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

Quote HUTCHO

This information was graciously given to me tonight by Graham (see attachments).

Honker 11

Graham & his good friend Mike Stroud went to Leroy Byers to buy that car but was to no avail.Graham has some pics sitting in the car with Mike...When Graham bought his Honker 11 with the help of Mike,Mike gave Graham a heap of original parts the Strouds had kept throughout the years including the body moulds,rollcage etc.Of interest Graham became friends with Jerry Weeks the man who built both HONKERS......cheers Ron
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I think I've met him and gave him a hand at the Mopar Million.

 

The Conze Spl.-
4th of July 1962 Slim Roberts rolls it off of Pikes Peak, breaking his neck in the process. By Nov. 62 they have it pounded out, installed a roll cage and put Jimmy Davies in the seat at Ascot where he finishes 2nd to McCluskey in the Sprint car races. It was then off to Phoenix to try the Champ car race, but USAC didn't think it would it would fit in too well, and put the ky-bosh on that plan.

 

Rootie, Conze came back in 1963 and tried to qualify for the Hoosier 100 with Davies driving. Missed the show by more than 2 seconds. They ran Pikes peak again as well. I think they tried Sacrememto or Phoenix as well in 1963.

 

Won Pikes Peak in 64 with a fellow by the name of Al Unser.
Isn't there a picture of this car somewhere on this thread with a downtube cage?
There's nothing new under the sun...

 

...

 

I took movies of that car at paved Whitman field in Pacoima Ca they around here some place. Geo Benson testing the car around 1967 maybe. Basicly with a big offy in it running the whole time on mainly the rr.
The car was built to be a Championship Dirt car, Big Al won that division on the hill a couple of times. Several tried it a as sprint car Don Meachum was another.
It was deemed not to spec for Big cars at first because it had 12" midget wheels on it if I recall correctly. by the way looking at that car You see around 90% of the main frame exposed. Not much there. probably one of the lightest caged Sprint cars, minus engine ever built?
One more thing I am talking about the last one Built by Vince. The one completly tube framed. The one in the crash sequence was a rail framed car. Vince had several light weight cars built.
aXe

 

The old man of the mountain, 66 year old, 'Uncle' Louie Unser taking the Conze Spl. for a spin up P.P. 1961.

 

A while back, Al Unser sr. brought a bunch of cars, from his museum, up for the Rocky Mt. Concours. Among them was the later downtube Conze car.

 

Yeah, after thinking about it, I didn't think the downtube car was a rail job. A lot of similarities, though.
Reminds me of the flyaway midgets Andy Bondio builds and wins the Chili Bowl with.

 

Well Vince being a very Frugal guyshould I say,
Always took what he had left to the next creation.
He also never threw any thing away it seems, If you ever went to His place in Watts ca. it was like going back in time for sure. And that doesnt even count what He had in the house, Offy engines in the living room, engine parts in the kitchen cupboards and such. LOL
But He was sure a MASTER at engineering and machining parts!
aXe

 

While this is not gospel or anything, it seems it was the rail frame car that was bounced from the 62 Phx. race. Probably the inspiration to build a dedicated tube frame car for 63. This is from a 62 Phx. champ car race report:

 

If you dont know who Vince was, Here he is 2nd from the right in picture.
aXe

 

This thread deserves a daily BUMP !!! Love it !!

 

You folks probably already know about this
Sprint Car & Midget Magazine
http://www.sprintcarandmidget.com/

 

By the way Big Al won the Hill race 2 years running once in Vinces creation in 64. And once for an Eisert built, Harrison r/e car in 65

aXe

 

Here's the answer in HUTCHO's .. THE HONKER 11-1.doc above.

The Stroud/Brenn/Petraitis (chain of ownership) midget IS the car that HUTCHO's (Ron's) friend Graham now owns in Austrailia.

~~~~~
At the end of the 1969 season the 1967 version of the “HONKER 11” was sold to Ken Bren Racing while they in turn on sold it to Pete Petraitis Racing – New York.

Some famous US drivers of the midget were Bob Tattersall, Carl Williams, Bob Wente, Don Krites, Burt Brooks – who was fatally injured in it at Hershey Stadium & Bing Metz – who escaped serious injury when he flipped the midget, now running a Chevy 11 engine, into the fourth row of seats at JFK Stadium in 1972.
~~~~~

<OPete Petraitis owned this car when Bing Metz flipped it into the grandstands at the JFK Stadium (over 100,000 seats) in Philadelphia, PA. I THINK it was "three fingered" George Marshman who was the promoter of that race.

Sonny Sanders (Anthony Madonia) later became Pete Petraitis main chauffer in this car.

BTW -- JFK Stadium used to host the annual Army vs Navy football games.</O

 

I believe big Al was driving the Eisert built, Harrison r/e car in 65. Charlie Lowderman was in the Conze 78.

 

Josh or any other Cincy guys-

Any knowledge on Speedy Smith From Cinicinnati, boat racer and Crosley guru of the 50's? (See my post in Cageless midgets)

 

ops you are right. My bad, Funny how the old noggin doesnt come through all the time lately. Ah to relive the days of My Youth, LOL
aXe

 

Im looking for this 73 -74 stapp sprintcar,can anyone help me out??

It was a usac car in the 76-77 year ,and painted white and numbered 51

 

The new midgets are allowed to be 65" overall width,and the offset can be no more than 6".
I always measured from the left sidecover to the inner bead of the left rear wheel,say its 16" then do the same on the right rear and you may see 22",there is your 6"

 

isn't that for pavement only or did they change the rule to cover Dirt too?? we were running MUCH more offset than that on dirt 10 yrs ago

 

that was for pavement and we had usac looking at the car, cuz it looked like it was more than 6",we didnt run much dirt but when we did we were like 2-3" rear offset

 

Roy, Do you remember Halibrand having a shorter splined axle? Mine is 53.5" total width, with the bearing stops being 16" to center on the left and 18" to the right.

 

do you have any spacers,how wide is the car in the rear

 

Sounds familiar but I'm drawing a blank. You need to ask my old man, He's better with names.

 

ATTENTION!

Do any of you know of a Sprint Car owner from the 60's or 70's from Binghamton, Ny. ? Fielded cars at Williams grove for sure, and probably other Penn. tracks too.

I believe Jack Crawford drove for him..

I'm looking for a name and number.

JD

 

Is that the same car Van Gurley had for awhile ? It was dark blue with a 51 on it. I saw it run at Eldora around 75 or 76. Spring race..Opp ran the 4x speedway motors car, seems like Sheldon won that day. If it is, might try Bruce Field, him and Bud were tight. There was another 51 that Larry Gates ran around that time, lost track of both cars.