Buried in the '58 Laurel, MS yearbook: Crummy photo - but some lucky kid is driving a '30 Ruxton roadster in the '57 Homecoming parade! Twelve built, seven known survivors; hope this is one of them:
Throwback Thursday... Here's a late 1940s shot of Ronnie Rusboldt in an open wheel car at the old Manitowoc (WI) County Fairgrounds track on 18th Street.... Rusboldt had a largely forgettable driving career wheeling whatever he could whenever he could... He eventually became a Manitowoc policeman in the 1950s (second photo) and friends with my father, Lou Close... Here's where the story gets good... As part of his police training, Rusboldt was required to take a special driving course… Among the defensive driving skills he mastered was how to roll over a car safely if there were no other evasive actions available… Together, my dad and Rusboldt developed a plan… Tracks back then would award a ‘consolation prize’ - a free case of beer – for the first rollover of the night, so my dad built a second jalopy stock car for Rusboldt to roll over each week… Once my dad’s regular car had safely qualified for the evening’s events, he would send Rusboldt out in the second car and Ronnie would promptly roll it over securing beer for them after the races… According to my dad, Ronnie was so good at it that he wouldn’t even dent the car… After several weeks of doing this at tracks like Brown County Fairgrounds (DePere), Leo’s Speedway (Oshkosh), Sheboygan County Fairgrounds (now Plymouth Dirt Track) and the old Apple Creek track (Appleton), race officials got wise and ‘barred’ Rusboldt from racing effectively ending his driving career and more importantly, the free beer effort… True story, can’t make this kind of stuff up… Have a great Thursday all… Best… John Close/racing Wisconsin
Bob Barker #55, and Dempsey Wilson # 5, just before the feature starts at Gilmore Stadium . Art Loya photo
Although this is not a photo of any LAFD fire apparatus, it reminded me of how many fire stations were built in residential areas of Los Angeles in the early days. LAFD Fire Station 41 was a typical fire station that fit into the mold. With the fire engine tucked into the apparatus bay, and the doors closed, most people driving by would think it's just another house in the neighborhood. The Los Angeles County Fire Dept. was doing pretty much the same thing with many of their fire stations, too. These stations, in LA City and LA County were usually only large enough for a one-piece engine company (a crew of 4 or 5 men)...
The man on the left in this photo is ID'd as Floyd Roberts, he drove and did mechanical work too. I think the other guy is Joe Marks seen before in post #28,935. Chet Gardner at the Milwaukee Mile, 1937. Pretty sure this was a Joe Lencki car. Fred Carpenter, could be another Lencki car? It's the carburetion that makes me think Lencki, the downdraft carbs say Ford banger to me. At some point Joe had the Gallivan patterns for the head and cam tower so this may be a Lencki/Gallivan engine. Or not; anybody know?
Frank Brisko in the Zollner Piston Special Miller car running a six cylinder of Brisko's design. Frank had a shop on Irving Park Rd. in Chicago and the Lynch Motors car is running a Brisko six too, the three air cleaners give it away. Lynch was a Chicago automobile dealer.
Midgets- Ray Nichels wearing the hat with Ray Richards in the seat. That might be Nichels father Rudy next to him, I see a resemblance. Some guys like cigars. Looks like the money man on the left while the guy on the right has cigars in both pockets. Pretty obvious who does the work in this shop. Cigars? No, we'll settle for Popsicles.
The Jalopy Journal
