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

Just as i thought, that car was a Dirt Champ Car. Didnt think it loked really like a Half Mile machine.

 

Re: the Ruiz/Vermeil sprint car, appears it ran as late as 1976 with Offy power. (picture on the bottom right)
http://public.fotki.com/nitram22/au...d-annuals/1976-narc-yearbook/1976narc-19.html

 

Tapered rear axles are no problem if you know what you are doing. I repair them and legthen, and shorten them every so ofte and you can not see where it was done.

 

That's good to hear, and good to know... cause I have two other cars to do that have them. They don't offend me, but why is it that every old timer I mention them to starts cussing and shaking his head? They obviously worked for many years...



Oh, and that Travelon car is GREAT to see!!!


J Shaw

 

I ran the tapered axle on my 360 sprint for a couple of seasons....no issues at all. Removing the hubs can be a struggle but I had a special puller that made it simple.

 

If the #65 shown in the pit area pic is a sprint car, then its the only one. The rest of those cars are Champ Cars. Maybe it was later cut down, as shown in the NARC pic.

 

Those are two different cars, the Ruiz Champ Car and the Sprint Car. I believe both were built by George Shilala, the former in 1955, and the latter in 1952 iinm. The Vermeils got the sprinter, not sure what became of the Champ Car.

 

It probably is the champ car, just with a different paint scheme than what is shown in my post 8492. It was never cut down, the car in trensept's post is the Travelon/ Ruiz/Vermil sprint car. BTW- just recently Cobraball posted this pic which shows the champ car (#54) in 1956 trim.

 

The champ car was parked in 1970 (USAC split) and was restored in the 80s I believe. To my knowledge it still lives on the west coast, Little Fauss may know for sure.

 

FWIW-There is a picture of the 1960s Travelon sprint car on this site. Also, if you go to the video page, there's a tiny and very short vid. of it involved in a spin at Winchester 1964.
http://www.turn4.info/giusti.htm

 

I believe I can pin this down, now. De Palma competed at Ascot from January till June 1924, Haugdahl from February till April, and Duray joined also in late February to outlast them both. This picture has to be from late March/early April.

On March 23, Mary Pickford was offering a trophy for the winner of the main event that day, the Dorothy Vernon Sweepstakes, but the meeting was rained out and rescheduled for the following Sunday, March 30. De Palma won, and "was presented with the silver loving cup offered the winner by Mary Pickford and presented by her sister, Lottie, while a battery of motion-picture cameras clicked." (Los Angeles Times, March 31)

Now, this doesn't look like Ascot's winner circle, nor does it resemble a prize giving ceremony, but the cup could be the one mentioned in the report. I reckon it's a publicity shot before the race, and they guys are leaning on Leon Duray's mount because Duray had won the last main event at Ascot, on March 16. By the way, Leon finished second to de Palma on March 30, while Haugdahl won the trophy dash in his Fiat. He also made an exhibition lap with his beach "record" car, but broke the crankshaft of its Wisconsin engine.

Like "The37Kid" has already said, the car is a "Durant Special" Miller '183' with its tail section removed, but it's not Leon Duray's 1923 Indy mount - he had already sold that one several months before - and it's also not the other car pictured (driven by Frank Elliott), but the third one, driven by Harlan Fengler in 1923. It was the one driven by Earl Cooper in late 1922/early 1923, and then bought by "Hollywood" Bill White for Fengler to drive. Jack Petticord bought the car after Duray was through with it.

Interesting to see those three guys in cordial company - if one is to believe the press reports of the time, they would much rather kill each other than bear the close proximity of their rivals. But then again, those imaginary "feuds" were the bread and butter of the promotional drives to drum up interest in Ascot and the races. Something to be learned here?

 

The Ruiz/Shilala Travelon Trailer champ car, as well as the Ruiz/Christiansen Travelon roadster (Herk's 1960 149+ MPH car), as well as the King-O-Lawn 4-cammer champ car are owned by an enthusiastic collector in northern California.

I'm in the middle of a little project on my "tapered axle" roadster and have never had much difficulty working with the hardware. A good hub-puller always helps.

 

The Sig Haugdahl Millers, by the way, were completely different animals: the first one he bought shortly after this picture was taken, since he couldn't bear getting beaten by de Palma and Duray all the time. It was a bob-tailed single-seater, presumably built from a spare '122' frame and some parts from either Tommy Milton's or Jimmy Murphy's 1923 car, maybe both. It had a '183' engine, though.

The second Haugdahl Miller was most likely the car Eddie Hearne had built for dirt track racing in the summer of 1924, mostly from '183' parts of uncertain origin. The third and last Haugdahl Miller was a '91', previously owned by Harry Hartz and then Mike Boyle. Those and other Indy Car histories can be found at http://www.oldracingcars.info/marques/indy/, by the way.

