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

The cars first race was Trenton 1961,sat on the pole with Bettenhausen. The cage ,bolt on, was added in 70,could be by King. The nose top and bottom (alum.) are original as is the grill. All the body parts are aluminum by Kuzma. Don Brown told me he did the tail when he worked for Ed. The car was 95% original when I got it. Nothing was ever cut off it.

 

Go to #10440,a photo of the restoration in my trailer. I have no idea who took it ! Don`s yellow car was #78.

 

All the Trevis cars that ran at Greater Pittsburgh Speedway in the early 1960's were "factory equipped" with that "muzzle"! They must have thought it necessary on the 1/4 mile. The Gary's #5 is the original "Wilbur Hawthorne" #35,first driven by Lisbon,Ohio's Bob Burriss. John S.

 

.....'I appreciate it very much, hopkins1. But, special thanks to Rootie for cluing me in that the car was actually #78 and not #18, like I thought when Don Conrad owned it. Then I was able to find the car at what looks like the Eldora 4-Crown National race, October 1982 with Jim Moughan, Jr. driving. It will be fun to trace the history and race results of this super-cool looking old car! note: photo credit- John Mahoney

 

Dick Tobias did have a brother named Larry. I know he raced sometime in the '50s, and I think he may have died in a crash. One of Toby's shop men told me the story one time, but my memory is slipping. I'd bet Ken Johnson knows. Where are you Ken?

Tony, aka Buildy, should also be able to tell us.

 

I posted a few pages back that Lonnie Caruthers drove this car a few times

 

Larry Tobias was Dick's older brother. Raced as "Toby" Tobias with URC in late 1950's, very early 1960's. Dick, of course, later became "Toby" Tobias. I have no record of Larry being killed racing; don't think that was the case.

 

Larry "Toby" Tobias. First photo in Mark Light's DeSoto at URC race in 1953. Second photo in the Pfrommer Offy in AAA race at the Grove, late 1955.

 

.....'Hey Roy! 'Now see, that's where I got confused. I saw that you mentioned Lonnie driving the BigCar but, at the same time, I kept thinking "this" car was #18? But hey!.......#78---'that's a Red Caruthers number. No wonder!

 

#18 - yellow dirt car has a squareish nose, not round like a King and the torsion adjuster bolt appears to be in the frame not in the tor. stop just like a Meskowski.
Just an observation, not meant to be picky.

 

New Lawrenceburg shirts available at the track. They FINALLY took my advice and "let me go with it".

 

I think that was just a coincidence lol, I am pretty sure thats the only Champ Car Lonnie ever drove

 

Thanks, Al and Bill for the Tobias info!



That's an interesting pic: behind the car are Ted Nyquist and John Pfrommer, the old and the new owner of the car. It still says "Nyquist Offy" on the scuttle, but "Pfrommer Contract Hauling" on the hood! Wonder who paid the bills and collected the checks that weekend...

Oh, and that appears to be Duane Carter's #7 alongside (ex-Agajanian, ex-Malloy, future Watterson and Ankeney Offy).

 

Is this per chance the chassis of the former Light/Dreyer, then Cracraft/Offy as in mlight9's avatar??? Did Mark Light still own it in 1953?

 

Hi Michael,
No. This was originally a Hal built in 1948, owned by Fred Hudson, driven by Al Fleming, Billy Gouse, Bob Cooney, others in AAA. Sold to Mark Light in 1953 for conversion to DeSoto engine, use in URC. By then the former Peters, Nyquist, Light Offy had gone to Ed Hunter for use in URC, at first as a Riley. Don't believe Light ever had the Cracraft car, which went from Cracraft to Leon DeRock for IMCA.
You're right on the No. 7 shown behind the Nyquist car. It is Pappy's Miracle Power car.

 

here is picture of hunter car

 

Another "Toby Tobias" ?? This is from the Ted Nyquist Scrapbook on the Vintage Racer website.

 

Yes, that was Guy (or Gus?) Tobias, who raced in the thirties and forties. Probably another branch from the same tree.

 

Thanks, Bill, for these histories. The original Cracraft/Offy was destroyed in an accident in early '48, and Light sold his car to Cracraft, who replaced the Dreyer engine with his Offy. Light drove the car several times for Cracraft, so I thought maybe he only loaned the car, and got it back later on - just a theory! I never knew where that car went after '49, but de Rock makes perfect sense! I even had a note that said that his car was driven by Rex Mays in 1949, but I never added two and two together. Checked a couple pictures, and it's a perfect fit - thanks!

