History Vintage "Cageless" Midget Picture Thread

Another history request. This is a little later, but I hope you guys don't mind. This car is owned and being restored by Chuck Shultz.

It is a documented 1980 Edmunds that was owned by the Weed family from Long island New York. Harry Weed II was the driver and ran with Nema and ARDC with and without a wing. Any other history or pictures would be greatly appreciated.

 

I like your Dad's car better. .. Yes, the Weed family is from here on Long Island, NY.

Here's an article about Harry II. http://www.superintendentsprofile.com/story.asp?story=139

If you'd like I'll try to folow up further. LET ME KNOW.

 

Just in case anyone holds a grudge against wings. Let me clear my name for building a crap-load of wings. My first love was cageless and then wingless USAC when they were the best game around. There was a nitch to be filled in the 80s and Speedway Air Flow Ent. did a pretty good job of building them. When the rules got too tight and the business was whored out, we quit and started being a panel beater. I am currently building a cageless midget to run with AARA and other places.
Going back to my roots.
Butch Evans

 

Sorry I stired up a hornet's nest a little, I was given this wing as a gift for painting the car when my friend Billy courtwright drove it for Eddie,like I said i'd rather see this thing go to some one that could use it instead of cutting it up for other projects, I know ARDC has gone wingless lately and it was just in time for us to run out of money to go racing, I love the wingless stuff, sprints and midgets instead of these cars with those damn crutches up on the cage! just wanted to help someone preserving that time in racing history, I didn't want to rock the boat. Rich

 

Hey, no hornets nest. I built them for 10 yrs and made a living doing it, but wings belong on airplanes not race cars. I agree with you. I just don't want to be evil wing guy.

 

And whether I or we like wings or not .. that's a GOOOOOD thing.

 

Heres a few shots from me and my father.....Rich

 

Heres some more....

 

Being from the west coast, I have no clue who most are in your pictures. could you help identify any of these pictures?
thanks aXe

 

The only ones I can really help you with are the first two,that are of Bobby Courtwright, a family friend. the next two were a little before my time from Rosevelt stadium taken by my father, the rest were from the midwest at a USAC double header with the sprints on our way to or from the INDY 500,hopefully some one wih some USAC midget knowledge can help with the rest....Rich

 

The last picture in the first batch, and all of those in the second batch look like Salem.

 

The 43 car iam sure was driven on several occasions by Mel Kenyon has a 2x4 water cooled sesco similar configuration to the VW. Looks like MEL Kenyon beside car facing camera wearing a drivers uniform. Some of the track shots look like Salem Ind.Forgive me if i,m wrong.Only went there once in 1975

 

Roosevelt Stadium was in Jersey City, NJ and was often times promoted by Ed Otto. For a good time it ran in competition with the Tom Galan/Harvey Tattersall,Jr. (partners) promoted nearby by tracks of Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ and Ruppert Stadium that was owned by Ruppert-Knickerbocker beer (I forgot what town in NJ).

An interesting note is that they were all "stadium" facilities. Also interesting is that some of the earliest (local) auto racing TV broadcasts were from Hinchcliffe & Roosevelt .. not sure about Ruppert.

Billy Courtwright is a sometimes poster here. I hope he spots the pictures of his Dad in the Mataka Brothers/Raceweld 3n1 Kurtis.

 

Here's my best shot at those cool photo's. First batch, last photo is Doug Caruther's signaling to his driver Rich Vogler in their Grant King built VW powered midget. Next batch photo 1. Mel Kenyon, Jeff Nuckles in the #57, don't know the other 2 cars. Photo 2- Vogler, Sleepy Tripp, and Johnny Parsons Jr. in the Linblad Badger. Photo 3- J.P agian in the Badger, Sleepy Tripp in his LTC VW, and maybe Pancho Carter in a BMW powered car that USAC ended up banning, it was built by a guy named Graham Bartils (I'm guessing at the spelling, and my memory may be wrong on his name, he was some sort of Formula one guy). Photo 4- J.P. in the Badger, don't know who's in the Lynch #5, maybe Ken Schrader in the Hamilton #55 roadster. Photo 5 is Gene Drangmiester's wrecked LTC. Forgive spelling errors, and miss identified drivers, doing this off the top of my head.

 

A note of interest .. I made a call to Raceweld & spoke to Ed Mataka this morning.

He keeps up with the happenings here & on the Vintage Sprint Car Thread too.

It was REAL GOOOOD to talk with him. .. A former midget owner & driver, Bob Lombardo and I will probably get together and take a ride to New Jersey & visit with him.

 

Spoke to noted racing photographer Ace Lane, Jr. today and was both saddened & angered to find out that he was ripped off AGAIN. This time his better cameras & lenses and his main computer were stolen from his New Jersey home.

 

Hey Ken, he's seen them already. I burned him a disc a while back, with shots of his father in that car, Scat's sprint car at Fleminton and Fonda, Teddy seiz's T/Qs at Atlantic City with and without cage,plus all the T/Qs Billy's run and the midgets and sprint cars I painted and crewed on form him. Him and his dad were and still family friends...Rich

 

NEAT !!!!

I saw Bob & Billy (Courtwight) in most of those cars over the years.

