History Auto racing 1894-1942

Press photo of Fred Comer a well know driver who died after the Columbus Day race on the Rockingham, NH boardtrack.

 

This photo was Taken at Sanatoga Speedway in PA., on Apr 7, 1940. It gives you a good feel for what pre WWII midget racing was like. George Marshman is driving one of the Midget race cars. He was the father of Indy 500 driver Bobby Marshman and at one point owned Sanatoga Speedway.

 

The following poem was written by J.C. Burton and published in the Chicago Record-Herald in response to George M. Dickson, General Manager of the National company, banning married men from driving his racing cars in 1912. This meant that Harvey Herrick, Len Zengel, Charles Merz and Johnny Aitken could no longer drive for the company while David Bruce Brown, Howdy Wilcox, Joe Dawson and Don Herr could.

They've tied a can to the married man
The guy with a wife and kid
Marooned him far from a racin' car
That's 'onery enough to skid.
They've gave my count to a non-account
Who's betching it, aint it tough?
I'm here to say that the married jag
Is hittin' the road that's rough.​

The wedding bell was a solumn knell
of my day's for gathering knell.
The motor's throb and the grandstands mob
Give way to an infant's wail.
I'm buildin' fires where i once changed tires;
I'm meek, i'm mild and i'm tame.
The geek who's wise is one who ties
An anchor onto his name.​

There ain't no spark to the baby's cart
And the thing is shy on speed.
There aint no wheel nor no throbbing steel,
No engine that you can feed.
Now baby's hood may be to the good,
With the lace and fixin's on it,
But bully geek 'taint one, two, three
With the grease splatter'd bonnet.​

I much prefer to travel with Herr,
{ And spell it with a Double r }
For a woman's only a woman,
My soul mate's a racin' car.
Tied to a frau, i'm a has been now,
But give me another try.
I'll bet my life against your wife,
I'd distance that Hymee guy.

J.C. Burton.
​

 

These illustrations and description with give you a good idea of how the Franklin concentric valves work.

 

I have been standing in front of that line for many years now, haven't moved an inch, so long infact that i put to shame all of the geeks who line up for the latest gadget from Apple. Now, if you would pass me the keys to that gow job in your avitar i would be more than happy for you to take my place.

Welcome to the thread BTW. You're one of the few in your age group here on the HAMB that get it.

 

Amilcar 8C - Hispano













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It does not look like the #5 racer uses these valves, intake and exhaust are separate in the close up photos. I found the third drawing in my 1916 MGA (p167), but the index does not cite Franklin. Maybe they abandoned the 1909 idea before 1911 ?

 

Great looking car and an excellent photo Keith. I suspect it might be a touch nose heavy.

 

Thanks, Glad to finally jump in on this one!

I think I'll keep my place in line, my T is about the only thing I WON'T give up for that as I have way too much fun with it.

I am glad that I "get it" and that you guys are happy to welcome a young "kid" like me....it hasn't always been that way.

 

Oh come on. I'll even throw in an I-Pad to sweetn' the deal.

 

I've posted this before but it's just a great image.

 

I must be a geek because I use an Apple but I was fortunate to get a ride in OLD 16 when I was five. I also watched it run at hi speed by chance one day when it came thru Goshen Conn. on a paved road in the sixties when someone was exercising it. We heard it coming for quite a while.....Both episodes set me off on the same path I am still on today.

I have seen it many times since and my grand mother worked for the Sessions family that owned it before Peter Helck was able to buy it after Sessions died in 1941. There actually was a chance that my father might have ended up with it if things had gone differently. If I have the story right they towed the car home to Boston Corners, Ny were Peter lived with a rope in a snowstorm the winter he bought it.

His son whom I know well, watches this thread and maybe he would share photos and remembrances with us??? They should be recorded as it is a true Automotive Mona Lisa.

 

A Half A Hisso was used a lot in sprint car racing here in the US. There were so many of them made for WWI which lead to them being inexpensive to buy surplus.

The first two photos show a true half a Hisso which I believe is the Dellatorre engine.

The next three photos show one of several special types of Half a Hisso crankcases that were made along with one complete engine in a car.

The last two photos are period and shows yet another type of crankcase.

 

apply loud pedal as needed...

 

...One of my all time FAVORITE photos! (I love the guys standing out in the road jumping out of it's way .....ah, the days before safety barriers and lawsuits )

..I would LOVE to be doing that with the ol' girl right now, all four off the ground...what a rush!

I hope Jerry does see this and shares some photos and great stories with us as well! I know he and Peter put many many miles on Old 16 together while in their ownership and I'm sure he has many wonderful stories to tell.

 

If that's a Hisso 8,it's a V-8 aircraft engine making about 300 hp from 1100 cubes at around 1800 rpm.And it weighs no more than a Ford 390 FE

 

T Head- thanks for posting all the neat photos--especially the pix of the concentric Franklin valves. Great way to cut down on the amount of incoming charge--heat the bejabbers out of it. Probably the exhaust valve ran extra hot also.


Herb

 

Big guy on the right in Howard Kroplick's photo is maybe Cannonball Baker.

Barney Oldfield did have a match race against Jack Johnson which resulted in the AAA banning Barney for life from AAA racing. This was maybe his second lifetime ban. He eventually was allowed back but his career was winding down by then anyway. Oldfield and Johnson probably made good money on the match race, even though Johnson had no chance against Oldfield. Today's historians think the match race had more to do with white racism, but money could just as well have been the motivation.

