Features VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1965 and older only please.

Ken,

Thanks. Would love to see those cars again. I remember that Reds cars looked just like a mini sprint car and had great paint jobs. Back then not all the micros looked like midgets and sprints as they were all built by hand in ones garage or basement. My uncle built his in his basement and used chalk to sketch the frame and body parts on the walls and floor. He used those sketches to craft the frame and sheetmetal. As the engine was in the back it was amazing that he built a sprint / midget tail that was made of graited metal to allow the engine to breathe. Looked just like a midget!

My uncle was Lee Sell (had a micro with an Indian engine) and as a young boy missed few micro shows at Leesport and other venues. Lee was the track prep man at Leesport and I rode the water truck with him many afternoons. I Remember a night in the 50's when they were at Nazareth as an intermission show for a modified event. Jerry Fried set up a small track on the front stretch but the guys decided to use the full half mile. They were really flying and it was funny to hear Jerry on the loudspeaker yelling to "get those guys off the track before they killed themselves!" They also ran at Dorney Park on the 1/5 asphalt and really put on a good show. They were really fast! I also understand that you guys have a Cal Lieb car. He was also a great guy and driver. His micro was an example of a car that was a little different from a normal sprint / midget. I think that was because he was a really big man.

I have been keeping up with the clubs activities thriugh the newsletter as well as Mike Shaub emails. You guys do a fantastic job and I wish I was back in Berks county to participate.

As we both know Reading fairgrounds was a top sprint and midget track from the day it opened until the day it closed, as well as the home for the best modified activity in the Northeast.

Keep up the great work! Jeff

 

Harley Gene and Roy, about Crocky...

I passed the obit information on to NSSN. Mike Kerchner said thanks for all of it, that it would supplement what they had. Also, I sent them a couple of Roy's photos and they will probably use one or two.

 

Hi Ken how are you tell Jon I said hello
bill c

 

This is to Roy, I came upon this photo on the Racing History site. Some of you may not have seen it and know that the day Crocky was inducted to the Hall of Fame, but look who else was there. Roy, it must have been a great day for you!
Crongrats,
HG

 

I am new to this web site and i want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year. Hanco wheeler

 

Welcome HANCO...


Happy New year to you, and everyone else on here..

Thanks you all SO MUCH for contributing and turning this into what it has become. I TRULY could have NEVER done this without you guys and your unbelievable knowledge.

Thanks

Joshua Shaw

 

Hope you all had a nice Holiday, and nobody got arrested. lol
Hope you ll have a great year to come.
Spoike

 

In tradition of this group, I wasn't caught. LOL

 

Here's a pic from about '58-59. Howard Gardner wins the dash and has to get creative in gaining a little altitude for the trophy girl. Check out the Ardun heads on the Pop Miller sprinter. Not to mention the legs on the trophy girl.

 

I wish we still had kisses from trophy girls.

I wish drag strips had 'em too.

No longer PC?

 

Perfect set of legs - feet on one end and....never mind.

 

Here's somethin else pretty damn SEXY!!

 

Josh, I'm doing a blog for my "indyroadster" website about the Halibrand roadster wheels. What size are those in your pictures? ( width, and front & rear offset) I need the measurements for the 16" fronts and the 18" rears. I would also like to get the weight of the wheels.
Those were the very early version of the Indy wheel used on the Kurtis 500A, 500B and 500C. The interesting thing about those wheels is that they were reversible because of the separate pressure plate. Some roadsters ran them smooth side out and some ran them back side out. I assume that this was so they could vary the "track width".
The later Halibrand standard 18" and 16" roadster wheels, from '56 on, had the pressure plate cast into the wheel and could not be reversed.
Some guys continued to use some of the early wheels on into the 60s to juggle "track" and chassis offset.

Thanks for any info you can give on these wheels.
Also, could I use those pix for my blog??

mac miller in INDY

 

Ascot, late 1962, Don Branson in the Rocky Phillip/Herb Porter (Racing Associates) sprinter, a sprint size version of their 'Red Rooster' champ car. By the end of 63 Phillip and Porter they had split up and went their own ways. The car seems to have found its way back east to become the Woodie Spl. in which Jimmy Maguire was badly hurt at New Bremen. Not finding too much subsequent info on this car, does anyone know more?

 

During the early 60s, The car belonged to Richard and Beverly McDermott of Medina, Ohio. I first saw the "Woodie"#5 in 1961 with Bob Marshman driving. Other drivers that i saw in the car included Mickey Shaw, Ralph Ligouri and Maguire. I don't recall if the car raced, as the Woodie" Spl, after the Maguire incident at New Bremen in 1964.

 

Thanks Mac, yeah I have'nt found any evidence of it being raced after the Maguire crash either but if it was rebuilt it may have been changed enough to be unrecognizable. The nose and other features were pretty unique.

 

You bet! Not a problem Mac... Your welcome to use the pics. Shoot me your E-mail, I'll send them plus more that I took.

I'll be at the shop today, and I'll get the Measurements and weights you need. All mine are 16's but My friend Bill Akin in Nashville has a good amount of the 18's that are the early solid dish, "reversible" type your talking. He also may have a few of the 20's found on some of the Novi's and others. I'll shoot you his number as well, he is a great guy and would love to talk "Wheels" with ya. It wouldn't suprise me if he knows the weight and offsets, of the top of his head!

As for running them both ways at Indy.. Here are some examples to back up what your saying. "Basement Bessy" has them reversed on the front, only, while the Dean Van Lines car has them reversed on the back only. (note the 6 machine screws in the bead area sticking in for balancing purposes... one of my fronts is drilled in this manner)

J Shaw

 

There is a car in the UK looks like the one , may have seen it here some time ago ?????

