Watched Arlen Vanke at Quaker City, Salem, Ohio drive the "63" Tin Indian" before it was lettered. Little did we know, at 17, that we would be watching a legend.
Vic Edelbrock Senior started wrenching on Midgets before WWII. In ’46 he re-entered the fray with a new Kurtis-Kraft Midget powered by a Ford V8-60 featuring Vic’s own go-fast parts like cylinder heads and intake manifold with drivers like Bill Zaring, Pery Grimm, and Danny Oaks. In ’47 success started off slowly with Mac Hellings as driver. When Vic added a second car, one with Offy power (on the right) and the other a V8-60 (on the left) and numbered them both 27 his luck changed and his drivers Perry Grimm, Mac Hellings ( and later, Rodger Ward ) went on a tear. By ’50 Ward was even beating the Offy’s with the 60 thanks to a little help from some Nitro laced with rose petals to help disguise the smell (it wasn't cheating if you didn’t get caught).
The Jalopy Journal