 

Borrowed from Marty Himes Web Site. I only saw this guy run once at an extra distance midget race at the Freeport (NY) Stadium, Speedway.

In earlier years, when he was active, I bet his almost unforgetable name alone probably earned him a large fan following !!!!

PICKLES BICKLEHAUPT

 

The # 9 car looks to have a (BMW?) 4 cylinder horizontally opposed engine. I'm clueless of this car. Any details from anyone?

 

Here's an e-bay listing of interest...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370327803054#v4-35

Someone has done a nice job building this car.

 

OW-6/88 had a story about it:

 

Former midget, sprint car, TQ, modified stock car & Indy car driver Russ Klar of Lynbrook, NY had this famous car .. as a basket case .. until his death.

HIs family turned it over to A.J. Foyt, who now has it in Texas.

I "think" that is two BMW motorcycle engines mated together.

 

vitucci offy #15 is Tommie Elliot
Gerisi #18 is Roger Bailey not John Coy

 

Wow! How quick was that. I'll get hold of that issue.

Let's try another, the DeMateo Offy that is a 4 wheel independent suspension car I believe.

Any articles done on that one?

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=6864

Kurtis parts for sale

 

I have tried to track this down before with no luck. So I thought I'd try it again on here. I'm looking for a Bettenhausen Monoqouqe chassis. My Uncle Danny Williams Sr. drove this car in the late 70's and then sold it to Pepi Marchese. My uncle bought the car from Roy Caruthers, I will try to get a pic on here because I know that may help. When my uncle ran the car it had blue chassis and white body with a #5 on it. Ran mostly in CORA events in Indiana and Michagin. Thanks!


Bob Shutt

 

Would it be this one?
http://www.openwheelmarketplace.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5608

 

Found some more pictures mixed in with some sprint shots,first 3 are from Reading but no info, the next 2 are of Racer Billie c's father Bobby Courtwright in T/Qs from Atlantic City....Rich

 

<TT>As promised...</TT>


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<TT>Progress report on Ernie Fredricksen's #50 midget roadster (built 1955, raced fficeffice" </TT><TT>at Sun Prairie [BMARA] and midwest USAC)</TT>


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<TT>Body and belly pan all fit and attach properly, ...finally. </TT>


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<TT>We're bolting areas of the car together, checking fit/damage/missing bits,etc. a</TT><TT>nd finding lots of issues. </TT><TT>The front of the engine sits on a collection of brackets and a pedal plate </TT><TT>assembly that overlap each other and straddle the frame rails, side to side. </TT>


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<TT>All the brackets required cleanup and repair, but that mounting assembly is </TT><TT>secure and safe. Lots of cracks and egged-out holes to fix. </TT>


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<TT>We hung the rear axle assembly at ride height (on straps) to align the torque </TT><TT>tube and in-out box, and to establish the length for a new track bar (gone, </TT><TT>MIA). The new track bar is in place (courtesy of Chuck Schultz), waiting for </TT><TT>one bushing in the frame bracket. The track bar bracket on the axle was also </TT><TT>missing, and a new one has been made, attaching to 3 studs on the flange. The </TT><TT>rear end clears the seat, thru suspension travel - relief. </TT>


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<TT>Bob Schnaare spent the day cleaning and inspecting front suspension parts and </TT><TT>spindles. Fortunately, the spindles and axle are usable, but you can sure tell </TT><TT>they've been raced. New bearings required. </TT>


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<TT>The left rear radius rod was bent, cracked, and suffered emergency welding </TT><TT>repair long ago. It has been straightened and the repairs re-done. Cracks </TT><TT>welded, obviously.</TT>


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<TT>Right now, re-chrome for the plated parts is not possible - $$$. So... we'll </TT><TT>dress up the plated parts as best we can and make them as cosmetically appealing as spray cans will allow. </TT>


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<TT>The steering gear is finally mounted, as we think Ernie would have done it (most attaching parts were gone). We still need a replacement steering arm to be cut out and machined, to match the doweled output shaft of the steering gear. The original dash can be saved. Thanks to Dan Wooster for gauges that function. </TT><TT>Chuck Schultz's 16-inch aluminum seat has been trimmed down (adios to the </TT><TT>wrap-around) and unnecessary holes welded - it fits well, but it needs a tad </TT><TT>more clearance on the torque tube side. We'll massage it some more. It looks </TT><TT>quite correct to the car. Thank you, Charles. </TT>


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<TT>Apparently, there was an aluminum foot box and firewall in the car originally, </TT><TT>but there's nothing left. We're trying to figure out what was in place - it's </TT><TT>challenging to say the least. Anybody remember, or better yet have photos? </TT><TT>Please? </TT>


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<TT>There is constant temptation to re-engineer and make improvements, as we </TT><TT>progress. We have to remind ourselves that the goal of this effort is to </TT><TT>restore the car as it was built and raced, and to make it operable. Not new, </TT><TT>and not improved. ...challenging. </TT>


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<TT>OK, that's all the news fit to print. More when we do it. </TT>
<TT>Gregg Kishline</TT>


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<TT>[More updates as the become available. This is a car with significant history & very interesting construction details. If you saw it race you remember it. There are photos but I'm not skilled enough topost them yet. Blame it on the FNG! Chuck Schultz of Winfield Illinois]</TT>


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