Art & Inspiration Quarter Midgets from the 50's & 60's

Don't think I was in a race with him, but I remember his car. It had a picture of a boy asleep at the wheel with zzzz.

 

Glad CTO got this thread rolling again. What a cool time to be a kid!! A local shop on Indy's southside [Bob Shirley's Super Service] had a room full of em'. As a young kid I used to go there and just dream of driving one.

 

7.51 seconds. Prior to that, Mike Olivero held the record at 7.93 set at the Little Ascot track. On dirt all the makes of cars were fairly equal. Once they started paving the tracks, the Kurtis 4 bar was far superior.

 

This is my car in 1959.

 

here it is today, 2012

 

more pictures, without the trophies in the way.

 

that is AWESOME that you still have it.

 

A few more of 14H. The engine had a head, oil pan, distributer,valve cover, and fly wheel made by Offenhauser Mfg. The intake manifold was custom made by my dad and used a carb without a float bowl.

 

Anybody have any info on quarter midget racing in Hanover, PA area in late 50s? I recently purchased this truck that used to race numbers 45 and 46; driven by two girls... Bonnie and Jackie Raubenstine. Where are they now?

 

Awesome truck!

 

Yes, "Sleepy Tripp" was a good quarter midget driver, who went on to become a good
adult, or "full" midget driver.

(I was an "OK" quarter midget driver, who went on to become an "OK" sports car racer...)

Darryl Clarke

 

You will likely have to make one, the basic side rails you might want to make from small Channel.
If you can get a photo from a RaceCraft, or Whalborg, with the body off, it may help a lot...
Darryl Clarke

 

Dusty, You are so lucky. What kind of guages are in the dash? and are they just for looks? also, what is the brake handle from? Who made the intake manifold? Sorry for all the questions, but I love these little cars. Love the rabbits foot !!!

 

Sleepy Tripp at age 5, his brother Bobby is handing him the trophy..

​

 

The guages are oil pressure and oil temp, they work. At one time we had a tach under the steering wheel but as I grew we had to take it out. My dad turned the barke handle and made the intake manifold. He was in charge of production and ran the shop at Offenhauser for 30 years making ford V8 heads and manifolds, engine and carb adapters, and later intake manifolds for all kinds of engines. The head, oil pan, distributer, valve cover, and fly wheel on my 1/4 midget are Offenhauser parts.

 

I finally found a Viking Craft and brought it home today

 

couple more pictures

 

I am stocked you got that Viking Roy. I didn't realize the backstory until tonight
or I would have already been all over that for you.

 

Way cool. Roy.

 

Nice score. Looks to be one of the stretched versions for older kids. In about '58 associations raised the age limit from 12 to 15. Some manufacturer's offered cars with more length for the taller kids. Ronnie Phelps and Mike Olivero drove stretched Viking Crafts.

 

Dean, thanks, I have been looking and looking at it trying to figure out why the cockpit looked so long, the frame hasn't been stretched or cut and the body hasn't been either. The "roll bar" over the nose has been added and there are some mounts for a roll bar that have been added but besides those things it looks pretty much unmolested.

 

Congrats Roy!

Bart

 

Yse, it is a vary nice example of an un molested Viking Craft. If it were mine, I would remove the bar over the nose. It takes away from the perfect lines of the body. Yours is the first Viking Craft I've seen since I retired from 1/4 midgets. Either the production numbers were not very high, most of them were cut up, or there are a hell of a lot of them hiding somewhere. I'm glad you found one Roy. You, of all people, should have one!

 

Wow Roy,
That car looks great. Congrats on getting a Vikingcraft....now life is as it should be !!! Your dad built one of the best looking quarter midgets of all time.

 

I am not sure if this car is appropriate for this thread because it was built in the late 30's or early 40's before there were any formal 1/4 midgets that I know of. When I received it for Christmas in 1947 there were no sanctioning bodies and the only place I had to run it was on the side streets and parking lots. Nobody else had one so I raced against friends on bikes--it's a wonder any of us survived childhood. It's not a toy but was built just like a real racecar of the period. It has an aluminum body on a steel rail frame, engine in front, driveshaft and rear end. We are pretty sure it was built by Emil Andres and Jimmy Snyder. I still have it--65 yrs--Is that a record?





Here I am age 4 or 5 in the car




There are more detailed photos on my website http://buymegivemetakeme.com/ and there are some current pictures on the HAMB thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=747601

 

OMG !!! That is the best looking junior midget I have ever seen. It just represents an era when craftsmen would build things to show their talent. I would guess that there are not too many flat tail "junior" midgets from this early pre-war time period left. I am glad to see you have always hung on to it. Don't ever sell it (unless it's to me !!) Thanks for posting... this thread is getting better and better.

 

saw these while on the Garage Tour part of the Blackie Gejeian Roast

 

Spending that is beyond incredible!!!

 

Seeing that Jr Midget reminded me of this brochure I have, a fella down near Sacramento sent me about a dozen years ago. He knew the people involved with this. Anyone have a guess as to the time period this would have been? We could always call PRospect 1421 and find out. Sorry I had to scan it in 4 sections, it is 9x13 (double sided) and is in excellent condition.

 

I believe this is one of the Viking Craft Roadster 1/4 midgets. Danny drove one painted red with an 8 ball number. It was the precursor to the later sidewinder 1/4 midgets.