Event Coverage 8th Annual Blanket Run

A few more. A fantastic Blanket Run. Thanks to the Cluster Busters and God Speed Hot Rods.

 

Great event even in the snow!! Sometime ya just got to drive em!!!!!!

 

Thanks to the GodSpeed hot rods for once again putting together a fantastic run for a wonderful cause. Thanks to the Cluster Busters hot rod club for a wonderful lunch. Finally, thanks to Mr. AJ Watson, Mr. John Lawson and Mr. Jerry (Weeks) Baker for being gracious hosts. What a wonderful time.

I apologize for the poor photo quality, I was using my father in laws camera as I left mine at home.

The legendary AJ Watson's Shop









John Lawson's Shop








and last but certainly not least, Mr. Jerry (Weeks) Baker, who is restoring the long gone roadster...

 

BUBBA...
Great shot in your Garage of the Real Steal....

 

Would of loved to had made it, looked like a hell of a good time. Maybe next year.

 

First year for me!
Had a great time and a big thanks to the Cluster Busters for lunch!
Great time seeing these shops and listening to Jerry (Weeks) Baker telling us his stories and even a demonstration!
Looking forward to next year!.

 

Second year for me! had a great time too! I wish I had a roadster to drive; I love cold weather.

 

Better late than never I guess but here are some more pix from Saturday

Roo

Starting with Watson's in Pittsboro, about 20 miles west of Indy.



Watson and his buddy Dick Cecil specialize in building quad cam Indy Ford motors. This one has the later Foyt cam covers that came about when the other AJ acquired the tooling to build the motors


Watson's repop of the Granatelli brothers flat head Ford powered Indy car


John Lawson in the check shirt with Watson who is 86 years old and still goes to the shop every day


Dustin Cooper rolling out of Watson's shop on the way to the next stop

 

Next stop was John Lawson's hobby shop behind his house in Lizton, the next town west of Pittsboro just north of 74.

John has a very well equipped shop that most HAMBers would kill for. This is a real English wheel that he shipped across the Atlantic.


Then there is the Pullmax with plenty of tooling. Also note the shrinker/stretcher in the foreground. There is also a 10 foot brake (ex Grant King) along with just about every other sheet metal tool that you could want.

The collection of parts is also wide ranging as John had a long involvement in the Indy car scene


John hisself with our host for the day Tom, aka Kulturepimp. John's roadster which is shown better in a couple of the other posts is 409 Chevy powered at the moment but may end up with a nail head Buick. He even made the torsion bar arms in house along with the frame, body etc.


This stuff was also featured in one of the earlier posts but here is some background info. John has made pattern and is re-popping the old Halibrand smoothie 18" wheels in aluminum and the wooden piece on the left is part of the pattern for the castings which are on the right. You can also seet the first of the castings for the Halibrand "lobster claw" calipers and the rotor mounting hats that go with them. All of this stuff will be available to rodders soon.


More old stuff hanging on the walls

 

After lunch at the Cluster Buster's club rooms we headed to Jerry Baker's shop which is one of the coolest places on the planet. After driving open wheel short track cars here in the midwest Jerry has become one of the best sheet metal fabricators around, doing most of his work with a lot of vintage machines that match those used to build the parts originally. At one time he concentrated on making components such as oil tanks and seats for Kurtis midgets as well as for contemporary race cars but now the majority of his work is restoration.Most of the machinery pix are pretty self explanatory.














The plywood piece in the foreground is the buck for a fender on a Bugatti that Jerry is making the body for. Fairly simple for someone with his talent but the kicker is that the body is magnesium. Anyone who has ever worked with that metal will tell you how tough it is to form.


A Kurtis midget resto that as with all Jerry projects will be absolutely period correct down to the bolts and nuts.

This is the frame to the little T roadster in the earlier post. Jerry was pretty much stumped on some of the details on this car until a Spencer Murray photo showed up in Rodder's Journal showing a 3/4 front view of the car.


This shot was taken from the second floor of the barn. That area has been refurbished and is set up as a rec room and also houses Jerry's office.


Jerry demonstrated metal forming techniques for the group as well using the power hammer.

Roo

 

thanks for sharing. Should shut up alot of people, for why they can't or didn't drive to an event.

 

Good shots Roo.....

 

I want to thank everyone once again for the amazing turnout. We had 163 people sign in, there were more but that was the drivers mostly. We ended up with over 200 blankets, that are being distributed to the Wheeler mission and Sheltering Wing home for battered women. I am so thankful all of you come and help support this each year. I have only lived in Indy 8 years, and this was the 8th Blanket Run. Again, thank you for your time and donations.

Thom