I was the one who bought the dragster at auction along with a British partner about 1997 (I took sole ownership shortly after). The car was sold by Dave Uehlein with no information or history, so I had to figure it all out to restore it. The history turned out to be amazing, and the car was a blast to work on. The engine was originally built by Ed Winfield about 1932 and installed in a sprint car built by Paul Fromme. A very young Rex Mays drove the car at Ascot Speedway in LA with great success, so much so that multiple rule changes were enacted to eventually ban it. The engine was installed in other sprint cars that ran with groups where it was still legal. At some point, it p***ed through Joe Gemsa's hands in South El Monte. I tracked down Ron Benham through Ak Miller and Ron provided a ton of additional info, like that he called the dragster "Hermann". FYI, Ron told me he did run it at El Mirage once on a whim, but he said it didn't go very well, and the speed was not as high as he had hoped. I ran the car a little bit, including at a 4-Ever-Ford club reunion that Ron attended. He was so excited to see the car and hear it run that he told me, "You didn't just make my year, you made my decade!" I sold the car to a collector in the Bay Area, and he then sold it to Gary Cerveny in SoCal. Gary's house burned down in one of those Malibu brushfires, and his car collection was destroyed. He told me that he gave Hermann's remains to the 4-Ever-Four club. I have had a long career restoring lots of cool cars, but Hermann was by far the coolest car I ever worked on. Very sad that he is gone. FYI, the original Car Craft magazine article is attached. The link to the later Hot Rod article is Half-Off Special. There are some inaccuracies in the Hot Rod article, but overall, they are very good. Rob
Thank you for the update on the car, so sad to learn it was destroyed in the fire. It was featured in one of the very early issues of Hot Rod I bought as a kid, I'll have to look for the issue. Bob
The Jalopy Journal