Now to the Cunningham/Pirrung/Thorne/Peters/Nyquist car that Light had in 1949. I spent a lot of time researching that car, and I'm 100 % positive that it isn't the Hunter Riley! Apart from a superficial similarity, the cars have nothing in common: the frame is completely different, as are the joints on the body and the steering slot. It really isn't very hard to see that they can't be the same car, and in fact, I even know where the Hunter Riley came from: it was a white #21 Riley in the late forties, owned by Tony Deubel. This was commented about the car in 1953, and pictures bear it out.

The Peters/Nyquist car went to Harold Rotbauer of Bethel (PA) in 1950, and ran as a two-tone red with white #21 in 1950; Lucky Lux drove it at least once, and it may have had a Dreyer engine at the time. I am not exactly sure what happened to it over the next ten years, but the car appears to have kept #21, and Carl Becker acquired it at some point. There's a picture of it in "Tow Money" by Buzz Rose (p124), dated July 1960, and the car has now what appears to be an SBC, but still the same rear bumper that it had in 1949. It's astounding, but bumpers are often a very good identifier, they change very rarely.

 

You guys might have already mentioned this, but here it is again.

ROY! Racer5c..... Ya better break that Piggie bank open.

 

Not that it means anything nowdays, but it is early May.

 

Josh, that's a beautiful job on the shirts. They should have been listening all along. Can you buy them from their website? I haven't checked yet.

 

Hi Michael,
Thanks for getting me sorted out on the Hunter car history. I had never closely compared the Hunter and Peters, etc., cars. The similiarities of the two cars fooled me. Here are a few other photos of the Hunter No. 98, the Harold Rotthar No. 21 and the Deubel No. 21. By the way, I could never determine if the owner of the ex-Peters car was spelled Rotthar, Rothhar or Rotbauer.

Photos 1: Billy Gouse, Rotthar 21 AAA 1950; Photos 2,3: Lucky Lux, Rotthar 21 AAA 1950; Photo 4: Lucky Lux, Hunter 98 URC 1953; Photo 5: Larry Tobias, Hunter 98 URC 1953; Photos 6-7: Mike Magill, Deubel 21 URC 1949. The Rotthar car was black and white as in color photo.
Bill

 

Very Nice, Josh. I'll be looking to get one.

 

got one couple of weeks ago at the usac race,the one with three cars.didn't know you did it.nice job josh

 

Al C., Michael F. & OldBill, thanks much for the history lesson re M. Light. Never saw the DeSoto engined car before, I had heard he had another sprint car but never saw
a pic til now.
Also, was never aware Lighty was involved with the Cracraft car until seeing pix of the car @ W. Grove, '48, '49 time period, " Vintage Racer " web site, several years ago.
mlight9.

 

Bob Bergeron Collection. Requested pics of Weld.

 

Here's a clip I found in Dad's stuff the "crazy indian " flagman he used to run at the cars and right between the two rows on the starts only got hit once that I know of.

 

TEX ENRIGHT!!!!!

It's been awhile since I thought of him. He was a joy and a show in itself to watch at the Nazareth (PA) 1/2 mile dirt .. as in my humble mind any starter should be. The starter and the announcer worked as a team, to make a show within a show!!!!

Tex always dressed as an Indian and yes he started from the track .. running towards the cars - right between the two rows.

Once at New Egypt, NJ .. with my Riverhead (NY) starter Bob Lee .. I spotted Tex in the pits and introduced the two of them. They chatted for quite some time and I believe kept in touch.

My starter (and good friend) the late Bob Lee was also a showman, but in a different way. He would always wear custom hand made really brightly colored outfits as he flagged the races .. some were heavily sequined .. others had lots of fringes, etc.. I think one or two of them are in Marty Himes Museum here in NY.

Other than Tex Enright, the only other starter that I saw start from the track in a similar way was Maury Dumas at the WInchester, West Virginia high banked dirt.

As the world of litigation grew around us all, the insurance companies put a halt to a starter working the way they did.

 

Thanks for the photos sm66p.

scott