History Race Car Transportation

I first saw a picture of this set up in Street Rodder magazine (?) in the 70`s displayed at the LA Roadster show. They said the car hadn`t been moved off the truck for 40 years. Was happy to see it in the museum. Soo, we are up to 90 years now !

 

unloading for 2005 L.A.R.S.

 

I wish I had pictures!
My dad's buddy ran a 32 Ford coupe at our local dirt track (yea, one of THOSE guys)! Bill ran an excavation company, he had a D 9 Caterpillar on a very heavy trailer he pulled with a single rear axle 55 Ford dump truck. When he went to the local track, the trailer was too heavy to drag around with the truck, so he would pull the tailgate off the dump truck and had a pair of 2" x 12" planks of wood he laid in the dump bed. He would tilt the bed down, and back the truck up against a dirt ramp he made, then drive the car up onto the planks, and set the dump bed back into its normal position. The old coupe rear end was hanging out on the wood planks behind the dump bed sides. He would chain the car into the dump bed, and head for the track, about a mile away. Picture the truck above being a dump truck, with the dump bed ending about at the truck's rear axle, and the back 1/2 of the car sitting on wood planks, heading down the road. Most of the local guys also races at a track 60 miles from home on Friday night, and at a track about 80 miles from home on Sat night, then the local track on Sun night. all being transported the same way. Each track had pretty much the same dirt ramp to load and unload the race cars.

The track also had a dirt ramp on a pretty level spot in the pits. Probably 1/2 the car running there hauled the cars to the track in the back of some kind of work truck, and would load and unload on that dirt ramp. Things got pretty harry if there was a rain out, trying to load up the cars on the then mud ramp.

AHHHH! The good old days!

By the time I started racing (late 70s), most of us used a tow bar for about 1/2 the season. When we got word the local cops were going to crack down on us, we "invested" in a trailer built from an old drive on gas station hoist. The axles were welded right onto the hoist ramp! I think the first few weeks we hauled about 1/4 of the cars in our class to the track on that old trailer. We got a couple years out of the $75 "investment". The next trailer cost me a lot more, but it was a pretty nice open center open trailer. Gene

 

Some of those trailers had some serious thought out into them. Very cool

 

Well known car hauler that used to belong to Dennis Moomjean of Merced California. The truck now belongs to a HAMBER , @drumyn29 .

 

1966

 

I think half the race car trailers that I ever saw up into the mid 70's looked like the ones Dana Barlow posted.

I saw this trailer and the car in it at Trog at Pismo beach in 2016.






The Moon eyes hauler and nifty car showed up on Friday at Trog.

 

Here's my father's photos of "Racecar Haulers" at the 1958 NHRA Nationals in OKC:

My (then 22 year old) father flat-towed his coupe from his hometown of Beach, North Dakota to OKC ... and back!



ENTRY #: 210
ENTRY: Transfusion
DRIVER: Jiggs Shamblin
CITY: Akron, Ohio
CAR: dragster
ENGINE: '53 Chrysler



ENTRY #: 236
ENTRY: The Gold Digger
DRIVER: Johnny Burell
CITY: Birmingham, Alabama
CAR: '39 Fiat
ENGINE: '57 Chrysler



ENTRY #: 231
ENTRY: Drifters Auto Club
DRIVER: Hozie Gomez
CITY: Redondo Beach, California
CAR: '35 Ford
ENGINE: '54 Dodge



ENTRY #: 347
ENTRY: Paul Grimmett
DRIVER: Paul Grimmett
CITY: Phoenix, Arizona
CAR: '39 Simca
ENGINE: '51 Cadillac



ENTRY #: ???
ENTRY: Unknown
DRIVER: Unknown
CITY: Unknown
CAR: '33-'34 Ford
ENGINE: Unknown
​

 

I always liked both of your “git up N go “ “off to the races “ set up.

 

This truck Ryan posted has been owned by my brother since 1974. Picture is from 1958 when owned by the original owner/builder Larry Carlyon. It was originally a twodoor sedan.
It is shown racing that day in this video

 

Always liked this setup. Don't know who originally posted it.

 

Here are some from my files.

 

and being able to stop..

 

Best thread in quite a while. Thanks, Ryan!

 

Right, little things like that!

 

This is awesome. Everything was home built in your driveway back in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s. So much creativity.
Now it’s all big white boxes

 

That is sweet.

 

Carl Grimes out of Arizona had the Coolest Fiat in the 50's, and his hauler was equally unique. I can't find the picture of the back of the van/bus he hauled it in. But here is the front.

 

Skeans and Pickering, Vancouver, Wa.

 

It looks like I am not the only one who thinks using an open trailer, to tow a race car is a viable option. Thanks guys. My son is just finishing his axled 50 Chevy coupe and has been accepted for this year's Fall Out Drags. I am finishing my just O.T. Chevelle wagon to tow it with, as this is what I remember. Round 2 of photos from my files.

 

About 30 years ago I had a buddy named Bruce Dahl (from Blue Grass, Iowa, home of the First Presbyterian Possum Feed) that had a very cool vintage Indy car trailer. It was rounded aluminum skinned, sat very low profile, and had a top half (missing when Bruce owned it) that would raise straight up as the car was rolled on, then seal down. Bruce would use it to vend out of at swap meets as he was a wheeler-dealer in flathead parts. After Bruce died I didn't know where it went until I saw pics of Bobby Green's setup on the Bonneville salt flats. He had even installed 18" high clearance wheels on both axles. It's got to be the same trailer.

I can't remember who Bruce told me owned the trailer originally, but it was a famous name like Foyt or Watson.

 

Bump for more awesome haulers...

 

Here's some Bill Hewitt "Racecar Hauler" photos from my The "De Armond & Markley Special" Roadster thread:

​

The Markley & Herda (circa 1956) "Racecar Toter Homes":

Camping at Donner Lake (cold) ... with Pat & Bob Herda
​

 

Another great thread to tie in. Found it while searching images for a cool trailer I saw the other day online.

History - Vintage race car trailers. | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

 

My feeble attempts at a traditional truck/trailer/champ car replica: