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

I will be going to the USAC sprint car races at ORP in Indy Thursday night (weather permitting) I will be around the pits of Tracy Hines or just wandering around. I also plan to take photos in turn three.
HG

 

Baldtireman, are you saying there is an Ed Lowther #2 restoration or is it restored as the Sam Traylor #9?

A picture of the #9 is on page 94, post 1877 in this thread.

 

Jim: I am saying that I saw,25 or so years ago,at Bailey Speed Equipment, a pile of parts that were alleged to be the Lowther #2. Bill asked me to identify parts,without telling me what they were supposed to be. A few years later,at Bud Millers museum on Rt 80 near West Middlesex,Pa. ,the car,or a reasonable representation,was displayed. When Ed Lowther passed away,the car was sold "up east". I dont know who restored/reconstructed the car,nor do I know who purchased it out of Mr. Lowthers estate. Whatever,it is BEAUTIFUL,and certainly anybody connected with it should be proud of it. John S.

 

Hi Fellas, slightly OT but with Indy just gone, it may still be in peoples minds.
Does anybody have access to , or know a site where I might find the Indy Daily Trackside reports for 1967,68, and ,69.
I have entry lists via Clymer ,but I am specifically looking for details of cars that didn't make the show .
Crashed in practice or qualifying, engine or transmission failures , driver didn't pass rookie test or re-test, not up to speed,wierd design, or cruelly bumped.
Any lead would be a help.
If you think it is interesting ,maybe post it here , or PM me
Many thanks Greg

 

Hi Baldtireman,
I can tell you what I know about the car. The car was sold to Bobby Albert of NY. I believe Jim Etter helped the family to sell the race related items. When Bobby passed away a couple of years later, his son asked me to restore the car and sell it. When I picked it up, there was no doubt about what car it was. It had the correct K.K. chassis # (it started life as the Ciacchia midget). It was clearly visible where Ken Hickey stretched it and still had the external parallel rear torsion bars on it. The chassis did show its age though, but cleaned up OK. I had a limited budget but managed to return it to the Sam Traylor #9. I was able to sell right away to its present owner Ray Boisseneau of N.H. Do you think its possible you saw the remains of another car?

 

Here is the car today at Ray Bossineau's shop in Concord NH.

 

Guess I better find the people that I know who had a connection to the car back then. John S.

 

.....'Hi Greg, 'Certainly not off-topic at all. 'Glad to try to help you out. Here is a start for 1967, 1968 & 1969. Allen Brown's "OldRacingCars" is an incredible source of info but doesn't start until 1971 with Indy Cars and Dick Wallen's "Roar From The 60's" only posts race results.

 

Baldtireman, from Lowther the car was in Dave Lundy's hands, and butchered pretty badly. They had put a short stacked Chevy in it. The engine even had a fan on it. Was clearly 2nd-3rd tier equipmentwise. Lundy drove it at Reading and Williams Grove with USAC 1962 timeframe.

 

I got the car from some place in Ohio in the summer of 1969 I believe, maybe 68. We ran the car in Central Pa for a couple of years. Drivers were Ron Blazer, Hal Wilson mostly. Sold it to a fellow in Harrisburg area he ran it a short time, Bryan Osgood acquired it then and I believe he parted it out. Contact me directly at []

 

I remember seeing the #51 Sprint Car at Portland, Indiana (probably coming home from New Bremen) in 1965 or 66, being towed by a new lavender Pontiac 2+2 421. It was ahead of us in traffic and considering that it had four passengers and the Sprint Car behind, I was surprised to find that their cruising speed (as soon as they cleared traffic) was about 110.
I guess the USAC guys never quit qualifying.

 

RCT, So what were you wheeling that you could pace them? Did you make the show?

 

Try www.champcarstats.com (it's been referenced on this thread before); click on "through the years", select the year and then click on the 500 listing. You'll find a complete entry list and a brief description of who drove what and what the outcome was, even down to multiple drivers attempting to qualify the same car, and what entries didn't show up at the track. There's sometimes even a reason listed for that, like "failed physical", or "not in good standing with USAC". Not a daily report pe se, but the most complete stats I've ever found.

 

Frenchtown Flyer: We were actually in a '64 Ford with a 390 I believe. He was probably 800 ft. in front of us going into a curve. Coming out of the curve he was about 1200 ft. ahead, which put him about 20 mph faster than the 90 we were doing. So put us down as DNQ.

 

I've got this vision of an aircraft carrier in a four-wheel drift.

 

Hello Again,
Thank You for the information about my grandfathers Trevis Sprint - Roadster. I printed the pictures that you posted and I'm taking them to Ohio this weekend to show my father. I'm sad to hear the car didn't survive, but when I think about how many race cars I have totaled over the years I'm not surprisied. Did you or any of the other owners have any success with the car? It was a top notch car when it was built in 1959 - 60, but my family always said the handling was inconsistant with this car. Are there anymore pictures available?
Highest Regards,
Brad Westover

 

If the aircraft carrier is lavender, you have the picture.

 

Try johnsonsindy500

 

Last Sat night at Ephrata Wa WCVR / Golden Wheels got out for a full combined program w WMRA midgets and local 360 winged sprints. At close to 50 cars it was probably the largest open wheel pavement show around here in many years. Of these 29 were vintage. These pic's give a general view of whats running in the vintage scene out here at the North end of the Left Coast.

 

A few more pics.

 

Thanks for the pics oldebob, you guys roll out some fine machinery for sure.

 

Thanks for the pics! That looked like a great show.

 

Love the straight six

 

Ct. to Pa.,
Hey Justin, give me a call or stop by, I may have some material you wanted.

 

Here are pictures I knew I had but couldn't find. Bob Sall at Indy in 1935 he finished eigth. Then in the car restored at Trenton in 1974. He took some laps and even took my mother for a ride as it was from the era of the riding mechanic. He died shortly after very happy for the experience.

 

I have changed to a smaller flywheel and clutch setup for the Rasmussen sprint roadster so I could move the starter over and have more room for my feet. It seems the farther you move along on a project the less room there is. So, I have the racing clutch and disk on Ebay. It fits a SBC 168 tooth fly wheel and mates to the early ford tranz or CAE in and out box. I have never used it and hope to sell this one to pay for the smaller one. Ebay No. is 400127739241 So if your cluch is sliiiipen here it is.

 

Many thanks to all who helped with my question at the top of Page #560 the research is going well.
Does anybody have any current details for Dee Jones or Bay Darnell , drivers from this era??
I chased down Al Loquasto , but he was killed in a light aircraft crash.
Others of interest are Roy Prosser, Henry Pens,Dick Simon,Jerry Daniels,Carlos Pairetti,and John Mahler
Cheers Greg

 

Not sure how much you want to know about Henry Pens. If you want more than you can see on a Google search, I still have contact with his son Danny occasionally. I knew the family years ago, and it was a very traumatic when all of it happened.

 

Bay Darnell is alive and well in Deerfield Ill. I usually get to talk to him at least once a year, but i haven't seen him lately. I'll look and see if i have his phone number.

Rick

 

I just saw Dick Simon at the Old Timers banquet in Indy. He looks the same as he did 30 years ago. Denny Z