In the late 1920s, Stutz Motor Car Company sales were dropping and company president Frederick Moskovics needed some good press from a fast driver to bring buyers back. Crackerjack Indy winner Frank Lockhart was just that person. He had already set a... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
I remember reading about this when I was a kid. Never saw any 'video' or newsreels though. Thanks for the memory tickle.
Wow, tender where the design flaw was on it? I bet it was all in the shape that caused it to become unpredictable at speed? It's a beautiful car though and glad someone cloned it so we could appreciate it again. Good JJ entry!
Growing up in Fla and spending many hours on Daytona Bch thats crazy to think he ran over 200mph on that surface in 1928. Those guys had Big Stones! Interesting history. Thanks.
Sad to see a brilliant driver give the ultimate sacrafice in the name of the sport he loved. ~sololobo~
frank lockhart was a household name back then , right up there with bebe ruth. its funny how generations forget .
Lockhart was 25 when he was killed and never finished out of the top 5 in 22 board races,winning 8 of them.Some of his records stood until the 1990s.The big question mark is what legacy would he have left if he hadn't died that day and had a full career.
Tman--Don't bust my stones! That article is 4 years old, and it was time to bring her back up anyway! =-)
I'm wondering if trying that on the salt flats would have been better than the beach? Tragic loss of a great racer.
In his biography "Challenger", Mickey Thompson talks about Lockhart's influence on his mentality, the small car vs. the big aero engine monster, the lone visionary vs. a huge organization. It been a while but I recall Thompson seemed to think that a clam shell cut one of Lockhart's tires, leading to the fatal crash. Piper106
I am surprised no one has mentioned this, and I am paraphrasing this story 3rd, 4th or 5th hand, so I may have it a bit wrong, but I have read several times that after the practice run of 198mph, the team was pressured by newly-signed sponsor Mason Tires to make a run with Mason Tires on the car for publicity sake. One major problem-the Mason tires in question were not speed rated and had never been tested at anywhere near the speeds Lockhart was running. A tire soon exploded and Lockhart's fate was sadly sealed.
Loved this car ever since discovering Borgeson's book in the Public Library!! Could someone please photoshop a So-Cal paint job on the original car's photos?!! That would be bitchin'!!!
I'm no Engineer (never even BEEN on a train, let alone drove one...) but it seems to me that the flaw might have been in the wheel shrouds, mostly the front wheel shrouds. They start to curve back under at the bottom of the wheel, below the centerline of the arch. Seeing as how they were close to the ground, they may have actually created a small amount of lift as the passing air wrapped under and pushed off of the hard sand. One small bump would have popped it upward. Had they continued the shroud in a forward sweep it might have provided downward force versus upward force. Just my thoughts and observation, again, I'm no expert. I would love to see a wind-tunnel test of the replica, and I wonder if it has ever been done in an attempt to figure out what the design flaw (if any) might have been?
Great job on the thread fellas. Lockhart actually had the model wind tunnel tested twice, at Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Co (engineering div in Garden City, LI NY) and at McCook Field (later Wright-Pat) in Dayton, O. I'm writing an historical biography in the form of a screenplay for my master's degree, see stutzblackhawk.tripod.com. JB