History Classic Indy roadsters: Most beautiful oval racers ever?

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HA! well, certainly, the safety paranoids have purty much taken over all of racing. Racing, now, is slightly more dangerous than tennis and golf but slightly safer than bowling, where thumb injuries are a common problem.
Currently. the #1 priority of any new race car design is safety, no longer speed...... how sad......
The car that holds the "vintage oval track" record at Bonneville, set in 2007, is a real 1959 Kuzma-OFFY roadster with a sprint car style roll cage.
According to the latest rules, this car would not even be close to meeting the current safety standards.
Our original plan was to build a Watson roadster frame with legal Bonneville roll cage, but, after long and very tedious back and forth with Bonneville officials, it became obvious that a whole new frame design would be necessary.
Oddly enough, to build a safety and rules compliant car, it would be impossible to modify a real Indy roadster to meet the current standards..
I think A.J. was very pleased with the way our car turned out.

mac miller in INDY

 

In regard to the Milwaukee story . After the race one of his competitors told AJ he had just set racing back 20 years.

 

always loved those cars, they had alot of character. I know with the offy's they were off set to run the driveshaft down the side of the driver, but how did they run the drive shaft with a v-8. was it still down the side? (anyone have any pics of a v-8 indy car with or without body panels showing the set up?
Paul

 

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I never enjoyed seeing the 500 live or on television as much as I loved those old Sid Collins broadcasts as a tot. Truly magical, theater of the mind.

 

Beautiful cars from an heroic era. Keep the pictures and stories coming.

 

bring it on,theres nothing like the sound of an OFFY,the roadsters had to have been the best looking cars that ever hit Indy.

 

You got that right, true artist at their craft.
Growing up in Albuquerque we had the Unser famaily so Indy was always a big deal. Many years ago I painted one of the Indy cars for Bobby and while there he took me back into this warehouse behind the shop. It was filled with all the family's old race cars (they started at Indy in the late 50's) and other interesting relics. Quite the treat to see them up close and personal.
This pic dates a little farther back then most being posted (I think it was 48 Indy) but I throw it up here anyway. Found it under a seat of a 57 Ford. The young guy on the right in the white t shirt is Andy Granatelli and the cars our the GranCor (Granatelli Corperation) specials.

Took a different man to sit in one of those and run at speed tire to tire. Sure wasn't much to save your ass in a mishap!

 

That photo is 1949. Neither car qualified but the two guys in the cockpits both would win the 500 later. Jim Rathmann on the left (1960 winner) and Pat Flaherty on the right (1956 winner). Also so as not to confuse anyone, neither of those cars are "Roadsters" they are both up-right champ cars.

 

If you'd like a free hi-res wallpaper of this car (and others) they're available here:



http://www.macsmotorcitygarage.com/2012/08/25/wallpaper-get-your-free-mcg-wallpaper/



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being built at gbi

 

Who is gbi??? Anymore details??? what engine???

 

^^^^^I'm going to throw out a guess here...George Bignotti?(sp?)

 

gary bridge and iron

see my post here

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=571188

the new car is in my updates to the thread towards the end

 

why an offy of course

 

HA! (hand slap to side of head) of course, I just saw Steve Truchan last weekend. I didn't know he was building the lay down roadster.
mac miller in INDY

 

Have this hanging in my office at work. It is a photo of John Mellencamp driving the 1951 Indy winning Belanger Special driven by Lee Wallard. The car was later driven by Tony Bettenhausen Sr. This photo was taken and autographed in 2001 at the Legends of Indy Event. Since I work for the Bettenhausen family, it has a special meaning for me.

 

OK, sorry, didn't mean to post the wrong thing. Curious thou, educate someone (me) that love old Indy cars but admittedly doesn't know a lot about them. Besides the ovious change in style as the years progressed I didn't realise the different styles had different labels. What defines one as a "roadster" compared to a "Champ" car?

 

cool thanks rootie!, they really show horned them in there!

Paul

 

I had lunch today with Bill Wendt.
He told me they are actively looking for a 59 Edsel wagon to letter up as a clone to the orginial AJ Watson / Roger Ward tow vehicle of the Leader Card Special.
I don't think condition matters.
He is heading to Miami (I think) tomorrow to work on the Bonneville car I mentioned early in this thread.

