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

The last of what I thought would be of interest.

 

Went to the local paved 1/4 mile for winged sprints last evening and they had some vintage race cars. My son took some pics cause as usual i left my camera home so hopefully he will email em to me.. Great night and great racing and walked away 210.00 richer than when i walked in from the 50/50 ..
Dave

 

Nice hit on the 50/50 Jusjunk!

Man have times changed..

Then,



Now..



above: Tony Stewarts team sprinters roll in.


Below: Kasey Kane's team.. I am so happy to see these guys putting SERIOUS money back into the sport that got them where they are.

 

Hey Josh, I hear Jon was leading on the last Lap at Kokomo and flipped. The only bright side is that Darland won the Bob Darland Memorial race since Jon did not.

Must be pretty cool to win the memorial race with your dads name on it!

 

my personal favorite sprint car, a short chassis 35J Mercer. Appears to have about 18" taken out of the wb. Driven by Sig Haugdahl (sp?). This is probably a AAA car.

 

Nice shot of the City of Roses #2
PK

 

Darland was fast both nights at The burg. On the second night, out of 52 Sprinters he went out 49th and set fast time!! Not bad for a guy in his 40's.

I'll be at Bloomington this Fri.

JD

 

My dad's second midget, Kurtis Kraft chassis #4. The first picture is early 1946 in front of Eddie Meyer's shop in Hollywood. My dad is the one scratching his head, his buddy Dean Whalen, who I was named for, is leaning on the rear tire, and the fellow in the work clothes is Danny "posion" Oakes who would be the driver. The head scratching is because they were in the process of changing the 81's to alcohol. The second pic in the fresh Eddie Meyer 60. The last pic is the first time on the track. I believe its Bonelli Stadium in Saugus. Not much prettier than a brand new Kurtis!

 

The first pic is Danny Oakes qualifying dad's car at Balboa Stadium, San Diego. The URA assigned dad #124 for the '46 season.

The second pic is Danny leading the heat race with "Wild Man" Ed Johnson pushing him.


The third pic is Frank Armi in dad's car leading Frank "Satan" Brewer in the # 99 Ford, and Norm Girtz in the # 11 drake, for the win in the 30 lap feature. Oakes was dad's regular deiver, but he also drove John Balch's Offy in the URA Blue circut. When Dan wasn't available dad would put another driver in the seat. Frank Armi, from Hanford, Ca. had a car of his own, but dad's car was a better ride. Frank was so impressed getting the win, worth a grand, he began hounding dad relentlessly to sell the car. A month later dad sold him the car for 4 grand, and placed another with Kurtis.

 

Danny Oakes "unicycling" the Balch Offy at Gilmore, 1947.

 

Hey, can you guys recommend a header tube size (pipe along the body)for my early sprinter re-creation. I bought a header flange and it's set up for 1.5" OD pipe. I was gonna come off the engine in 1.5" then taper up to 2.5" but now I'm thinking 3" . I don't want to buy a length of pipe that i can't return so i figured I'd ask the experts.
I have it set up with a '31 ford inline 4 banger , so what would look period correct for a pipe size?

 

We used 3" on the midget tailpipes. The banger guys may have a different thought, but to me, anything smaller, especially on a larger sprint car, wouldn't look right.

 

I agree with the 3" also. The pipe is such a big design element you have to make sure it doesn't get lost.

I am in gathering mode on my midget project, hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get some project pics up. Hope to have a roller by the end of the month.

 

Dad's first midget. He and his buddy built it in the little auto repair shop they worked at in Lincoln, Nebraska. With guidance from their friend Chet Wilson, they put together the frame from Model T rails, narrowed the Model A front and rear end, and pounded the homely body out of fenders from the local wrecking yard. They got some Ross pistons, and a Winfield cam by mail order, and welded up a two carb manifold. It wasn't much to look at, but it put the racing bug in my dad's blood that was there when he died at 83.

 

If you did not make it to Kokomo, you missed the best night of sprint car racing in a long time. You need to check out the USAC web site and watch the video. Three more nights of sprint week left. Then in August will be the midget week, no it's not little people. Go to Kokomo, it will be a good one.

 

USAC's new website is great. Lots of news and videos just hours after the race. The PITT PASS section is great, Live, real time track updates on every car in a given race.

