History Auto racing 1894-1942

And a great job on this also....you deserve some cookies.....

 

I found this today while combing e-bay.

 

Thanks Kurtis; What a great thread and information
The early auto racing at Morris Park (in The Bronx, NYC) has special significance for me, as not only was I born & raised in The Bronx, But my dad opend Raceway Garage, on corner of St Raymond Ave and Blondell Ave, in 1938, where he built some 200 race cars, including old race car restorations, modifications, of sprint cars, LOTS! of midgets, land/water speed rcars and boats, custom sports & racing cars, pre-WWII Grand Prix and Indy car restorations, and wild sports car customs.
I had to drive THROUGH the Morris Park section of The Bronx, to get to & from Raceway Garage almost every working day! As you can see on the map, it was almost walking distance.
Note the flathead in the foreground car. The car behind it (in front of Raceway Garage) was an Auburn Speedster with frame stretched one-foot, in front of the firewall, to accomodate a Duesenberg engine, then lengthened hood & side panels. Dad took the engine out of a Duesenberg Touring car and left it on the street in front of the garage for about a month, (during which, all the neighborhood kids, played in it, every day!)before selling the car with no engine, for about $300! Simpler times

 

HAMB "Small World" story of the day! This is the Miles Collier Watkins Glenn winning car from 1949. The hood panels are sitting here in my office.

 

The above car started life as a Riley and raced in ARCA Road Racing events PreWWII. With the addition of the Ford flathead it was raced in early SCCA events, known as the "Ardent Alligator". Some time in the 1970's it was overhauled and raced in VSCCA events. Whoever owns it now has rerestored it and races it at Lime Rock Park and other vintage events.

 

I can sort these but just need some guidance to get them correct. What is the correct make for the various Offenhauser engines cars? I think the make should be the chassis maker first and the engine second eg Deidt Offenhauser. At least I can find some of the Indy runners from the web but the midgets might be more difficult. keep up the good work Michael.

 

This page is for the Lincoln, the race car will have its own page.

 

Amazing
What are the odds, Bob?
Just recently scanned it in, with another 100 of Dad's old B&w negatives that have been sitting in a box (with about 1000 odd negs & crumbling photos) since we moved from Bronx to Riverhead L.I. around 1973! then moved South in '94.
Send me your email, again and I'll email you a large 2Mb size scan in which you can pick out all kinds of details. It apparently used mostly WWII aircraft instruments in the panel..And you can see some of the engine details, too. With your original panels and a good flathead, and some sheet steel & aluminum, easy to find wheels, you should be able to "restore" it in NO time..
Merry Christmas. Bob

 

Joe, I'd really like to see the car back in the Collier Collection, then I could swap the panels for a CUNNINGHAM intake for the 354 HEMI I have. Do you think your Dad did the rebody work on this car after WWII?

 

T-Head, the 3rd car back is "The Old Gray Mare" not the "Ardent Alligator", tan car in the lead is another ARCA car that is model B Ford powered. One of my dumb mistakes years ago was selling an ARCA car without knowing it was one.

 

Your right, I stand corrected....The Argent Alligator is red....

 

I'd say that was a very safe assumption. It wasn't there just to take photos of. Dad was building bodies, frames, rebodying, re-engine-ing all types of those racing sprots cars for lots of big names back then. Wealthy sportsmen & racers, well-known celebrites etc. I heard from Kerry S. That John Fitch still had fond memories of Dad & him building Fitch's first sports racer. Dad did bodies & engine work for the big-buck Manhattan exotic dealers, (Rolls-Royce, Mercedes, Ferrari/Lancia/Maserati ad even more exotic and rare) who would send the cars up to the Bronx, to Raceway Garage. Did a lot of repair/body work on the Ferrari 375MM after the Carrera Panamericana IV, for Chinetti and I recently sent the Original #26 Large racing plate from that racecar, to the current owner who was thrilled to find it. All kinds of rebodies (like that stretched Auburn/Duesenberg) Cord Phaeton with Chevy 409,. EARLY restoration of a Thorne-Sparks Indy car, and on & on..Have photos/negs of a LOT of them and need to start an individual thread for them all, after scanning in these recent negs. Exotics like Lancia, Siatas, Gullwing Mercedes, Adler, The Bluebird LSR, One-off body & frames, Adler Gran Prix Rennlimousine, XK Jags, Fordillacs, Putting Ford V8-60s and Arduns, Lea Francis, and all kinds of exotic racing engines in all kinds of little sports racers, midgets, show cars etc etc.

