Features VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1965 and older only please.

Does anybody have any information on these pre WWII drivers?


W. Holmes, Al Cusick, John Cebula, Harry Paust

They all drove for builder Gustav Schumacher in the 1930s. Al Cusick qualified for the second Vanderbilt cup.

This is a picture of Harry Paust from Yonkers NY taken in 1938 at a track in NJ. It was given to me by his grandson Ron. He died in an industrial accident in 1941. There are a bunch of pictures on my web site too.

 

That's Bobby Barth, Tracy Hines former crew chief talking to Bob Higman at the Winchester Old Timers 2009.
HG

 

Actually it was 2008, it was to friggin cold last year for them to be in short sleeves.
HG

 

There is a picture of the car in the manzanita book by Windy Mcdonald 1981 to present. It shows B Unser JR in it. If this is that car it is a Tony Diaz car and the crew chief for a while was a guy in Phx. named Don Barker. They had a shop next door to ours in the Manzy parking lot. I worked for Stewart Fab. and a couple of times Don had me take the 92 car over during the week to shake it down before Bobby came over to race. If I can figure out how to scan the picture I will and post it

 

might be salem by the looking at the guard rail

 

Sorry... I've been on the road all week. My ol' man and I drove to Denver Col. to pick up an old race car.. just an old Kurtis KK2000 Champ car I'll post pics when I get home on Monday.

We have made the most of the trip.. We caught the opening night of the CHILI BOWL, Fantastic race other than my man Stanbro getting ROBBED!! stupid cone bullshit! then, grabbed the car, then spent two days in Denver with relatives, now were in a hotel 1/4 mile from the SPEEDWAY MUSEUM in Lincoln! I gotta get some pics of the Miller V8 oil pan. I'm looking forward to the visit cause the Miller V8 is missing the carbs (suppossedly lost forever) and I had them in my hand 6 months ago!! (that might get there attention)

Sad to here about Bob Higman. RIP.



Thanks for the complements guys on the 49 car! I'll post more build pics soon!!


J Shaw

 

Looking for any and all information on Grady Garner. Grady won the first ever sprint car race at the Reading Fairgrounds and we can't find any information about this driver.Can anyone help?

 

For 1960 Wally Meskowski built 2 Indy roadsters, one for Pete Schmidt and the other for Bill Forbes. The history of the Schmidt #44 car is well documented but not so much for the Forbes car. With a 16th finish in 1960 and then a very respectable 4th in 61 it was crashed by Norm Hall while trying to qualify in 62, after that....? Anyone know what became of it?

 

R.I.P. Bob

The photo is at Salem in 2008 IIRC. It is my photo that I had posted in my IOW photo Album for a while. And NO, I don't have a problem that it was used here.

Keith

 

Rootie, was the Schmidt Meskowski then the Turtle Drilling car #23 in 1962 that missed the show with Chuck Arnold and Leon Clum???

 

Yes it was. After the 62 Indy it was put in storage for many years, then restored as the T-D car and then later re-restored as the Schmidt 44. Often seen at the vintage meets these days.

 

This photo is off of the Ropkey Armor Museum web site. I went to the museum last year to see the car, and the one below, and when I got there the cars had since been sold to someone in Michigan.

Someone might recognize the car.

If you like old Tanks and military stuff, and are in the Crawfordsville, Indiana area, the Museum is worth a visit!
http://www.ropkeyarmormuseum.com/

 

Hey Sprintfreak I'm from Tampa too. Golden Gate Speedway and Gordon Solie announcing... life was good!
PK

 

Go to the 3-Wide message forum to see some great color snapshots of mid sixties USAC sprints at Reading and Allentown, PA. Scroll down 'til you see a thread heading for vintage sprint ID's wanted.
http://www.usa50.com/msgboard.asp?page=1&ForumID=33&OM=1234365#1234365

Joel

 

For Joshua Shaw,
Do not keep us in suspense too long! A kurtis 2000 WOW. Hope you know which car it is , can not wait til we get more info.

 

PK you got that right, the gate was the best! I guess you have seen the DAVE WESTERMAN FLORIDA HISTORY site! Lots of great gate stuff. sprintfreak.

 

Got this information tonight about the Bob Higman arrangements.


