A few years ago I had a 1932 Ford chassis come into my possession that had formerly served duty under a local short dirt track car,... It had no front suspension, so I put a front end I had under it so I could roll it around. Surprisingly, The frame itself wasn't all that bad,... However how things were done to these old dirt track cars back in the day was unique to say the least. In the front is a piece of heavy channel Iron to tie the front frame horns together as a nerf bar, With just as impressive gussets.... Moving back a little there is a massive steering box ( of unknown origin to me).. I think it might be from a 1940's-50's big GM truck. Its angled back for a more of a centered drivers seat.... The Master Cylinder mount for the hydraulic brake conversion ain't to bad... However the modification to the brake pedal, is a little sketchy. Now getting to one of my favorite parts the side nerf bars, It didn't dawn on me at first, but as I took a closer look, they are made out of Model A frame rails ! I guess they used whatever they had laying around. The rear horns weren't cut off, But the very back section was notched and folded in for that huge tube to be welded and gusseted to,... And on top of that tube push bar,..... Yup, A yoke and ball joint off an original front wishbone. Don't miss that widened and reversed left rear wheel, with the "hypnotic" stripe on the brake hub!... It has an original 1932 rear end, But they fit 1936-39 brake drums to it, As they were stronger wheels for round de round racers... Well it sat around for a couple years for friends to look at and laugh, which led into stories of the old days, and watching these race cars do what they were built to do... When recently a friend who was wanting to build a low budget 33 Plymouth coupe he had seen a picture of a 33/34 Mopar coupe on deuce rails that I seen at the Detroit Autorama,... He thought that was just the ticket. To make a long story as short as I can, I'm getting back the "K" member, Front and rear ends.. And I made him a smoking deal on what was left.... Now some people will feel this should have been preserved as an example of Hot Rod /Racing history... But I feel it will be better served in future traditional hot rodding serving a purpose.... And hopefully preserve the unique elements of it's history here on the HAMB. (Ill ad the pictures soon)
Well Thanks to you, and @Ryan we have documentation, of historical race construction. The parts will be useful to both you and your good friend. My project had some 'track only' features that I converted to cash. I am glad to say. Thank you for pics, of heavy duty defensive structures.
My grand daddy used to race the 33 and 34 coupes here at our local fairgrounds and across the river in Arkansas. I have pictures of most of the cars and a few of them were 3 window bodies But back then you could get them for a hardly anything.
47-54 AD truck boxes were very common Note the steering box. Dick Schoonover at Mid State Speedway Morris NY The tech inspector for my club has receipt for Jeep Hurbert's first stock car a 33 Ford 5 window he bought in 1949 he paid a grand total of $25.00! Oval track cars often get painted with a broad brush and tend get a bit of a bad rap, yes there were some very crude cars and back water tracks. However just like hot rods, and drag car which had some crude cars there were also nice well built cars, it all depends on whether it was a NASCAR sanctioned track or a more local sanctioning body vs a true outlaw track. Jeep Hurbert's NASCAR Sportsman Steve Danish 1953 New York state NASCAR Sportsman Champion. Steve was a tool and die maker and always took pride in his equipment... ...notice the condition of Danish's car vs the other car in this photo. Both cars ran out of the Capital Region of NY. Compare that to the true Outlaw cars that ran the South Teir of NY (Binghamton) and northern Pennsylvania
Alright... Steve Danish.... He was a big deal up here in Vermont also. And you're right, his cars were always so straight.
Build a good cage put a body on it and come race with us…or one of the Mid West Vintage stock car clubs. Our club- Dick Ackerman’s flathead powered Model A Jimmy Fugel’s clone of the car he raced in 1972! Jimmy Hyde’s coupe (Modern build) 53 Chevy frame My project-
So when are you going to get it done? I’ve been waiting for a while now! Get after your father for slacking off again… and don’t ask me the same question! I’m a slacker too
but there have also always been thinkers and innovators... a great example is on the Jokers 44 car a real Brewerton car that ran the Dirt Mile on the New York State Fairgrounds. It was a Sportsman (some tracks referred to them as Class B cars) which required battery ignition, stock heads (this car has Weiand cheater heads which is why Weiand built these heads) gasoline and a single carburetor... ...in order to get more C.F.M the intake was drilled and jet the carburetor richer.
I have seen this trick a few times, in fact when NASCAR first required the use of restrictor plates on the Super Speedways in the Cup and Busch (now Xfinity) they were using a similar trick. Somehow, they were pulling air from the space under the air gap between plenum area and valley. Many of the teams admit to doing it but never tell how they did it, they may have to use the trick in the future! I have also seen photos form the Speedway Museum of a Sportsman class Flathead intake that was modified a had an updraft Model A carburetor (just used for more air no fuel) bolted to the bottom in the valley, and an extra breather to pull air into the engine. The photo was in Street Rodder or Hot Rod Magazine I can't remember which
Back when we ran flatheads, we'd punch a penny into either side of the block under the intake to keep heat away from the carb. (Used to laugh and say every blown engine was worth at least 2 cents). Later, we used a Mercury intake as that had 4 bolts and allowed us to run Rochester carb's. Much better flow then the old Stromberg. Later, I ran an outlaw 6 on a 1/4 mile dirt track.
They may have carried jets with them and changed them at the track. There many people don’t know/understand the format of weekly racing and there is a misconception that in the early days when the car wasn’t on the track the drivers and crews were all drinking and fighting. To address the first subject. On a weekly level- There are warm ups/hot laps which are a practice, shake down for the cars. Next are heat races which are races generally 3 or 4 depending on the car count were a certain number of cars (the top 5 usually) transfer into the feature. Then there is a Conse (Constellation) also known as a Non-Qualifiers or Hooligan race generally only the winner transfers into the feature from this race. There is lots of work to be done on the car from the time you unload until it is time to pack up and go home. Everything from setting/adjusting timing, running the valves, chasing handling, in the early days adjusting the brakes (shoes). Sometimes before the days of buying every part in the car, even robbing parts off cars in parting lot! Family friend Earl Mewhorter told the story that one night Mid-State Speedway (Morris NY). He got into a incident in a heat race and bent the tie rods on his 57 Chevy late model. His wife drove the family 57 to the races Earl’s guys took the tie rods off his wife’s car in the parking and sent someone over to the concession stand where she was working to let her know they stole parts off the family car and she was going to have to ride home with Earl in the hauler, he went back the next day with his wrecker and brought the family car home! Yes, he put both cars back together. As far as drinking and fighting it could be an issue at the lower level outlaw tracks, and fights did happen at the better track to, but it was not a regular occurrence. However drinking was not accepted at the better tracks particularly NASCAR sanctioned tracks. An example drinking not being accepted is the night Don Henenburg at Fonda (NASCAR Sportsman) in the 1950s. Henenburg had come to the races straight from a wedding and was clearly in no condition to drive. The other drivers went to the tower and told the officials they would not race with an inebriated driver. The Official said they could not police the drivers but would support any reasonable action the drivers wished to take themselves, the agreed to like Don run five hot laps by himself if he did O.K. they would race. Henenburg put the car thought the fence on his third lap, needless to say it was determined that neither he nor the car was fit to race that night. Information from FONDA! An illustrated and documented history of the Fonda Speedway.
Nice to see it was saved from the recycle bin, would have been a great addition to the Museum of American Speed, but none the less back to being someone's dream machine equally rewarding.
The Jalopy Journal
