Vintage KART guys??? I got this 1/4 midget...

Car #56G is not a Kurtis 500.

This is a Kurtis 500. Thats me beside it in 1959. I had just won the Los Alamitos Memorial Day 100 lapper. This car was the first Kurtis 1/4 midget, chassis #1.

 

Awesome cars and stories.
Back in the 50's, I was still in Australia, racing Go Karts, and craved a 1/4 midget. I am now a grandfather, and build and race 1/4 midgets with my oldest grandson.
I have a brand new never used Deco, and they are still raced today, and to be competitive, you will have to spend around $5000.00 on mods to the engine.

 

In this pic I was 4. I will have to check old photo albums, but my 1st car may have been something else. I did drive 2 Kurtis cars. My 1st looked like yours. My 2nd was longer with a more pointed nose cone. I remember the Los Alamitos track. We would race there . We usally raced at Glendale & then San Fernado when Glendale closed due to noise.
Greg

 

I used to race midgets back in the mid 80's. We would run on dirt in Bartlesville, OK on Saturday night and change tires and suspension to run on the asphalt in Coffeyville, KS on Sunday afternoons. The track in Bartlesville has been leveled and left to the weeds and the last time I went by the track in Coffeyville it was in about the same shape. Used to run with several guys out of Independence, KS.

 

I just bought a Viking Craft 1/4..... I think. I will post a few pictures in the next day or so. I just became a member to try to do some research on this 1/4 & I noticed this thread. If anyone has any information on the Viking, please email me at Towboats@TownsendRE.com

What a great site this is, hope this strums up some information

 

Roy Caruthers is on here, Racer5c. PM him. His Dad, Doug Caruthers owned Viking Craft.

 

Here's my old 1/4 midget from the mid 70's.

 

I know this is an older thread, but I'm looking for some info. I recently bought an old Quarter Midget from the 1950's or 60's. It looks like the Viking Q.M. pictured in this thread (I bought it in O.C. Calif. not far from the former Anaheim Viking Factory Location). It has a Continental engine that has an aftermarket Cylinder Head on it that is machined from billet aluminum and has TOPAZ hand stamped into it. Does anyone recognized or know anything about this TOPAZ head? The motor also has a Delorto downdraft type carb on it, was this carb stock on the Continental motors? Thanks for any help provided.

 

is the body for sale I have a frame in need of a body

 

i believe i have number 58 or at least one that looks damn close to it.

it has a model T body with a 32 grille.
i'll post pics tomorrow still has the red scallop with yellow body and the shop sign on the side that my dad got it from for me before i was even born. geuss he new i was gonna be a hot rod junky

 

Here's a pic of the NW champion in 1958.
The car is a Racecraft with a DMC front axle assembly.
Engine was an AU8 continental running on alcohol.
We sponsored the car and built the engines.
Drivers were Mike Dundin and Dino MacDonald.
It has outside pedal extensions so the mechanics and old
dads can drive it.

 

I have a Mantz 1/4 midget that I am trying to restore so my son can have some fun with it before he is to big to fit. This car was in cobbled form after years of hard use. Due to also being apart when I purchased it, I have no idea of what is proper and what is not. Is one of your cars a Mantz or do you know of someone who has one? I mostly need information on the chasis. The front axle has a torsion bar suspension that is only half complete leaving much unknown. The rear axle is missing all the sprocket, bearing and break componants. I can work this out easily but would rather make it the way it originally was put together. I have the proper Continental engine though the mounting plate is a crappy cobbled mess after many holes-weld to retrofit other powerplants. Any pictures you could supply, information of any type, anything, would be appreciated.

Marty.

 

That's cool, I dig the front suspension setup.

 

Man, all I know is that I want one.

A pusher would be fine.

 

I put a Continental engine from a 1/4 midget in my mini-bike when I was all of 11 years old. That thing would flat fly by the other guys that had Briggs and Straton lawnmower engines.

Used to "raise the compression" using a flat piece of glass and valve lapping compound. Don't know how much we ever took off the head but maybe it was just my fathers idea of a joke keeping the wild boys occupied sitting around rubbing that head back and forth over the glass.

 

Here are a few of ours in the shop...
racinman rick">

 

Great pictures on this thread!

I am looking for a 58-59 Kurtis Kraft 500 Jr. Quarter midget. This is the model I drove as a kid. (pic attached) If you know of one or run across one I would be most appreciative of you connecting with me on it. Big Thanks!

dougplank@islc.net

 

We have something in common. Me in 1960.

 

The body looks like a "Race Craft" but the front suspention seems more "beefy" than
the original model that I drove in the 1950's...

The engine is a "Connie" complete with a Carter N carb.
The recoil starter would have been useful if the car had been equiped with a centrifical clutch, such as that red "Offyette" was, which was shown on this thread a while back.
Darryl Clarke

 

I can't tell you anything about the TOPEZ head, but they also made gearboxes for quarter midgets.

 

Your day was not just keeping you busy. I once reclaimed a damaged "B" block I used to race, by doing the exact same process....rubbing the head surface of the block
in a figure 8 pattern, on a thick piece of plate glass, with a bit of valve grinding compound smeared on it.

It worked, but it was not a quick process...
Darryl

 

Yes, that is for sure a Kurtis 500 quarter midget. I had a slightly later version, with the
flat ugly grill....you had the neat mesh one, that looked like an air intake from
a Kurtis indy car...

Darryl Clarke

 

A little more Viking history:

My father was the Manager of Viking Trailers, and I spent a lot of time there. I also still have the '51 CJ3A Jeep my dad bought from Viking when they closed. And, a Viking "Indy-Type" 1/4 Midget that looks like a late 50's Indy Roadster with a torsion bar front suspension I hope to restore soon.

Below is a photo of me and Jimmy Caruthers in the early 50's it the first "Roadster".... It was painted to match the Viking Trailer Special Indy Car driven by Jimmy Bryant in 1951. Look carefully in the background behind the Telephone pole and you will see Caruther's fulll midget on a trailer behind his Buick.

 

I was wondering if anybody knows any thing or any sites that I can research or get any ideas about this frame I got today after cleaning out a parts car for a 57 caddy for a restoration were working on. It looks like an early 1/4 midget....Thanks Rich

 

Need wheels, engine and drivetrain....Help me get it rolling!!

This is my Drag Lodge transportation, hate to have you guys just push me...

 

I finally dug this out of the trailer today to get some photos I thought i would post them see if anyone remembers it

 

Anyone tell me about this one. the detaill in the thing is amazing. looks to off run a motorcyle engine. the whole chassis is drilled along with the front axle. and has 1/4 eliptical rear suspension.

 

heres mine just #58 my dad got it for me before i was even born guess he just knew he was gonna have a boy

 

Man I wish they'd bring back the 1/4 midgets. I remember laying awake many a night thinking about racing one of those and how much fun it world be. A friend of mind had a couple laying around his gas station for sale but I never could scrape up the bucks for one. Anyways, it's getting late so I'd better sign off, later folks.

 

1/4 midgets never left. They still run at tracks all over the country. Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, the Labonte Brothers, all got their start in 1/4 midgets.