in Darwin Maxims roadster at Ontario and Joe Hunts upright front engine car at Riverside but wasn't fast enough to make the show.
Denny Z

 

That's upsetting news about Doug ceasing `publication of his Gazette, it was consistently a first class effort. But happy to see him do what's right for himself and family. Happy to have purchased products from him and to have contributed to his efforts.


On a happier note, Larry Pfitzenmaier brought his beautifull Simonize Roadster to The (3 day) Havasu City Speedway Vintage Event and together with my 27 Miler Tribute Car, Bill Barringer's 38 IndyCar and Don's Studebaker Indy Tribute car we ran some laps together for the fans on Sat night. (You could hear Larry's Offy clear into town!)
Video by Steven Paluch:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2596185827351

See you in July at Milw.

Carl Schulz
Indio, CA

 

It's on Sunday? Hmm. This changes everything for me.

 

Ralphie the Racer drove roadsters but never made the big show. He even drove the Novi!

 

As I recall he had a tremendous stack-up in the Novi.

He has always been among my favorites.

 

I saw Ralph this past May. He is still in good shape. In my opinion he was one of the best and for sure one of the bravest. Denny Z

 

One of my favorite tracks. Saw my first USAC sprint race there in 62. A couple bad times but way more good times there. That was when you could see Indy car drivers compete and then have fried chicken with them when it was over. I even built a 1/5 mile track like New Breman behind my shop to "test" cars on.
Nice trip in the Way-Back Machine

 

Ralphy is a survivor and his mind is sharp as a tack. He's got a thousand stories but don't ask about the crashes. Just a really neat guy that raced when it was really tough. Drove a few times for me and nobody was more laid back than Ralph and he's on my FaceBook.

 

Ralph Ligouri blows the Offy mill in the Leitenberger sprinter at Reading Sept 15, 1957.

 

That's a strange seat belt arrangement...!!!

 

Sam Browne belt used in conjunction with a lap belt to keep G forces from pushing upper body to the right prior to roll bars and shoulder harnesses, and containment seats.

 

I agree Denny; Ralph was one of the bravest of all time. And he did it without anybody getting hurt. Thats different from others. Glad to hear he is still doing well.

 

Guys, have trawled the internet for 40 minutes already looking for anything on Rollie Beale's Radio Hospital car....found nothing.
Can anybody help with a pic or time frame please?

Thanks in anticipation,
Jim Grant

 

Carl,
A first class effort indeed. Doug sent me a note of thanks today:


Thanks very much for the kind words. I enjoy finding out that some folks have liked what they've found on the site. It was a lot of work for someone who can't type worth a lick.


I had no idea that the MCVCG photo gallery was still accessible, since the account died a week ago! One guy from a local Triumph club (ISOA) talked me into handing over the MCVCG site contents for archiving, as he hated to see it all just disappear offline. I tried to convince him that most everything on there is time sensitive and gets stale pretty quick, but... He's still working on getting it rolling under a new web address, as yet undetermined.

Doug Begley
doug.begley@att.net

 

For the record, champcarstats.com shows Mario ran 10 races his rookie year (1964), 4 of them in a car listed as a "Blum"; I assume that's what is referred to as the light-weight Watson. The dirt races were run with the D.V.L. Kuzma.
The Blum was entered in 2 races in '65, his first championship year; Pheonix & Trenton. The rest of the pavement races were in the Brawner/Hawk, and the dirt contests in the Kuzma.
So, while Mario was certainly a roadster pilot and the roadster did contribute to his championship season, he never ran the 500 in one.
The roadster is not in champcarstats listing of entries that didn't make the 500, so there's no positive proof he took his rookie test there. Doesn't mean he didn't; there's just no record of it on that particular site.

 

I posted a good picture of Larry in Long Brothers car earlier

 

This is an amazing quote and something the drivers of today don't understand. As a kid going to races with my father I learned this lesson young. You would talk to a driver before the races; as fans were allowed in the pits before the races, then watch him die on the track a few hours later. I've had many drivers who were friends, but never got too close.

 

RAB32!!!! Sorry it has taken me this long..

THOSE PHOTO CD's YOU AGVE ME WERE AMAZING!!!!!

With all the excitment of the Penn. swing trip I forgot you gave them to me! I was cleaning out my Helmet bag last week and stumbled upon them! WOW!!! GREAT STUFF!!!

Thanks!

See ya soon.

J Shaw

 

Introducing the "Next Generation" of vintage open wheel. Jack Henry Hamilton was born Oct. 19. He is my first and I have been rocking him to sleep to the stories of everything Open wheel. It weird to think by the time he gets old enough to follow racing Kyle Larson may be the Legendary Veteran Sprint car driver.


​

 

Ralph Ligouri is a really interesting guy. We had him at our short track banquet in 2002 because he was in the NASCAR race at Corbin in 1954.

We became friends when I was at IRP, and we were both members of the West 16th Street Conversation Club, an informal group which congregated in the lounge at the IMS motel weekly to imbibe and bench race.

One night in late 1989, Ralph announced that he was hanging up his helmet. Several of us protested, and noted that he had driven in every decade from the 40s on, and should go one more year to add another. He agreed, and continued to race a midget at the Indianapolis Speedrome. He even won a feature on HARF night, and I got to present the congratulatory T-shirt.

 

They broke the mold when they made Ralphie the racer,for sure.

 

I will be there too. Denny Z

 

Hank Blum leased cars to Al Dean of Dean Van Lines.