History Roll Bars before 1952

there's a thread for almost everything automotive here, ever radiator overflow cans, but

after doing a search and reading threads far & wide, i still think we need one more.

could those in the know post some photos of roll bars from the jalopy/ pre NASCAR era?

i'm not specifically interested in the rule book compliant bars & cages, but what did the

blacksmiths come up with to protect the drivers from a let's get it done standpoint.

thanks; i know this will round out all of the specialty equipment threads on the Forum.

happy to jump in and do my part whenever i can.

sid

 

whew - those people had courage.

that's some "dick kraft" engineering through & through on those rides.

thanks for showing them.

sid

 

There was some real sketchy stuff as far as roll bars back then.

 

WOW! He used "roll bars" and "1952" in the same sentence.
I'm guessing here, as I wasn't born until '57, but there probably wasn't ANY rules about rollover protection, much less standards of construction.

Just my opine.....Roger

 

that's pretty much what i expressed in the first post, but i can understand why you might be confused by my query.

 

A thread on vintage roll bars I started a few years ago-
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/vintage-period-correct-roll-bar-photo-thread.1283266/

 

Torque tube roll in a 33 Ford survivor stock car.

 

It doesn’t look like my Grandpa was real worried about it, as a three A driver back in the late 20’s :

 

My buddy Bob an I traded a go-cart we found in a trash pile n fixed, back in 1959,for a old used up,ragged out, stockcar left at W T Price Crain Co..
It was left behind by someone who worked there. W T's son Brian { same age as Bob n I/ teens}made the trade with us. So we pushed it a few blocks ,put it in Bobs back yard to work on it.
We get it running again ,was the flathead 6,but had no headers at all> just open out the side of block { blup blup boom n fire }we thought was very cool
The racing seat was old Army aircraft or at lest most of one,with a chest belt. ***Roll Bar was sq,not bent ,design had one cross tube n 2 legs<that's all,and welding looked like crunchy Peter Pan.
Bob's Mom had a Desoto,and we'd borrow the battery out of it,to run the flathead 6 racecar engine,and joy ride around the block. Mom;; "Hay boys ! ,my car will not start,can you see if you can fix it?,,Sure Mom right away !! "
We never did get up the balls to take it to the local race track.
It looked about like this pic,but lots more rust;

 

Back in the 50's maybe into the 60's the Milwaukee area modified's looked like your pic, seem to remember V-8 engines. Now there is a vintage modified group here in southeast Wi. that run exhibition races as a fill in at several tracks, the guys are having a ton of

Me, sitting on Dads lap, 1948, Grandmother and friends of my Dad by wicarnut posted Jan 20, 2014 at 5:27 PM

fun and some of the old cars are pretty scary to say the least. I look at my Dad's midget I'm restoring, he built after WW2 and the car was raced thru 1974 with several updates, I drove it 70-74, fortunately I never hurt myself in it. pics attached. No seat belts or roll bars in 48 (brave men) I raced thru 91 ending in winged Sprint cars, all good stuff, fast cars, but did make some crash house visits with the Midget program. Memories Priceless !

 

excellent; just what i tried to find!

gotta work on my search-foo.

thanks so much for the link,

sid

 

no physician can put a cast on happiness!

 

i like ol' #28.

Q: is it okay if i steal this picture to start another thread regarding engine setback & chassis armor?

thanks [either way]

s.e.

 

I've seen a number of early rollbars that were threaded plumbing pipe with plumbing 90's and 45's! I'm sure they were better than just having your helmet hit the track, but sure not like what we have today.

 

Bonus points if your dad was a plumber, you could probably build your roll bar for free.

 

GULP!