 

A big thank you to you and others (Mark Dees in his second edition of The MillerDynasty, “using principally the research of historians Bill Digney and William [sic!] O’Keefe, , and after consulting the original article by Bill Digney and Jim O’Keefe (Cars & Parts, May & June 1989) for helping me find the history of the Miller 91 rear drive #15 Boyle Valve Tribute Car I own and run at various vinatge events and the WRA.


here's photos of some of the original's incarnations over time:
EDIT
Thanks to Mr Ferner
I mistakenly showed a photo - below-of the '122' (old formula) Hartz #3 taken at Fulford Boardtrack, the first 4 races of 1926 used the old 122 formula cars (apparently there was a lack of new 91 ci entries ready to race) and starting with The Indy 500 the new 91 ci cars were used
The 1926 91 ci car at Indy that became the 1927 #15 Woodburry/Boyle Valve Special


The 122 Blue and Grey Harry Hartz #3 1926



this is a recreation owned by Mitch Rasanzky (I don't have a photo of the original #15 car)


1928 as the #12 Dave Evans entry


link to possible photo of the car as #5 Roby Speedway
Not correct, this a later 1930s Miller
http://www.kalracing.com/Autoracing/Roby_Speedway_Photo_Scrapbook.htm

and finally a photo of the car as Haugdahl's Rocket Car

 

Guys I need help--Rootie?5c? anybody

They are looking to tear down our OkC grandstands, and there is an effort to look at getting the history preserved for it. This a serious effort for sure.


I need results, lineups, photos, film , anything that shows who all came through there.

Thank you.

brian26

 

That ain't no good! Seems that the fairgrounds tracks are a dying breed nowdays.
You may already have this, but if not, it should help.
http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/racelist3.php?trackid=86

Also, here's a race report from the Apr. 55 AAA race when Jerry Hoyt won, of course it was just 3 mo. later and he was killed there. I'll see what else I can scare up.

 

I had seen this site for vintage results, but never that story out of the paper....that was a few years before my dad (Bud Carson) started runnin the Mar-car Inc events at Taft and the NEW Fairgrounds, including the NHRA drag events....thanks for posting.

 

Michael Ferner,

Thanks for the additional info and the link to more Miller History.

This Miller story should really be in the 1894-1944 racing History thread.
I am not sure if that thread existed when I posted the photo originally.

As for the photo,it appears to me to be on a movie set. I believe the man holding the trophy is Douglas Fairbanks.

 

Hi Speedwagen,i just stumbled onto your HAMB post about a 1969 usac reg.car decal.I recently restored a 1968 edmunds midget
that Bob Tattersal brought down under in 1969 .this guy would love to get that decal if possible. We have tried to procure one from usac without any success. Hope to hear from you Gordon Clough AUSTRALIA [email protected]

 

You're welcome, but sorry, you're mistaken here on two counts: the Hartz picture shows his Miller '122', not the '91' in question. He drove the "old" car in a few races in early 1926, before the new 1.5-litre formula came into effect at Indy. I'm pretty sure this picture is from Miami-Fulford (Feb 22), and the car in the background is Dave Lewis with the original front-drive Miller.

The Roby picture shows yet another car, the 1931 Miller '230' of the Boyle team. The year should be 1933, and Bill Cummings was its regular driver at Indy and in National Championship events, but at Roby he usually drove the team's single-seater (#10). I have Johnny Sawyer driving #5 in non-championship events, but the driver in the background looks very much like Babe Stapp to me.

 

Welcome to the HAMB Shane

 

Yes! Welcome...

Dang, a Hall of Famer!

p.s. yeah, no one is safe here from old pictures of themselves!

 

Michael, good to see you posting, I am sure your knowledge will be a welcome resource. The comment on the Rocket car kind of piqued my interest as I am not sure that car ever survived, if that is what is being alleged. It surely has the look of a converted Miller but in my discussions with Bill Castle (Miller Baby Chev) he and his wife Esther watched the fire at Sloan's garage that allegedly turned that car to ashes (along with the Golden Sub and what some refer to as the Cadwell Miller).

Carl if you have some history to the contrary I would be most interested in that as well. All the twists and turns of this research is what makes it interesting I suppose-Jim

 

Thanks Captain!!

 

I loved the group of cars that you brought together last year. ...especially the Miller.

Anything that cool lined up for this year?

 

Yikes!
Back to the drawing boards.

Hope I can get this sorted out before I leave this earth.

Corrections made to original post
Thanks again.

 

Here's a second picture of the car:

 

Jim, I believe it was me who first stated that I believed the Rocket Car to be Sig's Miller '91'. I'm not so sure any longer, because I now realize that his '91' was probably raced as late as 1937 in pretty much unchanged form. I really don't know what the Rocket Car was made of, but it looks very much like a '91' underneath the rocket stuff!

 

To Michael Ferner. Just left oldracingcars,did you ever find the second 1961 Meskowski champ car ?

 

Michael I am not sure either although it certainly has the appearance of Miller, and I thought it may be a 91. My records though are certainly not complete enough for me to go out on a limb on that call. I was more interested in the Sub and sister car (Cadwell) which I had followed a bit more than the Rocket car. Kind of an interesting car nevertheless. A perfect car for both Sig and/or Sloan-Jim