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

Another of the surviving oldtimers is Ralph "The Racer" Liguori. Here he is at Trenton 1966.

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Another of the surviving oldtimers is Ralph "The Racer" Liguori. Here he is at Trenton 1966.

Ralph lives in Oldsmar, Florida but to be honest I have not seen him in the past 5 years.
He is a really interesting guy to talk to and he is full of racing history.
Jimbo

 

Branson leads Atkins at Sacto 1966. Somewhat of a prophetic pic as it would be just a few weeks later they would both be killed in a crash at Ascot.

 

Every time I see a pic of those old tracks with guardrail posts or even the old Armco steel rail I cringe a little.

 

Jerry Eisert told me that Dick Atkins was incredibly athletic. He said that at one point he was talking to Dick about driving one of the Harrison Specials and they went somewhere for lunch or something. At any rate while they were walking along Atkins suddenly went forward on his arms, put his legs up in the air, and started walking on his hands showing perfect balance like some kind of Olympic gymnast.

 

I've often wondered what the record book would look like today if guys like Atkins, Marshman and Marvin would have survived to live to a ripe old age like A.J., Mario, the Unsers and others have.

 

Jimmy Jackson in his ex-Boyle Miller FWD 1946.

 

Yes Rootie, may have been dramatically different.

 

Great shot of Sam Sessions in the Gapco 83 and Bill Puterbaugh in the E.T. Morse 91, Terra Haute 67.

 

"Every time I see a pic of those old tracks with guardrail posts or even the old Armco steel rail I cringe a little."
Speaking of which: Duquoin, Illinois had a guard rail that was two Armco strips that a car could almost perfectly slide under. Ken Schrader hit the backstretch barrier in a Silver Crown car some time in the 80's and the upper Armco rail sliced off the top of his hood and injectors, but luckily the roll cage and cowl area stopped the rail from getting into the cockpit. If my memory is correct they changed the configuration of the fence right after that.

 

We were at DuQuoin for a non-sanctioned race in July of 71 or 72 and the same thing happened to Bill Utz on a false start getting into Turn one. Cleaned off everything up to the cage which was probably the only thing that kept the rail from beheading him.

 

A bit of local 'news article' on Jimmy Jackson.
A bit more home spun mentions of Jimmy Jackson in the desert. In doing research on old US-99 through the Coachella Valley I came across these two articles in the June 1946 Desert Sun. The first speaks of Jimmy 'building the racecar' for the 1946 Indy 500 and the second describes his selling of The Snow Creek 'Camp' to The Secors.
Jimmy probably sold the property to pay for the rental of the racecar from Umbrella Mike and doing so must have felt entitled to claim he was the builder, at least to the locals.
Here's a photo of the property a few years after the sale; looking east a half mile away is the infamous 'Three Musketeers Restaurant and Club' at the corner of Palm Springs Road and the highway. The Secor Family (not Jimmy) is credited with the river rock construction. All of this was bull dozed 10 years later to make way for the I-10 Freeway and the Snow Creek Camp property is now home to the I-10 Rest Area, all that's left are a few trees planted by The Secor Family.

Why not to blindly accept the validity of news articles.
(came across this recently)
Some more inside info on Jimmy Jackson from his time in The Whitewater area of Palm Springs.

Desert Sun, Volume XIX, Number 44, 31 May 1946 — "Almost! Local Driver Nosed Out in Race Classic [ARTICLE]
< a href="http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19460531.2.27&srpos=219&dliv=none&st= 1&e=01-08-1945-----en--50-DS-201-byDA-txt-txIN-99------" rel="nofollow">cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DS19460531.2.27&s...</a>
Almost! Local Driver Nosed Out in Race Classic
Second place in the annual Indianapolis 500 mile classic yesterday went to a Palm Springs driver, Jimmy Jackson, who owns a service station on Highway 99 north of town. Jackson drove a Jackson Special, one of his own build-ups, and gave the winner, George Robson of Los Angeles, a real run for first money. Joe Tomalonis, well known here, a mechanic at the local army air base for some months, and kin to Jackson, helped him build the special racer and get it in shape for the big race. Jackson operates a Standard station on Highway 99, just a little west of the Three Musketeers. He has been a frequent visitor in Palm Springs. S'— As has been its custom for the past years. The Desert Sun office will be closed on Saturdays during June, July and August. Otherwise, summer hours will remain as at present."


