History VINTAGE SPRINT CAR PIC THREAD, 1969 and older only please.

[Speedrome]

Originally Posted by Racer12

More details on this "racing history site" please? Wish someone would have posted this on here. I missed going there last year and would bring a race car for display.

Bob

He is referring to the Yahoo Racing History Group. It is a wealth of info and stories. It is run in a very different way than this site. It is more a traditional message board. (pun intended)

No one hiding behind screen names. In fact, if you do not include your full name and city you will get reprimanded for not following the "Len Sutton Rule."

You will notice there is a lot of crossover of guys from here and other vintage racing sites.

Bart

[jimg12]

Tom, good to see you on here. I will try to make it but not sure if I can bring a car but can bring Dad's album. Jim Graybeal

[Joshua Shaw]

Been a while since I posted any pictures just for the HELL OF IT!


Can't remeber if I've posted these before.. MOST of my pictures come from YOU GUYS anymore anyways..

Oh, and the last picture is on here cause it just flat ass ROCKS!!

[28dreyer]

The second picture above, is what these below get made out of.


.

[28dreyer]

A request from an old (younger than I) friend....

Here is a picture of my sprint car when I picked it up in 1984. It's from the east coast and I has a list of the original "main team" members.

I am trying to locate more information on the car. The seller was going to send me info but didn't and I can't locate him. I do have a phone number only from 1987 but it's no longer active. No idea when it was built.

I've attached pictures of the original car, the team member names and what it looks like now.

Please call the owner if you can help, or post info here.

Having trouble with the two original photos, let me know if i need to try to get them bigger please.



John Ellingson
612-202-5552

[David J. Kovac]

TRACK ENTERPRISES has verified that VINTAGE OPEN WHEEL RACERS will be on the schedule, SATURDAY AUGUST 18, 2012 at the ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS DIRT MILE.
The show includes USAC SILVER CROWN CARS and modifieds with KENNY SCHRADER and KENNY WALLACE.

Roll her out, load her up and meet us at the track. GATES open 6 AM.

[baldtireman]

Originally Posted by Joshua Shaw

Been a while since I posted any pictures just for the HELL OF IT!


Can't remeber if I've posted these before.. MOST of my pictures come from YOU GUYS anymore anyways..

Oh, and the last picture is on here cause it just flat ass ROCKS!!

Josh: If you think a dualie is fun, you ought to try a Schoolbus....I was the celebrity driver that nite.... had a blast...nothing in common with a sprinter,though....

[mac miller]

The Johnston-Carbone-Wendt XXO/VOT Indy roadster, through tech, on the salt, and ready for action.

mac miller in INDY

[Black vette 59]

mac m.....that car has knocked me for six......just too cool......wish them good luck at the salt......(love the wheels )

[LEE GREENAWALT]

1977 Hamburg NY USAC star Tom Bigelow! enjoy!

[carl s]

Originally Posted by LEE GREENAWALT

1977 Hamburg NY USAC star Tom Bigelow! enjoy!

and 34 years later at Salem with Mac Miller and The Doc on each side- in case he starts to fall over
photo by Randall Cook

[mac miller]

Originally Posted by LEE GREENAWALT

1977 Hamburg NY USAC star Tom Bigelow! enjoy!

HA! I worked for Sherman during those years and put in a lot of hours on that car. That was the original Armstrong sprint car. It was driven at various times by Rich Vogler, Bigelow, Greg Leffler, Chuck Gurney, Chris Cumberworth
and at the end of 1979, the car was destroyed in a turn 4 crash at Winchester, critically injuring Butch Wilkerson.

[BZNEIL]

Mac. The salt car looks awesome! One of these days I'm going to build one those.

Is the nose on that one shaped a little different or maybe it is leaned forward a little? Looks a little more aero than normal.

[mac miller]

Originally Posted by BZNEIL

Is the nose on that one shaped a little different or maybe it is leaned forward a little? Looks a little more aero than normal.

Good eye, Neil, Yes, several changes have made to the nose. I am very paranoid about nose lift. The bottom surface of the Watson nose curves upward at the front, allowing air to pack up, lifting the nose. On this car I tilted the nose down as far as i could to keep the bottom surface as parallel to the ground as possible...... I'm still paranoid about it.....

mac miller in INDY

[larrypfitz]

[QUOTE=mac miller;8050888]Good eye, Neil, Yes, several changes have made to the nose. I am very paranoid about nose lift. The bottom surface of the Watson nose curves upward at the front, allowing air to pack up, lifting the nose.]

Jim Rathmann knew something about packing air under the nose of a Watson roadster. He told me that during his closed-course world record run at Daytona on April 4, 1959, his #16 "Simoniz Spl." Watson would "take a set" coming off the banking, then as the suspension unloaded he would lose his steering (or close to it) for the next couple hundred feet. He never lifted, and the nose always came back down. At least three bad things were happening all at once: nose up as the suspension unloaded, air packing under the nose due to aerodynamic ground effect, and aero lift along most of that long roadster hood.

[mac miller]

Originally Posted by larrypfitz

Jim Rathmann knew something about packing air under the nose of a Watson roadster. He told me that during his closed-course world record run at Daytona on April 4, 1959, his #16 "Simoniz Spl." Watson would "take a set" coming off the banking, then as the suspension unloaded he would lose his steering (or close to it) for the next couple hundred feet. He never lifted, and the nose always came back down. At least three bad things were happening all at once: nose up as the suspension unloaded, air packing under the nose due to aerodynamic ground effect, and aero lift along most of that long roadster hood.

.

Many of the photos of the roadsters, on the straightaway, at Indy show them running "nose up". Bob Harkey and Parnelli told me that they tapped the brake going into turn 1 and 3 to settle the nose back down to the track before "turning in".
Another amazing dynamic about these cars was the difference in weight and weight distribution between a full fuel load and empty. the cars carried about 70 gallons of fuel(approx 450 lb), cantilevered behind the rear axle.
Can you imagine the handling changes during a fuel run????

mac miller in INDY

[baldtireman]

[QUOTE=larrypfitz;8051181]

Originally Posted by mac miller

Good eye, Neil, Yes, several changes have made to the nose. I am very paranoid about nose lift. The bottom surface of the Watson nose curves upward at the front, allowing air to pack up, lifting the nose.]

Jim Rathmann knew something about packing air under the nose of a Watson roadster. He told me that during his closed-course world record run at Daytona on April 4, 1959, his #16 "Simoniz Spl." Watson would "take a set" coming off the banking, then as the suspension unloaded he would lose his steering (or close to it) for the next couple hundred feet. He never lifted, and the nose always came back down. At least three bad things were happening all at once: nose up as the suspension unloaded, air packing under the nose due to aerodynamic ground effect, and aero lift along most of that long roadster hood.

Is that what happened to Marshall Teague and George Amick?

[Rootie Kazoootie]

Probably not much interest but I'm always curious as to how the old Indy cars lived out their days. Came across this on the IdeeHo vintage site and thought I'd pass it along. I don't see where Russo drove the Bardahl car in 61 as the article states but he did in 59/60 so I suspect its just a typo. I gotta believe keeping 6 strombergs dialed in must have been ...well "challenging"

[easter]

If you enlarge this photo, check out how far down the windscreen goes. Any farther and it would melt on the exhaust.

[Mike Britton]

^^^^one of the most beautiful roadsters ever built.