 

Hey Josh, and others.

Remember the discussion we had about the graphics on the "Indian Gas" Fronty Ford ? That they were too bold and elaborate for the time period ?

You questioned whether they were possibly a recreation ?

Well here is a link to a photo of that same Indian Gas Fronty, back in the day.........

http://careyfoxphotos.smugmug.com/Other/Vintage-racing-photos/4629805_ko5RW#273202354_WULSv-L-LB


Tom

 

Here`s the whole gold mine I found on Smugmug the other day. I posted the link in the 1894-1944 thread.....


http://careyfoxphotos.smugmug.com/Other/Vintage-racing-photos/4629805_ko5RW#273200439_JJTJu

The first car in the set appears to contain parts of one of the Monroe/Frontenac Indy cars that were at Indy in the early 20s.

 

Rootie-I love that photo of Branson at Ascot 1962!




I just noticed-this thread is closing in on ONE MILLION views!

 

Looks pretty intense. Kinda revealing though, he never did well at Ascot and made no secret that he never got a handle on it, didn't like the place, and didn't feel comfortable running there. Of course, a few years later it came back to bite him.

 

Buildy those are some great pics- the first pic looks to be a converted 1920 Monroe/Frontenac. The engine does have the appearance of the 1920 4 cyl DOHC and of course the flower petal radiator front. They not only ran at Indy in the early 20s but when you think about it they were the first purposeful built American racing engine to win the 500 plus they did it back to back (albeit with an 8 cylinder Frontenac in 21). The amazing thing is that there are more of these pics out there. Wish all of them were available. Thanks-Jim

 

Jimmy Maguire's crash was at New Bremen, May 3, 1964-a bad day when Bobby Black and Chuck Hulse were also badly hurt and others flipped as well. The McDermott "Woodie Spl" subsequently raced in eight more 1964 USAC races, with Chuck Arnold and then Ralph Liguori driving. I have no record of the car after that.

 

Hell yeah! Roy (racer5c) sent me that too! Looks great!

I love eating Crow.. I'm getting quite used to it lately!

 

Have to disagree here: the chassis clearly isn't from an Indy Frontenac (they all had a big step in the frame), nor is it one of the later Fronty-Fords. The engine might be a 1916 Fronty 4-cylinder, but not a later one. Only the radiator matches, but it could be a copy.

I thought pictures two and three showed early Winchester Speedway, but I'm not sure. Picture four is a very famous driver in a very famous car: Bob Carey and the Vance Special "Red Pete" - Carey used it to win many races in the Midwest in 1930, then Wilbur Shaw took it to California, where it became the Garnett/Cragar, later the Worley/Miller. Drivers included Francis Quinn, Rex Mays, Floyd Roberts and Frank McGurk. Picture five has a future Indy winner in it, can you spot him? Mauri Rose, on the right.

 

http://careyfoxphotos.smugmug.com/Other/Vintage-racing-photos/4629805_ko5RW#273200439_JJTJu

This is fun! A real goldmine, you're right...

I now see that some of the pics are labeled, so it's the Sunflower track at Brazil in Indiana, not Winchester. Pic 6 apparently shows Al Theisen, thanks to the caption. Picture 8 shows a Fronty-Ford that was driven by Howdy Wilcox in the late twenties, I have no record of the wreck. 10 is Ira Hall in his famous Fronty, he competed at Brazil every year from 1928 to '31, winning at least once. 11 is Johnny Gerber in his Gerber/Chevrolet (Whippet was only sponsoring the car), a visitor to Brazil in 1928 & '29. 13 is Dutch Baumann in a "works" Fronty-Ford, the caption says Jungle Park. This is one of the later, Model A based Frontenacs, 1929 or '30.

 

15 says "Bruce Miller, killed the next week at Milwaukee", which would date the picture as late June, 1928. 16 says Ira Hall, but I'm sure it's Gus Schrader, in fact! 17 is Billy McCoy with his towing rig, 18 & 19 show Wilcox in his Fronty-Ford again, before wrecking. This is one of the Model T based Frontenacs, he later also drove a Model A. There were two "De-Luxe Taxi" Specials, the other one was driven by Bill Cummings. 20 looks a bit out of place, the two Novis in 1949 with Duke Nalon and Rex Mays. 21 shows Billy McCoy in his famous #15, the name Triplett at the bottom suggest it was taken during 1928, when the "Blonde Terror" from California made a tour of the Midwest... well, scratch that, the next picture makes clear that Triplett is the name of the photographer!

 

I wonder if 23 is D. D. Morris? 25 is Frank Sweigart (or Sweigert) in Karl Kizer's Model A Fronty, 1929 or later. 26 is Chuck Bane in his DO Gallivan. 28 nice portrait of Billy McCoy, 29 again Ira Hall in his Model A Fronty. 30 looks to be Joe Russo in an early Skinny Clemons Special. 31 Baumann and Hall lining up at Jungle Park. 32 Hall again, and Bill Cummings??? 34 Mauri Rose on another Vance car ("Jewel of the Gem City")? 35 the driver looks like Ira Hall to me, but it's not his car. 36 Billy McCoy again, 37 line-up shows Ira Hall (Model A Fronty), Mauri Rose (Vance) and Bob Carey (Model A Fronty).

 

The car that Bobby Black destroyed, over the turn 4 wall, was, originally, the Cheesman Offy that was owned, that day, by Paul Leffler.
Chuck Hulse destroyed the, '60, '61, and '62 USAC championship winning, Fike Plumbing car. It never raced in the midwest again but it resurfaced later that year at Ascot.