June 7, 1946 Desert Sun - Community Column
'Of questionable accuracy'
. An' nakes me think of ole Jimmy Jackson. Yuh all know ole Jimmy won secon’ place in th’ Memorial Day gas buggy race out Indianopolis way. Waal, folks, want tew set yuh straight. Ole Jimmy usta own h' SNOW CRICK. CAMP AN' SERVICE FILLIN’ STASHUN mt on Root 99, jist west uv th’ Three Musketeers. But afore ole Jimmy took to hossless carriage racin’ agin, he sole out Snow Crick Camp tew ole desert rats Jerry an’ Bert Vankirk in Jack Secor. cowgal Betty Vankirk is Head Boss. she an’ my ole Lady an’ the’ motherinlaw traids thar all th ime. It’s th’ durndest shebang yuh ever seed. Yuh kin git white gas, coaloil, fresh meat un groceries. Etc. Thars an wful purty rock restaurant thar an’ a feller kin set down tew look his lip over a sandwich or wet his whissle with smihn oup er gargle a little giggle water. , Snow Crick shore is a handy place for ole Palm Springers an desert rats, an' a grate place along the way faror an’ Oakies tew git service for his ole tin lizzie till he hits Pa’m Springs, Ole Archie Moore (owner of nearby infamous Three Musketeers Restaurant and Club) gits his milk thar, an’ it’s whar tew get trout. SNOW CREEK CAMP & SERVICE STATION U. S. Highway 99, West of the Three Musketeers.
The Snow Creek 'Camp' travel center on US-99 Whitewater, just west of the old Palm Springs Road and Three Musketeers Restaurant/Club on that corner. This area is now the westbound rest area of I-10.
According to the above two 'stories' Jimmy Jackson sold the property to The Secor Family in 1946 and they built the stone structures.




From a Frasher Photo Postcard
https://www.flickr.com/photos/919813...7643798962873/

 

here is my 1966 Cook sprint.​

 

my pre war sprint

 

very nice!

 

Any word on Jim? I lost touch with him on Facebook.....

 

Larry Dickson at Trenton 67.

 

My Cook sprint as restored by the Cook family.

 

Engine from Cook sprint

 

Good looking restoration. I saw these shots on Hosehead's a few days ago and was hoping they would show up on this board.

 

Sharp looking west coast rail frame in the late 40s.

 

I believe that is "Jiggler Joe" Gemsa in the top photo.

 

I was pretty excited to come across this posting! My grandfather was Fritz "The Flying Dutchman" Tegtmeier. I loved seeing that you restored one of his old race cars. I just wish I could see it with my own two eyes. I have the jacket his driver, Buzz Rose, wore when he raced my grandfather's cars after Fritz retired from racing them himself. I tried to upload a photo but got an error message. Please let me know if you have any current photos of his car with all restorations completed.

Thank you,
Debbie Tegtmeier
Reedsport, Oregon

 

You're right, it is.

 

Dean, here's a photo of Joe you posted here several years ago -
"photo contributed to Jalopy Journal by Dean Lowe, La Verne, CA-"Doing some clean up this afternoon, I ran across this old picture given to me 30 years ago by Joe Gemsa. It was taken in 1946 at Corona. Joe is warming up his DO Cragar. It is so Joe. If you look close, you can see a ciggarette hanging from his mouth. Just a casual Sunday drive!"

 

Yep, Joe was about as cool a dude as you'd ever want to meet. He sold me my first RPU in 1958 for $175. Part of my drive home from work was stopping in at Joe's, around the corner from our shop, to see what he was working on.

 

Bobby Marvin, in Wally's Chebby, holds off Branson's Offy with A.J. and Ward not far behind at the Hoosier 100 1962.

 

A full house watch 2nd generation drivers VukyII and Gary B. at Du Quion.

 

A.J., Gary B. and Bobby Unser demonstrate the fine art of "backing it in"

 

Thanks for the great photos Rootie!