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

What's parked in the back yard?

 

Those turbine cars were powered by a Boeing engine that was developed as a pneumatic source to turn the air powered starters used on jet engines. Boeing also had installed some in various sized trucks used at Boeing facilities. Unlike the P&W units used later in the Granatelli indy cars they were centrifgul compressors that were not as powerful or as small as the axial flow P&W engines.

 

Mr Flipper, Pre-war "L"type MG with an Offy in it. A bit OT but the little 110 can light up those twin rears at hillclimbs and such.
Other stuff comes in from time to time.
The ex-Dees 318 Offy.
Interestingly stamped clearly GEMSA ,so Jiggler Joe had it on his bench at some time .
Cheers Greg

 

Mr. Flipper is a mighty fine ride. Gary

 

If you would not mind, what is the serial number on the 318?

 

Hey everyone; I'm on a quest for 1 Halibrand single spot {lobster} brake caliper mount for Int. spindle. Need it for Larry Rice's / GatorAide restoration.
Butch Evans---740-248-6023

 

Thats Malcom Church behind Dees Offy.

 

Butch call or pm Glenn Necessary I have those type mounts. 661 714 3854

 

29AVEE8,
This has come up before, I think. Yu could make a 270 up to a 318. But there was only 5 318 in stock form ever made from people older than me and ran against them. Schrader-2, Collins-2, Wilburn 1. The stock 318's had a bigger crankcase and a bigger block than the 270's, so they could be made bigger than 318, but do not know if anyone did it. I know Wilburn's mechanic [Barry Wimmer said they never had one], but I was told by people that raced against them they did.] Who do you belive? Jim Graybeal

 

Jim, I don't have the book in front of me at present, but Gordon White wrote in "Offenhauser", that the first 318 was built for Tommy Lee's special, that was built in part by Frank Kurtis. Collins was in L.A. building a new car, and caught wind of it, and took one back to the Midwest. He took the IMCA championship away from Gus Schrader with it in that year only. The Tommy Lee 318 went to Jan Voboril at one time, I wonder where the others are? There is a thread here on the HAMB about the Lee car, sorry if this has been covered before.

 

I have a technical question about pressure plates. What is the angle machined on the plate and wing nut supposed to be. I have some modern wheel nuts that are 30 degree taper and I am going to machine them to match the vintage pressure plates. I have measured my pressure plates, all original Halibrand, and am getting all different angles from 35-50 degrees. I assume they should be 45 degrees. Any body know for sure?

Thanks,
Neil

 

Hey guy's just finally picked this up over the weekend and was looking for a little help with any info or history.It was run at Lawrenceburg by a guy named Jerry Brewer and the driver was Johnny Krebs any help woul be greatly appreciated........Rich

 

I promoted the 'burg when that car ran. I may have some images or at least a program with photos. The dark haired guy in the photo (on the right) is Krebbs. Brewer is on the left. I believe Sheldon Kinser drove for Brewer before he moved on to USAC.

 

Thanks Blackie, I found the son or grand son on Myspace and got a few shots of the car there, then I found him on Facebook and sent him a message about 3 weeks ago hoping to find some history or more photos on it, but have not recieved any calls.......Rich

 

I think the Brewers were from Vallonia, Indiana and Krebs was from the Bloomington, Indiana area.

I remember something about Brewer's Garage.

I would be interested in any history you dig up on that car, it might be more interesting that you suspect.

 

I would too since some of the info I've found was he had Sheldon Kinser,and Bob Kinser drive some of his race cars so who know who else could have sat in the one I got besides Johnny..........Rich

 

Are the wheels real Greg Weld steel wheels?

 

YEAP!! Part of the reason I bought the car, Greg was good friends with my Dad. When ever He ran out here in the northeast We used to give him rides to Newark airport so he could get a flight back to Kansas.............Rich

 

not sure what they are supposed to be, but if they are wrong the wheel will come off, happened to me at Springfield on the Mile, we ran little springfield saturday night and the Mile sunday, had a knock off crack into the threads, bought a new one at the track put it on for the mile, in hot ;laps running into the first turn wide open the right front took off like a rocket, thought for sure it was gonna dig in and I was gonna go for a ride, luckily I was able to turn right real easy and run it up to the wall and got it to a stop

 

Rich,back in 1993 I ran across this car in Delaware south of Dover. I was told it was a Stapp so I called Steve and asked him . He was sure it was not and thought Larry Dorset and Denny Mitchel of Bedford Ind. built it. I sent photos and Rosemary replied that it was NOT a Stapp car.

 

Damn I was afraid of that. That sounds like a scary ride. I would rather machine the hex nuts than the Pressure plates.

 

I believe you are correct on the 30 degree taper on Halibrands although it does depend on your point of reference for the measurement. I've also heard people talking about machining a 60 degree angle on Halibrands which is exactly the same thing if you measure from the other direction.

I've heard all kinds of crap over the years about how there has to be one degree of interference between the wheel nut and the wheel/pressure plate and I've decided it's just that; crap. As far as I know the angle on the pressure plate and the nut have to match. People get in trouble with wheel nuts when different brands (that are machined slightly different) are used or where somebody paints either a nut or the backside of a wheel. It may not seem like much but even a single coat of paint can change how a wheel is initially seated on a hub. Once power is transmitted and a little heat gets generated things can loosen up.

BTW, the best guy I ever talked to about knockoff style wheels was Phil Schmidt of PS Engineering in Torrance, California. He does most of his own machining and makes all kinds of vintage wheels mainly for sports cars (Cobras, etc.) but makes his own knockoffs as well. He's a very nice guy and if you give him a call I'll bet he will set you straight on any questions you might have. He may not know about midget wheels specifically but I'm sure he will be able to give you some good advice.

His business phone number is 310-534-4477. Here's his website:

http://psvintagewheels.com/

 

That pretty well shuts down my theory on this car.

Denny always did do nice work.

 

Is that the same Mitchell that built the early Steve Kinser WoO car?

 

Thank's for that info ,I know it wasn't a Stapp,When I posted it on Facebook Susannah Stapp told Me the Bopper said it wasn't one of his, but he did build a 4 bar car for him.I talked to a couple of people at Latimore a few weeks ago and Dorset's name was mentioned........Rich

 

For 29AVEE8, I got in touch with the new owner of the Dees as I hadnt written anything in the book whilst I was looking after it.Sorry for the delay.
The number on the cam box is 22 and the GEMSA is stamped on the crank case under the magneto perch.
He has just made 3 new 270 size cranks ,one for the 318 and one for the spare ex-Vermiell engine and one that is semi-finished and on e-bay at the moment.
I think the original rods are on e-bay as well.
I think he had the same people as I use to make new rods for these.
Mine were beatifully made and reasonable in price.
Argo Engineering. www.argorace.com.au
If it's inappropriate to mention the maker can the moderator delete this?
Cheers Greg
Cheers Greg

 

RABs32 Can't wait to see some pics with its body off. I love chassis pics!

 

The Cook brothers Ben and Bill built this first sprint in 1967 when they were 17 years old. They were too young to get into the pitts. Great work for young men.

 

Same person - not the same car or design.

The cars you're thinking of were four bar and the cage design was completely different.

RABs32 - the name Larry Dorset doesn't sound familiar but you might see if you can find something about Ron Dorset. Not sure if the spelling of the last name is correct as shown either. As I remember it you might want to try looking in the Mitchell, Indiana area.