 

After selling his first Kurtis to Frank Armi, dad built this one, Chassis # 121. 86 was the number assigned to it in 47. He persuaded Kurtis to make a tail with no head rest. Turned that of the over 500 KK midgets built, this would be the only one with a non standard tail. This chassis was the first one built with torsion bars at all 4 corners. After the 3rd time out, it was converted to a cross spring in front. 3 different drivers didn't like the feel on dirt with the bars. The first pic is at Huntington Beach. The car is very new, with not all pieces chromed yet. Chet Miller did the upolstery in the early KK midgets, and this is the very last one he did. A few days after delivering this job to Kurtis, Chet was killed practicing at Indy.

The second pic is me at 3 years old in dad's car , also at Huntington Beach. This pic means the world to me.

The last pic is dad in the car at Orange Show Speedway in San Berdo. The palm trees behind the turn 2 wall are still there, but abouit 60 feet tall 61 years later. The 60 in this car was built by Clay Smith, and was considerably stronger the the previous car's Eddie Meyer engine.

 

Geat stuff Dean!!

 

shadow ...
on this car i have 4 inch and they start out with 1. 5 od and i made a cone from a torque tube axel up to the 4 inch. sounds realy good and throaty . i have mated up to a 1923 chevy four cylinder with an olds head .heres a few pics also from the event we went to at latimer and pics of some of the cars at the meuseum got a lot more if you want them let me know tim

 

This thread is so long I don't know if this shot was on here before but I thought I post it just in case it hasn't. I don't know anything about it but its really a great shot. Does anyone know anything about it??

 

A foot note to this car: My dad told me when they were building it, a Lincoln teenager named "Smith" hung around the garage after school ,and watched, and asked tons of questions. The lad said that "some day he was going to open his own speed shop in Lincoln". I think he did just that..................

 

If his name was Billy, I think he did alright.

Seems he has a thing for used engines, toy cars, obsolete race cars etc. Once hired a hippy to drive a race car of his. I think they did alright too.

 

In 87 my dad called Speedway to get an air pump for the Kurtis we were restoring. About an hour later Bill called here at the shop. Ask if the Buzz Lowe that just ordered the pump was the same guy that built the midget at Jim Cooner's garage in 38. They talked for an hour. Bill told dad that watching that midget being built started the fire in him for open wheel cars. Wanted to know what happened to the car, he would pay any price to have it in his collection. Sadly, the car was cut up for scrap when dad got the first Kurtis. That's what i love about thias thread. The history is fascinating.

 

These pictures still made dad sick 40 years later. He had made a promise to my mom when I was born, that he wouldn't drive the race car. He showed up this night at the Rose Bowl without a driver. A young Frankie Gilbert convinced dad he was the next Rex Mays, and dad put him in the car. This was the result, on his FIRST hot lap! The kid wasn't hurt in the wreck, but he didn't leave unharmed.

The last pic is at Carpinteria following the repairs. The frame was put in Kurtis' jig, and found to be as straight as when it was built. The only damage was the spring/axle, radius rod, and side panel. Needless to say, the promise was recinded, and dad drove the car until he sold it.

 

Here's some pics of dad in action, still 1947. The first two are San Berdo. The third is Gilmore on a rare night when the blue circut drivers were "on strike" for a larger cut of the purses, and the URA let the red circut cars in the show. According to dad, his qualifying laps were "interesting". He made his two laps without lifting. When he pulled in, his buddies were impressed. He said, "hell, when it lit off, the damn throttle stuck". He didn't want to waste the laps because he didn't know if he'd get another shot, so he just backed her in harder! The last pic is probably back at Carpinteria, no notes on the pic.

Dad never said, but from the smile on his face when he'd look at all the old pictures, makes me think these were probably the best days of his life.

 

Nice pics Dean and great stories.. This has to be the best thread on the HAMB..
Dave

 

anybody know were there are some old coupes or race cars for sale ??? looking to start my next project and looking for something ..

 

Mr. Lowe, these pic's and stories are great, thank's for sharing..There are a lot of us on here that are a little young for the earlier years of open wheel, but it does'nt mean that we don't respect or love it the same.. Thank's Again, Ryan

 

I second that...


I'm heading for bloomington in a couple hours, see any of you there?

JD