So fred flintstone was way ahead . No wonder that thelma took a like to him. Any photos please ? What was the most minamalist roll bar and how was it fixed to te ch***is ?. Thanks,
In sprint cars, Greg Weld was the 1st to install a roll bar/cage in 1965, he caught a lot of hell for it at first.
Sprint cars were using bolt on cages as far back as the 1950s when, on occasion they raced them as super modifieds. Probably the first permanetly mounted roll cage, of note, was on the Conze Spl. champ car 1963.
Thanks Rootie, The second photo is the style im looking for info for, How its fixed to ch***is or reinforced with other tubes .
They were running roll cages in jalopies back in the fifties maybe into the forties. I have scene cars that had them made out of water pipe, square tubing , drive shafts and exhaust pipe. Nothing safe and would make youshake your head. My Dad was building race car cages with the proper tubing in the early sixties. Bending the tubing with a tubing bender back then. The best way to attach a roll cage is welded to the frame and use gussets. There are good ,better and best ways to mount the cage to the frame.In race cars you want to have the seat mount attached to the cage not the floor.
In the case of that roll bar it looks like the main hoop attaches to the frame with bolts that are threaded into spuds welded into the frame rails. If you look behind the left rear there is a brace that probably attaches to the frame kick down with another welded spud or possibly a triangular tab. In some cases the brace was attached to the rear bumper via a tab and bolt.
Scores of drivers were killed due to having no cage in the car. Certain dirt tracks were known for killing any driver who went over the guard rail.
Typically the single hoop roll bars would fit into "sockets" that were welded to the frame rails. That way if it got bent up in a crash it could be replaced easily without a lot of cutting/welding.
1959 was the first year that roll bars were mandated for USAC, after the death of Pat O'Connor at Indy in 1958. Roll cages were highly recommended on sprint cars by USAC in 1970, and were a mandatory deal by 1971. I think they may have been mandatory on the dirt champ cars that year also. Other ***ociations had different rules earlier on, IMCA actually forbid the use of roll cages until the death of Ken Gritz in 1969, who was forced to remove his cage to run with them, and was unfortunately killed after doing so. The following year saw IMCA allow them, but they had to be chrome plated if I remember correctly, and the early '70's saw quite a few cars with shiny cages, the Long Bros. Trevis-built sprinter driven by J.D. Leas being one that sticks in my mind. The Supermodified crowd was another story, as they ran cages many years before, in my native Mid Ohio Valley they made a handy wing mount.
Roll bars,likely around longer then some think. When I first started going too oval race tracks in the 1950s there roll bars of many types. I have a photo of a driver I liked {1958} who built his of box tubing roll bar on a round tube frame. Other racers had both box an round safety hoops or gage.
Our local dirt track required roll bars in the mid 50s, unfortunately, the roll bar requirements were pretty vague back then. A few years later, there were minimum cage requirements, but they too were pretty minimal. I remember a 64 Mustang built in early 64 that used pipe fittings and threaded pipe for a cage. That car ran unchanged into the late 60s. There were a few years when some of the cages were built with thin wall conduit. The track got serious about cages after a car went over to of another car and took the top off the roll cage. It was fortunate no one got hurt in that deal, but it sure scared the track owners. I ran a hobby car in the early 70s, the rules for the cages in our hobby cars were pretty strict. Probably a great idea though, we destroyed a lot of cars in that cl***. Gene
Supermodifieds here were running them in the early 60's that I recall. Everyone else, who knows. I worked with a guy who used "new" waterpipe.
I'm building a replica 30s era dirt sprinter. But I value my safety and plan to do hot laps at some vintage events and I want reliable protection. Here are the pieces I plan to use which hopefully will not appear to compromise the vintage look too much, yet still offer protection in an upset. I also will add rearward triangulation struts that tie into the frame at the tail section
The Jalopy Journal
