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

Can you guys school me on the SRE Wide Five Sprint Car wheels? What widths did they come in? Are they ford pattern?

 

Frankie Beeder.

There's a post at Motorsport Memorial about your uncle, George Woollis:

https://www.motorsportmemorial.org/focus.php?db=ct&n=6712

I'll have a look at my records, maybe I can add a bit to that.


EDIT - I checked, and I don't have much on George Woollis. The fatal race was probably sanctioned by the Garden State Racing Association, a Big Car club racing mainly in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I have two Midget appearances in the weeks prior to that, June 15 at Lauer's Park in Reading and July 12 at Yellow Jacket Speedway in Philly. Woollis did not finish in the top three in any of the races at Reading (main event won by Frankie Beeder from Henry Banks and Tommy Hinnershitz), while he was involved in a multi-car accident on lap 1 of the consy at Yellow Jacket (main event won by Duke Nalon).

 

I find this photo somewhere in FB. Describe it: Reading,PA in 1950.

I think this track was Flemington,NJ and the year was in the 30s years.

The #1 was possible Ralph De Palma?

 

You may be correct, think the #7 Miller is Rick Decker. This car is in the East Coast Museum of Racing . When I find some photos of this car I'll post them. Thank you you for posting your photo. Bob

 

I think you're right, I have seen the picture before and identified the location, but have no access to my notes right now, but Flemington sounds about right. The year is 1930, and #1 is de Palma's Miller '122', but if I recall correctly he wasn't driving that day, but Wes Crawford (?). #4 left on the front row is Fred Frame in the former "Locomobil Junior 8" Miller, #7 is a Miller '122' with a Model A Duesenberg engine, I think that was the ex-Vail/Yagle car, maybe Larry Beals driving (?). To the right on the front row #9 is the former Cliff Durant 'oversize 122' Miller, now owned and driven by Rick Decker iinm. Second row left is Billy Winn in the Eddie Sejnost Clemons, and then (I think) Herman Schurch in Sejnost's Fronty.

EDIT - I checked, and the photograph I've seen is not identical, but very similar. It is Flemington, all right, Labor Day weekend of 1930, and the driver and car identifications above are all correct, as far as I can ascertain. I had one more car and driver identified in my notes, that is local hero Firman Lawshe in the "Hollywood Special" (second row to the right). And, despite all the Miller 'heavy metal' in the front row of the field, the Fords won out that day: Billy Winn set a new track record, while Herman Schurch won the main event from Fred Frame.

 

Have this vintage Sprint Car Crew shirt embroidered for Dick.

Couldn’t quite make out if embroidery depicts Sprint Car or Dry Lakes Car.

Any info of this shop/team/driver?

 

hi, I hope this works out. Thanks to Ryan who got me started once again.
I think I'll just ride along for while & see how it goes. if it works have lots
0f info.

 

lighties blue dreyer #9. dreyer book says mark traded '42 merc for 1 of his sprinters.
info on mototsport says dreyer sold car to bud sherk circa 1945/1946. light ran new car in
1947 as blue #9. in '48 light drove car as maroon & tan #5 Cracraft. light & rex mays had 2 wins each.
to be continued,,,,,,,,,,,

 

walt brown the car & others. 1948/1949 car was rebilt in calif. & ran as unpainted #1
w/rex mays up. in the east it ran as blue #7 driven by lee wallard. later same year mays
ran @ wms grove but threw con-rod after winning 2nd heat.
car then disappeared until i saw pic of car @ old-timers event in calif. id'ing as mark light car.

 

Hello, Correct me if I've got this wrong, I was told or read that the Mark Light car started out as this Briggs Cunningham D.O. Fronty powered car.

Bob

 

the blue #9 was a dreyer, bought/traded from dreyer or sherk. that info is conflicting.

here are different pix after light got car.

 

Two different cars: Lightie owned the old Cunningham sprinter after he'd sold the Dreyer chassis to Leach Cracraft of West Virginia. The Cunningham car (from 1933) went from Briggs to Gil Pirrung (1934), Joel Thorne (1936), Fred Peters (1939), Ted Nyquist (1946), Light (1948), Harold Rotbauer of Bethel/PA (1950) and finally Carl Becker of Palmyra/PA (ca. 1957) who crashed it heavily in 1959 which finished it off, presumably.

