Looking for information on what car Lee Wallard was driving when he got hurt (burned) driving a sprint car at Reading Fair speedway AAA race on June 3 1951 a few days after his Indy win. Some info states he was repaying an old friend that helped him get started in racing ( possibly Freddie Carpenter also from upstate NY). Cannot find anything on the car, owner,car number etc. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks Don.
Thank you very much ! Appreciate the info. Could not turn up anything in searches on his misfortune. Contacted his nephew and he did not have any info on it either. Does anyone have info on Fred Carpenter? All I found was birth date ,death date and he started racing at Altamont NY in 1938. Thanks again
Can't say as I know much about Carpenter but here's a link to his Champ car stats. http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/CarpenterFred.htm
Thanks again. It's a start! Another owner driver was Hank Gritzbach from Schenectady. Found some photos of him and his sprint car. Trying to fill in info on him too! **** Spadaro has his shop about 5 miles from me. I will try him also on this.
Maybe Driver owner info in this. Was sold on Ebay Nov 20, 2013 http://www.ebay.com/itm/June-3-1951...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
You might try PMing Hamber-- slobitz (Stan Lobitz) he's quite the authority on the old east coast guys.
A bit on Freddie Carpenter in something I wrote a while back (a summary of the 1948 Sprint Car season): "Another driver to end his season (and career!) early was Fred Carpenter, the tall 33-year-old from upstate New York. Freddie had been good friends with Ted Horn, the old master acting as somewhat of a mentor for the up-and-coming Carpenter, and the two of them apparently travelled together frequently. On the return trip to Paterson (New Jersey) from the Charlotte race, their tow rig got muscled off the road and rolled over, inflicting serious injuries to Freddie's left leg - he would not be able to walk again for two years! Carpenter had started racing in 1938, qualifying fifth fastest and winning the semi in his very first race at Altamont (New York), a "Cl*** B" AAA race! He was soon developing into a fine prospect, and in 1947 he won his first (and only) AAA main event, finishing tenth in Eastern points. For 1948, Carpenter had garnered his first steady Offy ride in Herman Hoppe's car, the former Lucky Teter Dreyer, and was beginning to be looked upon by Indy Car owners as a potential '500' driver when the accident intervened. He would make a short and unsuccessful comeback in the early fifties, then retire to turn his attention to boating. Fred Carpenter died on April 8, 1978."
... and Henry J. "Hank" Gritzbach (1897 - 1971), also known as "Grampa/Grumpy" Gritzbach: he (apparently) started racing at the late age of 35, in 1932, running AAA and independent races mostly in upstate New York, then a year later already from Vermont down the coast to South Carolina; finished 2nd at Winston-Salem/NC that year and 29th in AAA Eastern points. Mostly ran AAA throughout rest of the thirties, then Southern Tier in 1940 (1 win, 8th in points). After the war, he continued this pattern, some AAA, CSRA races and Southern Tier runner-up in 1946 (2 wins), then Eastern States Racing ***oc. champion the following year with five wins at age 50! Was 29th again in AAA Eastern points in '49, and repeated as ESRA champion that year (4 wins); once again 29th in AAA 1950 and 28th in '51, then 29th again (!) in '52 and 35th in '53. Last year in AAA was '54, finished 7th at Altamont on Memorial Day; last competed as a driver in URC in 1955, best finish 7th at Canandaigua. Often raced his own car, and sometimes a multi-car team for other drivers such as Jimmy Young, George Markie, Joe Sheppard, Herb Shaw, Eddie Cox, Mike Magill and many others.
The car was a 1950 Hilleg***/Offenhauser, first race April 2 at Reading/PA, finished 3rd with Mark Light up. Lightie was pretty successful with the car, and was 3rd in AAA Eastern points with 1 win, although it seems he ran a different car that day. Wallard was invited even before his Indy win to compete at Reading, and promoter Sam Nunis arranged for him to drive the Light=Hilleg***; he was 6th in time trials, won the third heat and finished 4th in the main with his car on fire, apparently from on overfloating carburettor. Lee was badly burned about the face, arms and legs, and spend many weeks in hospital. The car wasn't damaged much, and was run by Tommy Hinner****z at the Lee Wallard Sweepstakes at Williams Grove two weeks later. Light won with it at Hamburg/NY and Shelby/NC later that year, to finish 5th in points, and faded from the scene during the following two years. I think the car was then fitted with a De Soto engine to run the URC circuit with Larry Tobias, but can't be sure.
Thank you very much. I am trying to compile history on Schenectady area drivers of that period. My dad would tell me about Hank and the Altamont races. I found his shop where he had the cars and where he is buried. Some photos of him and his cars on the internet. Thank you all for your replies. I did speak to Stan and am planning to visit the racing museum in Pa. this summer.In looking for info on one guy, I end up getting another drivers name. Schenectady (Tri city area) was a hot bed for racing in years past. Many speedways were around here.Don.
The Jalopy Journal