The funeral arrangements for Bob Higman will be held at the
Soller-Baker Funeral home located at 400 Twyckenham Blvd. in
Lafayette, Indiana.

This is located on the south side of Lafayette not
far from the Purdue University Airport. A map of location is on the
funeral home website. For more information you may call the funeral
home at (765) 474-1111.

The visitation will be held from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Wednesday
January 20th, 2010. The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. on Thursda
January 21 with visitation from 1 p.m. until time of the service.

The family is requesting donations in memory of Bob be made to:

USAC Foundation, Inc.
Attn: Mr. Bill Marvel
4910 W. 16th St.
Speedway, IN 46224.

Be sure to mark your check for Bob Higman.

HG

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Please excuse the little face under my 'HG , I have no clue where that came from.

HG

 

But it matches your avatar so well!

 

Geno, your intentions are good, but Josh nailed you!

 

sprintfreak; I currently have the #92 tony diaz car of Bobby jr's waiting restoration, I also have a hood off another Bobby jr car, its not quite the same as the diaz, and could be off your car, it has the depression in the front and although I've looked at it many times, I can't remember the paint scheme,it does have Bobby Unser Jr. as driver, and blue accents

 

Date: Friday, January 15, 2010, 10:34 PM


MILLER: Higgy’s Legacy
Written by: Robin Miller
01/14/2010
Indianapolis, IN
The list is as impressive as it is long. There are Indy 500 winners (Parnelli Jones, Dick Rathman, A.J. Foyt, Johnny Rutherford and Mario Andretti ); USAC champions (Don Branson, Bob Tattersall, Mel Kenyon, Tom Bigelow, George Snider, Rollie Beale, Sammy Sessions, Larry Dickson, Chuck Gurney, Billy Engelhart, Rich Vogler, Stan Fox, Sleepy Tripp, Ken Schrader); versatile stars (Jim Hurtubise, Bob Grim, Bubby Jones, Bobby Marshman, Lee Kunzman, Bill Vukovich Jr., Johnny Parsons, Ronnie Shuman); bad ass brothers (Dana & Pancho Carter); father-son combos (Shorty & Clark Templeman, Jim & James McElreath and Roger McCluskey Jr. and Sr.) and the three guys he personally won USAC titles with (Bob Wente, Mike McGreevy and Larry Rice).

Bob Higman, shown at the 1990 USAC banquet. (John Mahoney) » More Photos
Chances are if you were somebody in open wheel racing from 1951 to 1990 you probably drove a midget prepared by Bob Higman.

The universally liked and benevolent farmer from Romney, Ind. whose cars excelled during USAC’s glory days, passed away on Wednesday at age 84.

And, for all the races he won or victories he shared, Higgy’s legacy was just as much for giving promising racers a shot.

“I really credit Bob with giving me my first big break in the midwest and it was a big deal to drive for him because he probably had the No. 1 midget back then,” recalled Foyt, who scored his initial win for Higman in 1957 at Galesburg, Mich.

“I remember going up and asking him for a ride and he said he’d get back me and thankfully he did.”

It was during that time A.J. developed his love for tractors, sort of.

“I’d never been on a tractor before but he said we couldn’t go racing until we plowed the fields so that’s what we did,” said USAC’s all-time winner. “One night I ran out of fuel out in the middle of a field at 1 in the morning and it was real dark. He got a good laugh at that one.

“But Bob let me and my wife (Lucy) stay in his house and he fed us and he was just a super guy. He helped everybody.”

That he did, whether you were a national number or a clueless midget owner trying to find a spare part for your gearbox.

“His shop was open to anyone and everyone, he was such a good hearted man,” said Jigger Sirois, who drove Higman’s midget in the ‘60s and ‘70s in addition to their unforgettable try at Indianapolis.

“It really didn’t matter if you came from USAC or were a total stranger, he’d always help you.”

Inducted into the National Midget Hall of Fame in 1995, Bob captured three USAC titles as owner/chief mechanic with Wente (1963), McGreevy (1966) and Rice (1973).

That championship with Rice might have been his favorite since Larry was a modest farm boy from nearby Linden who helped Bob tow their car all over the country and they forged an indelible friendship.