 

No, tan car is the Amilcar/Ford, got to find my ARCA book to ID all the cars. This is how the one I found looked in 1971.

 

YES! That's the one! First time I've seen it in red. I made the grille on it years ago. I DO NOT know who built the rollcage.

 

I find it a bit amazing that the same issue that is selling current 1904 automobiles like the FIRST photo, shows such a beautiful race car for the 1904 Gordon-Bennet Race, in the same issue. Note the unusual non-skinned front fenders (frames). Maybe they did not have the car completely done when race started? This is the carr of Jarrott in the May 19 issue of 1904.

 

Joe, I've seen period photos of race cars with just one front fender on the drivers side. I don't know if it was a road equipment rule for racing or just a way to save a few pounds.

 

Maybe they were leather covered and it got ruined in practice or during the race ?? That is the type of frame work used for leather covered fenders.....They could have also used the covering to drive the car to the event and removed it for the race??

 

Kurtis et al there's still a lot of boxes to be filled regarding those photos and more questions raised by the news stories. Here's Irving Barber again, Laurel June 1912 in his Warren...



There appears to be a lot of Kline influence in the Eye-See-Bee, I wonder what powered it? Kline's Jimmys at the same 1912 Laurel meet



Most likely CC Fairman and Joe Minker rear, James Kline doesn't seem to have raced until 3 years or so later.

and Joe vs Bob...



the related stories...

The Car That Worried Burman

*Monarch Of The Realm Of Speed

*shortly to be dethroned by the Jimmys at Brunots island.

 

These cars were usually driven to the races. I have read an extract somewhere from Jarrott's book in which he desribed having to rebuild the engine of the Wolseley Viper on the road side after it broke its crankshaft. I think those Wolseleys must have been worse to drive than most of that era with an extra chain between the engine and gearbox as well as the two drive chains.

 

Ready for round two of small world?

This winter my son has been doing some work on the Ardent Alligator -Fabing new X member, shackle pins, shackle bushings--as well as building up a new 4:11 rear for the car. The owner, Pete McManus lives about 4 miles from us.

Herb Kephart

 

Ralph DePalma driving Violet at Luna Park in LA Calif. 1-13-31. The machine was discovered at the park after it had been forgotten about. It was made by M.Phelien and burns oil to make steam and has a top speed of 8 MPH.

 

Speaking of Ralph De Palma,I found this excellent cockpit photo of him from 1925 a few minutes ago.

 

I would think that 8mph would be plenty fast enough on something that short and narrow - and with iron wheels!

 

This pic of the Jay-Eye-See at Benning Labor Day 1915 is remarkable



I guess it was there for the same purpose as it was in Kansas the following month... http://winfield.50megs.com/1915photo.htm

 

NY Tribune Dec 3 1915...

 

Here is a clearer pic of Typhoon. I have a real clear picture of this in a file somewhere. The bodywork was a bit rough as was the case on the Packard rebody of DePalma's 1914 GP Mercedes but it performed pretty well. They played with compression and the camshaft on that car. I spoke to a guy 30 or so years ago who claimed to have some of the parts from that car. I figured it would have been resurrected by now-but I have not seen anything to date.-Jim

 

Ralph DePalma worked for Packard after he retired from racing.

What role or roles did he play at Packard? Presumably marketing and technical support. Testing and driving stock automobiles? Perhaps testing vehicles for MY1936 in 1935 at the proving grounds?

Vintageride

 

An interesting press photo that I found from the Detroit area. It was caption Harry Heintz in his Buick.

My guess is that this might have been a car that was part of the Buick team that was put out to pasture. Maybe Harry bought it put a windshield on it and used it on the road ??

Can anyone ID this car ??

 

1919 Hudson on Palbo Beach which is in Jacksonville Fla......