On a side note, if anyone is interested in an "original" repop of a white Leader Card Special Tee-shirt, I can get them. I was told today that Mark Wilke is reproducing them, and I think this year they had them hanging for sale on their hauler at the Chili Bowl (but only had XXL sizes)

 

Both roadsters and uprights were Champ cars. Basically, a Champ car had a 96 inch wheelbase, a large fuel capacity and were intended to run 100 + mile races on both dirt and pavement. As time went on and the roadsters evolved they were raced mainly on pavement while the uprights were raced mainly on dirt.

 

Ahhh.....the "big" cars, as it were.


(In theory, it's what ultimately became what we would refer to as Silver Crown cars)

 

metalman.

No need to be sorry, my comment was not intended to criticize your post, just that the OP started a thread about Indianapolis Roadsters and several subsequent posts had pictures of upright cars. I thought I would nudge it back to roadsters. As Rootie stated a roadster is a champ car but differs in having the drivetrain offset to one side (usually the left) with the driver sitting beside the drivetrain. An upright has the driver centered over the drivetrain.

 

Went on a tour of Gary Bridge & Iron that Silent Rick put together. The collection is PHENOMINAL!! The shop specializes in the MAJOR restoration of Offy engines. Major as a huge chunk lower block missing when a crank let go-----a PERFECT recasting of the lower block and crank webbing and welded togetherand some how furnace fused and then completely machined to original tolerances (or better) and either returned to the customer or assembled per customers preference. The pix that Silent Rick posted is an up date on the brand NEW spot on build of a true Indy Roadster. Honest It's THAT Beautiful. BILL RINALDI

 

Actually, the term "roadster" refers to the front engine championship cars that were built with the driver positioned to the right of center and the engine & drive line positioned left of center so that the driveshaft runs beside the driver. This allowed the driver to sit much lower in the car for a lower center of gravity and improved streamlining. Having the engine on the left improved handling by adding weight to the left side tires.
The roadsters were designed for the INDY 500 and, immediately, dominated the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but at most of the shorter pavement tracks they were not much better than the upright cars.
Check it out at:
http://indyroadsters.webs.com/apps/blog/show/3841793-the-roadster-tracks-where-they-raced

The term "roadster" started in 1952, when Bill Vuckovich saw his radical new Kurtis 500A Indy car for the very first time and said that it reminded him of his track roadster. The name stuck.... Frankly I never saw any resemblance between a Kurtis 500A Indy car and '27 T track roadster but, apparently, Vuky did..

mac miller in INDY

 

Not to sharpshoot but just for the sake of info -- That is certainly the most common roadster configuration (depending how you wish to define roadster, perhaps) but not the only one.

For example, of the first five Kurtis-Kraft KK500/KK500A Indy car chassis built in 1952-53, only one, the Howard Keck car aka Fuel Injection Special, featured an offset engine. The Cal Connell KK500 had its Cadillac V8 installed on centerline with reverse rotation and a gearbox that offset the driveline to the left. In the Gene Cassaroll Auto Shippers Special (Walt Faulkner) the Offy was inclined but not offset.

Other variations include the Kurtis-Kraft KK500G2 reverse-offset cars, in which the driver was offset to the left and the engine to the right. Pat Clancy ran two of these chassis at the Speedway in 1957 for Jack Turner and Al Keller. Also the Hoover Express Kurtis DNQ for Elmer George in 1958.

 

These are the most beautiful race cars ever. Thanks to everyone for all the pics, and info.

 

Contrary to popular belief, single seat driver/driveline offset cars (i.e. "roadster") were entered in, and competed in, the 500 long before Kurtis built his first.
Accuratly or not, the 1946, Kurtis built Ross-Page Spl. is often considered the genesis of the roadster.

 

lay down as in the engine is laid down on it's side

the driveline offset to the driver's left side

 

Indeed...Author Mark Dees has called the Ross Page Spl "the proto-roadster." The offset was only around two inches on this car but the idea is there all the same. It's said Kurtis was some years ahead of his customers on the roadster concept and he was often frustrated by their extreme conservatism.