Went to see a man about a car: The Great American Road Trip--2289 miles

Wow! What a weekend.
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I am restoring an old race car for a guy and I had an opportunity to go see another race car made by the same builder immediately following the car I am restoring. The car I am working on is a 1938 Wetteroth Sprint car. It is know as the O&#8217;Day Offy. Louis &#8220;Curley&#8221; Wetteroth was a very successful car building in the 1930&#8217;s. His cars won at Indy and many other tracks across the U.S. More info about the O&#8217;Day Offy can be found at http://winfield.50megs.com/BigCars1930s_files/ODay/ODayOffyWebPage.htm
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When I started planning the trip I got out the map, a calendar and called my buddy Jerry. Things fell into place for the last weekend in May. When I looked at the map I realized that Cedar Rapids IA, my ultimate destination, was not far from Wayland MO, home of the Rust Revival the same weekend. Then I saw how close Knoxville, IA was. Knoxville had USAC midgets running and the Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction ceremony that weekend. The stars were starting to line up.
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Next I called Bob Lawrence, a great racing historian in Kansas and decided to stop by his place on the way back to Dallas. Bob put together the O&#8217;Day web page, along with a zillion other sites.
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One other person in Kansas I wanted to meet and see his shop was Jelly Wilhelm. So I called Jelly and the itinerary was set.
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I took hundreds of photos and met a bunch of new people on what turned out to be &#8220;The Great American Road Trip&#8221;. I hope you enjoy!
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Pete Alberts in the O'Day Offy May 1938 at Jungle Park.

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First up we drove to Cedar Rapids and spent the day Friday learning more about the Wetteroth Gus Schrader sprint car that had been built right after the O&#8217;Day car. The Schrader car had been restored some 15 years ago and was a wealth of info as to how Wetteroth fabricated and designed the very successful Big Cars of the day. The guy with the Schrader car also has the Emory Collins sprint car that ran Sloan&#8217;s IMCA circuit in the late &#8216;30&#8217;s with the O&#8217;Day, Schrader and Jimmy Wilburn cars. Both cars are apart now getting &#8220;freshened up&#8221;.
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Gus Schrader in the Wetteroth sprint car 1941.

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A few other cars he had on hand.

 

After a full day of bench racing and documenting things on the Wetteroth cars we headed south to Wayland.

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We got there in time to see some cars rolling in. It was a great turn out for a pre-show get together. The Rumble Jets rocked and the crowd was enjoying the music and the Chamber of Commerce weather that Todd and the boys had brought in.
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Check out hose cannons!

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We met some of the Kropdusters and a few other folks in for the show.


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Even met the local Good Guys rep, Gene Cross and his buddy Norm.


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Everyone was super nice. They almost doubled the population of Wayland!!

 

Saturday morning we headed to Knoxville, we had a full day planed. We took some back roads west and enjoyed the sights.




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Iowa has some serious race fans!


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Once at Knoxville we went to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. Something like 300 people there to support the 13 new inductees. Some of this year’s inductees were Lee Osborne, Rip Williams, Fast Freddy Rahmer, Louis Senter and Kelly Petillo.<o></o>
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Me and Louis Senter.<o></o>
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The SCHofF has an amazing collection of historic items, including some beautiful race cars.


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Steve Kinser Trostle car.

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Devil’s Bowl championship wining McElreath car.

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2000 inductee Jimmy Oskie, 2007 inductee Shane Carson and me.

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This car won the first World of Outlaws race at Devil’s Bowl.

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Real racing fans will know who shoes these are.

 

Thanks to Keith and Tom we ended up in a suite above the museum in turn 2 for the races. I’ve never been to dirt track races before where I didn’t have a layer of dirt across the top of my drink. The suites were nice.



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The USAC midget race was a great race. Those little cars fly on the larger tracks. Kevin Swindell chased the leaders most of the race and finally took the lead a few laps from the end and went on to win his first race at the historic Knoxville track. His Esslinger powered midget was hooked up and running fast!

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The midgets also ran on Friday night and the sad news is Chad McDaniel was killed in a multi-car wreck. Say a prayer for his wife and kids.
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After the midget race the 410 cubic inch sprint cars ran. Probably one of the better winged sprint car races I have ever seen. There were a couple grooves which allowed passing. This race also had a Swindell moving up through the field. This time it was Kevin’s dad. The guy who gets booed more than Jeff Gordon, Slammin’ Sammy Swindell. Sammy was only able to get up to a very close second place. Johnny Herrera held on to his lead and finished first.


