Jive-Bomber submitted a new blog post: Pre War Carnage at Oakland Speedway Continue reading the Original Blog Post
Cool History lesson. Those cars were actually quite beautifully done. Sad to see some of the crash results.
WOW! I hope we can ID all the cars & drivers Bruce had one of the best photo collections of vintage race cars from all eras. The #27 MILLER V16 is fully restored and running thanks to the late Chuck Davis. Bob
Lots of history at that track.It was known as the fastest dirt track in America and many famous careers were started there.
I know,I was checking out the frame and metal work on a couple of those cars.Too bad somebody had to get injured for me to see the nice metal work on the bottom side.Interestingly enough,there were never any fatalities at that track.And they also ran motorcycles,too.They should have called it the luckiest little track in America.
It's interesting to note how many of the cars have the steering wheel ring really bent up or missing from the driver struggling to stay in the car. It really is amazing that automotive safety in race cars didn't really change for many years and not because of insurance and governmental regulation, but from guys saying "**** I ain't doing that again without something all around me!".
Sure looks like a cooling fan being used as a steering wheel. Could this be? Did the outer ring just fall off? Some cool **** here, Jay.
Thanks for these great photos. It is hard to believe that drivers and their mechanics ever survived the horrible crashes at this and other tracks throughout the country during this era.
I love that era of race cars but those drivers and riding mechanics make the "hold my beer and watch this" brigade seem tame in comparison. Thanks for sharing the photos as I can clean some ideas for my roadster.
That looks like a stock Model T Ford steering wheel mounted up side down, the rim is only held in place with four wood screws. Mounted this way the driver is pushing the screws out, the spider isn't doing anything to help. Bob
"Okay fellows, just hook 'em all up and drag 'em over to my place. I'll take care of them from there"
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