Higman also spent a decade wrenching cars at the Indianapolis 500, where in 1969 he was involved in one of the most memorable pole day stories in IMS history.

Working for Myron Caves on a car driven by old buddy Sirois, Higman was told by his car owner to wave the yellow flag and abort the run as the rookie came out of Turn 4. But, a few minutes later it rained out the rest of the day and had they accepted the time, Sirois would have won the pole position because the speed held up through time trials.

“I always got blamed for that one, but I always felt for Jigger,” Higman use to say.

Larry Rice (R) was but one of many drivers Higgy helped throughout many decades of involvement with Midgets. (John Mahoney) » More Photos
But midgets were his love and his life and he maintained a fleet of them for the better part of 30 years. Once in the annual Hut Hundred at Terre Haute, 12 of the 33 starters were cars prepared by Bob.

When he switched to a bulkier Cosworth engine in the mid-70s, his cars lost their sleek look and became much heavier than the VWs so they became known as “Higgy’s Piggys” but they damn sure ran well.

Bob’s health deteriorated during the past decade and he could only get around with a motorized wheelchair, which was purchased by Rice and Gary Irvin before Tony Stewart bought him the latest, greatest model a couple years ago.

Despite that handicap, Higman still attended USAC races and remained a fixture at the Chili Bowl, which is running this week in Tulsa.

He always had a smile, a story and a captive audience.




The funeral arrangements for Bob Higman will be held at the Soller-Baker Funeral home located at 400 Twyckenham Blvd. in Lafayette, Indiana. This is located on the south side of Lafayette not far from the Purdue University Airport. A map of location is on the funeral home website. For more information you may call the funeral home at (765) 474-1111.

The visitation will be held from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Wednesday January 20th, 2010. The funeral service will be at 2 p.m. on Thursday January 21 with visitation from 1 p.m. until time of the service.

The family is requesting donations in memory of Bob be made to:
USAC Foundation, Inc.
Attn: Mr. Bill Marvel
4910 W. 16th St.
Speedway, IN 46224.
Be sure to mark your check for Bob Higman.

 

If this is car # 33 he turned a 28.3 at the Danbury Fair October 9, 1937. Ora Bean, and Tommy Hinnershitz turned the same time. Tony Willman 28.1, Walt Brown and Don McDonald turned 28.2

 

I'll make a copy tomorrow. Is that a camera to the left in the above photo? Rather old isn't it ?

 

Here the Meskowski built Champ Car in both Pfrommer & later Ken Brenn livery.

Brenn bought the car in 1965 negotiating through Ken Hickey. It seems that Pfrommer wasn't sure he wanted to sell & the deal kept being put off. Brenn made one final offer through Hickey, but stipulated that he MUST have the car for the upcoming Trenton (NJ) Speedway show or the offer was going to be permenantly withdrawn. Through Hickey, Pfrommer agreed and Brenn sent Don Kreitz (Sr.) out the where the car was in Indianapolis to bring the car back for the Trenton show.

Converted to "TODAY'S MONEY VALUES" Brenn paid near $87,000.00 for the car.

I wonder what ever became of it?

MANY THANKS to Al Consoli for the picture of the car in Brenn livery.

 

Great shots Ts3x65MPH... Thanks you!

JD

 

Hey gninc, thats cool.Maybe you could post some pics. SF

 

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY A.J. FOYT!!!

Now, looking at all those sprinters reminds me of one night we brought a computer expert from SCCA out to IRP for a USAC sprint car race. Dick Jordan wanted to talk to him about setting up a program for him. He protested at first, saying he didn't like sprint cars, but then agreed to try it.

During practice, he turned around to us and said, "Y'know, they don't look half bad without those goofy wings on 'em."

 

Jim Reider bought the car from Brenn, Pancho eventually destroyed it...

 

Here are a few pics of a champ car my Grandpa built in the early 50's.
They ran dirt and pavement with the same car back then. Pretty cool. They took it to Indy and made it into the 500 in 1950 or 1951 with this car. A guy named Jerry Hoyt drove for them. Thats "HOYT" not "FOYT". He also built and took cars to the 500 thru 1955. Grandma used to tell some really cool stories about Grandpas race cars. Unfortunately Grandpa died in the spring of 1962 and I was born late 1962.