 

Is that so? I'm sure I've seen pictures of the restored car many, many years ago, it can't possibly be in need of another restoration. Or are we talking two different entities?

 

Sorry to have to inform you that the GAME is OVER!

 

Here are a few more I found in my stuff. I have also included a photo of a '26 T roadster (# 34) that was apparently owned founder of Bell Racing Equipment back in the early 1930's. I have been looking for any other info and picture of this car, but have had no luck. Anybody here have anything on it?

 

What appears to be one of the Maxwell race cars later on in its life. I could have been owned by Sloan at this time.

 

Make a cup of coffee and read about HISSO powered cars. I sat in the Larry Beals #24 before it went home to Germany for a restoration as a stock 1908 Mercedes GP car. Spencer Wishart imported the car used, and ran it at INDY in 1911 and 1912, finished 4th in 1911. Car NEVER should have been restored IMO and in the opinion of a note collector in the NW that was outbid on it. http://winfield.50megs.com/Hisso.htm

 

All -
I believe the best and most accurate information available on the Oldfield-Johnson match race can be found in "Unforgivable Blackness - The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson" by Geoffrey C. Ward. A very interesting and engrossing read. Also a PBS documentary available on DVD.

T-Head -
That is one of the first generation Maxwells. My digging indicates that after Billy Carlson's death and the abandonment of racing by Maxwell, the 2 remaining cars were sold to Moross and were used in his shows through 1916. Eventually they went back to Ray Harroun who disposed of them, minus the engines. I believe Ben Gotoff bought one chassis and the other became the Sweeney Special, eventually owned by Harvey (Captain) Kennedy.

MrModelT -
Keep the photos rolling. By the way, I think I have seen a photo spread on your 26 and it is a thing of beauty. The sort of thing I would love to build. Please make every effort to visit the Flyer at the NAM in Reno, but before you go, contact the museum and speak to Ms. Jackie Frady, the Exec Director, or Mr. Jay Hubbard. Hubbard is the caretaker of the Thomas and is very open to visits and private tours. It would be well worth your time.
Bob.

 

Surprisingly the car seemed very well behaved, no fuss or drama, sounded fantastic, first time i had seen this car, i could have willingly taken it home.














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Keith, Very nice looking car, is it a car with history or a recent build. I know there is a lot of interest in Aero powered cars across the pond. The 1908 Mercedes that I mention from time to time as the Larry Beals car had a HISSO, it was removed and a Mercedes engine replaced it. Just wonder if that could be the HISSO in a new chassis now.

 

Rapid Robert
That is one of the first generation Maxwells. My digging indicates that after Billy Carlson's death and the abandonment of racing by Maxwell, the 2 remaining cars were sold to Moross and were used in his shows through 1916. Eventually they went back to Ray Harroun who disposed of them, minus the engines. I believe Ben Gotoff bought one chassis and the other became the Sweeney Special, eventually owned by Harvey
(Captain) Kennedy.

Thanks for letting us know about your research on the Maxwells, I have seen very few photos of of them after the factory quit racing. Do you have any post factory photos?

 

This is quite a press photo which is incorrectly captioned of Ruth Law in a thrilling race with Gaston Chevrolet in 1921. The plane vs. car race was held at a track in Montreal, Canada. This is a rare and exciting photo of the late Aviatrix.

The big problem is Gaston died in November of 1920. That makes the rest of this info unless they have the date wrong, that came with it suspect also. But none the less it is a very dramatic photo. Can anyone shed and light on this image?

Ruth Bancroft Law (1887 - 1970) was a pioneer aviatrix during the 1910s. She received her pilot's license in November 1912. Her brother was the famous parachutist & pioneer movie stuntman Rodman Law (1885-1919).
In 1915 she gave a demonstration of aerobatics at Daytona Beach before a large crowd. She announced that she was going to "loop the loop" for the first time, and proceeded to do so, not once but twice, to the consternation of her husband Charles Oliver.
In spring 1916 she took part in an altitude competition, twice narrowly coming second to male fliers. She was furious, determined to set a record that would stand against men as well as women.
Her greatest feat took place on 19 November 1916, when she smashed the existing cross-country distance flying record of 452 miles set by Victor Carlstrom by flying non-stop from Chicago to New York State, a distance of 590 miles. The next day she flew on to New York City with an Army lieutenant named Henry "Hap" Arnold as a passenger. Flying over Manhattan, her fuel cut out, but she coolly glided to a safe landing on Governors Island.
She was the toast of the city, President Woodrow Wilson attended a dinner held in her honour on 2 December 1916.
When the USA entered World War I in 1917, she campaigned unsuccessfully for women to be allowed to fly military aircraft. Stung by her rejection, she wrote an article entitled "Let Women Fly!" in the magazine Air Travel, where she argued that success in aviation should prove a woman's fitness for work in that field.

 

1917 according to the Canadian Encyclopaedia:

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000411

However, the artist who painted this says it was June 29th 1918:



http://www.aviationartists.ca/jbruce6.htm

According to a post by Brian Pratt at Autosport TNF she did three of these races in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal - he also says 1918. [edit] Found some info from Mike Tanney quoting July 6th 1918 for the Ottawa race as part of an IMCA meeting. [/edit]

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=27818&view=findpost&p=527602

So, as the CNE is an annual event, either or both of 1917 and 1918 might be right, although I'd trust Brian's and Mike's data. Can't find anything on Google News, but I'll keep looking ...

 

Thanks...... So maybe they just have the 1921 date wrong like I mentioned was possible.

Does anyone know for sure what the car is?