The Dreyer went from Cracraft to Leon de Rock of Mason City/IA in 1950, then to Ernie Johnson of Christine/ND the following year and to Bob Russell of Des Moines/IA in 1952. After that, I believe it may have gone into the vast collection of Joe Gemsa cars, but I can't be sure, and anyway I lose track thereafter.

 

mr ferner is correct.

 

i have carl sweigerts files light driving history & racing results of his career
about 20 pages total. they are typewritten & text runs together. no spaces no new paragraph
but lots of info. I know your files are extensive but you might find some helpful info.
I am now 91 tears old & dont want to see them go into trash. I have compiled a total
binder almost 2" thick of info & pix. the only person I can think of to have this would be
you. they will be free as 00.00. postage is another matter. will not be offended if not neded.
p.s. I was @ Landisville track june 23, 1937 when he got burned. I remember seeing the
flames. dennis/mlight 9. 2fdrjr34@gmail.com.

 

I did not have the 2 cars after de roc owned it. does anyone have info on the car carl
becker drove @ allentown in the accident with schindler's fatal?
does anyone know if doug post from conn. & joe fiore jr are still around?

 

Doug Post is one town over, I'll check at the Saturday Cruse night. I had the D.O.Green engine Joe Fiore Sr had, now in the Bill Smith Speedway Collection.

 

is fiore still restoring race cars? tell doug I asked about him(he can text me @ 2fdrjr34@gmail.com).

 

I was at his shop once years ago in Oxford, Ct. I believe.

 

I can't be sure, but from circumstantial evidence it was either Joe Barzda's secondary car, a Mercury #52, (Becker's own?) Riley #29 or a Hal (Snavely's?) #28.

 

pic of end result of chitwood & nauman 8-24-41 @ wms grove. I was a witness.

 

^^^^^ With all due respect was that car rebuilt, there is a car on the West Coast I've been looking for that was also wrecked.

Bob

 

One more from a local vintage group that was at my home track last year. Looking forward to them coming back the first Sunday in August.

 

I am guessing that this car is the art martinson miller light bought before or right after the war.

 

Oh my, what a wreck!

No wonder Vic Nauman was half dead when they pulled him from the car! He did recover, and raced again, but he was never the same driver he was before that accident. At the time, he was leading the Eastern Championship, and was sure headed for Indy - the guy replacing him at the top of the standings, and taking the title was... Bill Holland!

I often wondered what became of the car, but seeing this pic, I now believe it was never rebuilt. At the time, Lightie was already drafted, so he wouldn't have had time to do much anyway. But the engine must have survived, and I believe that to have been a very historic one: the very first 16-valve Miller 4, of the type that became the '220' and thus the forerunner of the famous Offy! I would love to know where that went...

It came to Lightie with the Art Martinson Miller, correct. This car was originally built in 1932 for a man named Fox in California, to race as the "Olympiad Special" at Ascot for a short while. Martinson (from Colorado) bought it later that year, and raced it for a while, until Mark Light bought it in 1935, I believe. But the original chassis was discarded in 1938 or '39 (need to check my records) and replaced by the above car. It may have been completely new from scratch, or may have used some parts from the Martinson/Miller, I don't know.

 

That's a pretty little car - all dolled up with some chrome and louvers and hubcaps. I wonder what the driver has under his shirt? Maybe a cushion for crash protection?

 

@mlight9
@Michael Ferner



Friday, June 6, 1941 Illustrated Speedway News

 

Raced My 34 Plymouth Up Aussie Rob Roy For the first time it ever ran here Down Under car was Built in 1930 Buy John Holman and raced by hes first team at Indy built at Gasoline ally using a 1930 Plymouth Roadster for the Speacial Car was consitant but not fast so he sold it to hes driver and he went on and used it on the cinder oval tracks prewar were it did ok then by the end of the 50s he never came home from korea and hes brother took over the car and went aspathalt racing in the late forties with is is history by the reading od its log book gets scetchey as it goes kind of missind and i was discovered agin by Ray Everham who tol it to hes Museam and flulled it up a bit then after a while neede more room and sold here down under and lucky me now has this amercan gem " still powered by the flathead 6 was once tried with a 1950 331 hemi which i have got with it injected but the log bock shows its was way out of balance " maybe i might wack it back in one day and try it again , but just for now i am loving it it sounds great and handles just fine loking for a alloy 25 inch head chhers Gruntis