Not that un common, NASCAR even had a Speedway Division which was an open wheel series (Big or Indy car) with automotive (production car) engines.... ....and many old Indy Cars ended their careers as Super Modifieds here in the northeast Geoff Bodine in a rear engine car turn Super Mod.
Have no idea…… It was not me there / then. It’s a 56 definitely. Mine had a green interior. Can’t tell by the pics.
I'm face blind too, but I recognized Al Unser right away. The pictures are likely from 1959. Lots of late model cars there, this was the money crowd, wasn't it? 59 is as new as I see.
Green coat (Bobby) and the red shirt (Jerry?) to the right look like the Unser brothers. They owned various hill records for many years from 1956 on. Has anyone checked the current prices to spectate at the race. You'll be beyond shocked.
We bought several cars out of that program. The best was Paul Newman's Cosworth powered Ford Escort. Chaffey raced it until they ran out of spare parts then sold it for 2 grand. I bought a Pinto that had been converted to a race car on day 1 for $500. I still have the dual side draft Webers. I sold it with an AK Miller turbo set up on it. There was also a $600 30s Chevy in that lot.
What a great roll of file to process . . . just some awesome pictures and history (much of it unknown) . . . and that makes it even better! Yeah, the one picture definitely has Bobby (shown as the driver) and the owner of the car as Jerry. Thanks Ryan!
Just to give you degenerates an idea of what’s lurking ahead—this is the smallest of four directories: I’m trying—really trying—not to dig through these until it’s time to feature them. The willpower required is obscene. But so far, I’ve managed to keep my hands off the goods. Barely.
Yep. Okay... I've spent the day digging through Pikes Peak results. I've pretty much verified that these shots were taken in 1960. Bobby Unser won and set a course record in his Pontiac Special. Al Unser was a full 11 seconds behind him. They were the only two cars to run faster than Mike Collins in his Porsche RSK - a 122 cubic inch flat six powered car that weighed around 1400 pounds. Which is crazy to think about... The little Porsche smashed the rest of the open wheel field, destroyed the stock cars, and absolutely dominated the sports cars. Power to weight. I only bring up Mike Collins and his Porsche, because a couple of years ago I crashed his '67 911 in a rally.
One of the Unsers had a Pontiac powered sprint car they ran at Pikes Peak, I recall seeing it in an issue of Hot Rod magazine.
This is some great stuff you have Ryan! I remember when you might catch a little snippet of Pikes Peak once in a while on Wide World of Sports. I think a lot of the "agony of defeat" came from there. It seems funny that a lot of the cars were running a snow tire in the rear and not some sort of dirt track tire.
I don't know if that was an every year tire choice or not... I guess they had a ton of snow at the top in 1960.
So Bobby Unser in the blue #92 car won top honors, while Al Unser in the #56 car came in with the second fastest overall time....both powered with Pontiac engines! That's cool.
Seeing all those pics reminded me of this video, which I haven't watched in a while. I'm sure its been shared on the page before, but it fits nicely with the thread.
Wow what a collection. Thank you for sharing. It is like time traveling looking at these photos. I look forward to more trips! The Porsche was such an advanced car for the time. Yes power to weight. Very interesting to hear that it was so dominant.
Back in about 1957, Ak Miller won the Sports Class in a Chevy powered Devin. He hauled the critter there on a home made tilt trailer, and pulled it with his Caddy powered Ford PU. Early on, his pal, Louie Unser approached him and commented on Ak's lack of spare parts, or even tools for that matter. Ak's retort was classic Ak Miller. "I came here to race, not work on my racer"... He won the Sports Class that year....
Bobby Unser ran a new car in 59 Number 56 and won. Car number 5 was driven by Louis Unser and probably belonged to him along with the Continental.
These are pictures from 1959 practice . A cool story about the 59 race was Al Unser. He tried to race under age and they caught him. That's why you see two cars #56 and #92 with Bobby's name. Originally Bobby was going to drive the Jaguar "Ugly Duckling" car and Al Unser in the #56 car. Once Al was kicked off the entry Bobby raced the #56 car and won the race. Louise Unser drove a different # 5 car the year. It was a Kurtiss Kraft car. The one you see here #5, during practice is the Conze Special and by race day it was updated too #51 using a smaller number one. Charlie Lowderman raced that car in 1959. I have reached out to the family to ask about the tow car, trailer etc.. FANTASTIC pictures ! I can help identify almost any PPHC pic's that you have.
The hill was paved because of a lawsuit from the Sierra Club. For comparison, in 1908 a Brush roadster was the 3rd car to make it to the top of PP. It took 8 hours as a Brush only had a single cylinder 7 hp engine. I've driven up 3 times and plan to do it again this summer. Drink LOTS of water or you will get a headache.
Racing on snow tires….love it!……we were at the bottom about ten years ago…not during race time…the road was closed because of wind….gonna get back and hopefully get to the top before I check out………Mark
Amazing photos! I was born and raised in Manitou Springs and grew up with this. Each year all the little hotels would fill up with this kind of badassery. Green hoodie guy has got to be an Unser.
The Jalopy Journal
