Sig Haugdahl & The Wisconsin Special

You may have heard of Sig Haugdahl the ‘Flying Norwegian’ and his Rocket Car, which was discussed on the HAMB some time ago. However, the car that is probably most synonymous with Sig is the “Wisconsin Special”, of course. Haugdahl and Race Promoter J. Alex Sloan built the car together specifically to go after the 156 mph Daytona Beach record held by Tommy Milton and his twin 8 Duesenberg LSR car. The Haugdahl/ Sloan ran a 6 cylinder, 12.5 liter WWI “Wisconsin ” aircraft motor rated at 250 hp, and was built with aerodynamics in mind, by way of a super narrow body, tapered nose section, rear wheel covers and full belly pan. You can actually see the evolution of this car in a few pictures as the nose, cockpit and tail end changes shape throughout the early 1920s. In April of 1922, Sig took the Wisconsin Special to Daytona Beach and drove it to a record-breaking speed of 180.3 mph, backed up by timing equipment and the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), but unfortunately wasn’t verified by AAA, so the record wasn’t considered official. However, it did garner enough hype and publicity to garner the “3 Mile A Minute” tagline painted on the cowl.