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Billy Alley from Lincoln, NE.

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After the races it was to the pits. Just like when I was a kid at Devil’s Bowl. We went down to check out the cars and grab some photos.

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Bobby East



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Levi Jones, Tracy Hines and former driver Shane Scully.

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They say this track is 5/8 mile on the outside edge. It sure feels like it when you are standing on the banked straight-aways.

 

Sunday morning we went over to Interstate 35 and headed south. Our next stop was to see Bob Lawrence in Wichita, KS. Bob is a man who loves the details. Details of history that is. He has written books on the Genealogy of his family. His dad had 65 1<SUP>st</SUP> cousins!!! Bob also love racing history and has documented many tracks and racers from the Kansas area. He has a great research library and a network of friends and associates who are walking encyclopedias of racing history. Bob is doing everything he can to bring this info to the web for the next generations.

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Here is a link to his web ring as it calls it. Before you follow this link, call your family and tell them you will be late! http://winfield.50megs.com/Cowley/Links.html
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Bob has built the website showing great detail of the racing history of the O’Day car that I am restoring. The car had some very colorful drivers, which included Joie Chitwood, Buster Warke, Ben Musick and Mickey McCormick.
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After a great Kansas BBQ lunch at Hog Wild, we met up with Jelly Wilhelm at his shop. What a great place if you like lots of old hot rods and performance parts. Jelly is 72 and still working. He was outside sandblasting in 95 degree heat when we arrived. Jelly was a very successful race car builder and had lots of success in the 60’s and 70’s. He still makes parts for Speedway Motors, goes to the Hershey swap meet and goes to watch the cars run at Knoxville. BTW he said stuff was for sale!


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Count the spark plugs. This Offy was built for road racing.

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He has future projects lined up out back and inside the shop. A great guy with some great stories.




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I arrived back in Dallas on Monday after 2289 miles of travel in four days. We had a blast and are talking about the next adventure that might take us to Indiana or maybe Nebraska…


Bart

 

man Bart!! killer pics!! excellent adventure....thanks for posting up!

 

Awesome pics Bart! That was one of those trips to remember the rest of your life.

 

Very neat. Jelly has to have some of the biggest hands Ive ever seen. How did he work in an engine compartment huh.....very cool.

 

Too cool ! Great pictures . Thanks for posting .

 

Best thread ever Bart!!!

Are those Jan Opperman's shoes???

By the way, Bob and Dortha Trostle are close family friends. My dad was restoring the first Trostle Midget when he passed away. I think Rick Stewart out in Phoenix took over the project...

We are from Iowa so thanks for the walk down memory lane..

 

Great adventure story, thanks for posting,

 

I do remember you telling me about your dad's project.

The sign said those were his shoes and they had his trademark hat also.

I've been to Iowa a couple times but this was the best!

Bart

 

Great post, really enjoyed it

 

Thanks for the ride-along.

 

Hey Bart it was really nice to meet you. I was the guy in other Dirtys Speed Shop shirt. Hope to see you again this summer.

 

Great thread!! Glad you enjoyed your trip up North




Malcolm

 

Wow-------------thanks for sharing.Great stuff!!!Jimmy Oskie was one hell of a driver.

 

Thanks for the post really neat pictures and history!

 

great photo s,and story. The 2 50 olds makes me dream. lol.

 

Very Cool, I went to Knoxville last year and hauled a 2 seater sprint car from Terry McCarl that was going to NZ enjoyed the museum, and had a Great trip to California, You did a great job posting this thread... I enjoyed it.
Take care
racinman

 

Too cool - Great pics/coverage of an awesome road trip! Thanks for posting. . .

 

Great pics, and awesome thread. Remember though, suites are nice, but all beer is better with a chunk of clay in the bottom...
Top notch work.

 

Wow....thank you for taking the time to share your adventure.

 

Next time I will have to tag along looks like you had a blast.

 

Great trip. I'd just love to have one of those little 4 cyls to build a car for, they're nobile and get instant respect from whomever looks at one.

What was Shampines' car doing there? There must be a story behind that, what gives?

 

Thanks for inviting me along Bart it was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to another adventure soon. Maybe next time we mix in a little bit of flying to cut down on the driving.

Jerry

 

Bart thanks for the pictures, I need a trip like that!

"Doc" Parsons

 

Looks like you guys had a blast! That is what a road trip is supposed to look like. thanks for posting all the pics for us.

Don't forget to take pics of the Offy resto progress and show 'em off too. Thanks

 

Great Trip, thanks for posting.